The Hon. Rohana Bandara
Rohana Bandara criticized the Government’s handling of agricultural imports, alleging that rice and pulse releases were rushed without proper checks, resulting in poor-quality supplies and difficulties for farmers. He questioned the Minister on issues involving rice, ulundu and green gram, and argued that the Government’s claims of effective management were not reflected in practice. He also raised concerns that official names and import permissions may have been misused for wrongdoing, including land grabbing.
Verbatim record (translated)
Machine-translated from Sinhala / Tamil / English¶ 01 Now, we are going into other topics instead of the matter at hand.
¶ 02 We were saying: when we point at the moon, you look at the rings on our fingers and claim you are fixing the country. But we do not see that happening. It is like imagining you are wearing a saffron silk saree when you are not. You claim past work was done well. What happened when you imported rice? What has happened to ulundu, to green gram, Hon. Minister? Without checking, you rushed releases. Didn’t stones come mixed with rice? Didn’t mung and kachchi come? Aren’t farmers stranded now? We say this in good faith; we spoke even when we were in Opposition. We did not govern. I spoke about the GoH then; I speak today as well. If anyone does the right thing, we are happy; we criticize because you have not done it.
¶ 03 You talk about thieves, and even you are entangled in untruths. Just as the Chairman did his duty, after you gave permission to import rice, your name has been misused for wrongdoing; people have grabbed lands. That is why we say—
Provenance
- Source
- Hansard, Friday, 9 May 2025 ·No. 1748600585013314 ·English daily/uncorrected Hansard
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Cite as: The Hon. Rohana Bandara. 10th Parliament, Parliament of Sri Lanka. Hansard, 9 May 2025. No. 1748600585013314. Politick, https://staging.politick.io/lk/speeches/24818