The Hon. Jagath Vithana

¶ 01 Hon. Deputy Speaker, thank you for giving me this opportunity.

¶ 02 At this time, as we debate the regulation under the Excise (Special Provisions) Act, I wish to briefly raise a few points. This is a highly unwise regulation. At a time when the entire world is moving from diesel and petrol combustion to electricity, this regulation effectively removes the term “environment-friendly.”

¶ 03 I listened when the Hon. State Minister said that the objective of this regulation under the Excise (Special Provisions) Act is to raise revenue for the Government. How do you increase revenue? With the permission to import vehicles, vehicle lots are now full. Fine. Earlier, a double-cab was Rs. 27.5 million; now it has dropped to Rs. 23 million. People are not fools; they will not buy at higher prices. Demand rose for electric vehicles because they were cheaper. People bought them, especially electric three-wheelers. After you increase the tax on them from 30% to 130%, will people still buy them? Will environment-friendly vehicles still come into the country? If you want to increase revenue, I can suggest ways to do so.

¶ 04 Let us take the Kantale Sugar Factory as an example. It currently holds 17,000 tonnes of sugar that cannot be sold. Please suspend sugar imports for two weeks, or even for a month. Then the 17,000 tonnes can move and bring income to the country. Government does not mean only you; government is all of us—the people of this entire country. The State Minister himself said the expectation in all this is to increase revenue. That is fine for a bankrupt country—but how much wasteful expenditure do we have?

¶ 05 In my village we had a fine coconut oil mill, “Matugama Oil Mills,” run by Ranjith Manoj, a top JVP activist. He also set up a mill in Hambantota. What happened? He has collapsed completely. Why? Because we import 100% of our coconut oil. Instead of importing coconut oil, if we import more copra or raw nuts and give them to these millers, the industry will be protected, oil prices will fall, and the country will gain significant income. There is so much we can do—why bring in unnecessary measures? Here we are discussing a regulation that removes the opportunity for people to buy an environment-friendly electric vehicle.

¶ 06 Take the “Vega” three-wheeler for example. What Hon. Namal Rajapaksa said is true. Also, we must urgently mandate that petrol stations install EV charging points. How many petrol stations have charging points? Not even 10%. Rather than hiking taxes, this is what should be promoted. The Minister is not in the Chamber now, but I believe he will hear my remarks.

¶ 07 Let me speak about the overturned bus incident, where 23 or 24 people died. That bus was manufactured in 2014. Inspectors and experts from the Sri Lanka Transport Board said a bus body had been mounted on a lorry chassis. That is wrong. All lorries imported from India here actually come with a “bus” chassis; a lorry body is then mounted on that chassis. The best evidence is this: four to five days after the accident, the Department of Motor Traffic’s inspectors and engineers drove the bus to demonstrate. If the chassis had been fatally compromised by rolling, could they have driven it within three days? My point is practical. We must combine practical knowledge and expert knowledge to frame policy. If we want, we can import buses worth Rs. 4–5 million each—but then how do we cover those costs?

¶ 08 In the private sector, how do we provide low-fare buses for the public? A recommendation has come to swap passengers mid-route—say from Kataragama to Kurunegala—onto another bus. Is that practical? It is fine to change the driver, but asking passengers to take their bags, water bottles, and children, and shift to another bus, and then keep the same seats, while also wasting three to four hours—this is not practical. Please think this through directly and manage these things sensibly. There are many factors that have pushed the economy to collapse.

¶ 09 Now, about the “76-year curse.” During that period, a 1 kg packet of salt was Rs. 60. Five to six months after this Government assumed office, a kilo of salt costs Rs. 350. Now there is even a regulation capping how much salt one person can buy. How is this the “Prosperous Country – Beautiful Life” rhythm?

¶ 10 I do not want to weaponize this. A Minister said this happened due to rain. If so, we must be prepared for rain. Do we refrain from farming due to rain or drought? These are seasonal realities we must plan for. No salt has been produced for six months, causing a salt shortage. Is salt something that can be destroyed? Or consumed in large quantities? In India, a kilo of salt is Rs. 108—call it Rs. 120 with duty. We need to know how much duty is levied to make salt so expensive here. Our country has the highest electricity bills in Asia. If you raise them further, how hard will it be for the people? Very hard; people are barely surviving.

¶ 11 To the Hon. Member who spoke earlier: within six months, 2.3 million people have rejected this Government; in other words, you have lost 2.3 million votes. I am from Agalawatta. I recall a senior Minister—also the Government’s Media Spokesman—saying at a press conference that they would “somehow” constitute the Agalawatta Pradeshiya Sabha. How? We have won that local authority. One must accept victory and defeat with humility. This is the hallmark of politics.

¶ 12 The President yesterday said, “Everyone sacrificed their lives for peace.” Not for peace per se: our war heroes sacrificed themselves to end the war by defeating the terrorists. One cannot claim everyone is a war hero or say everyone did it for peace. As a former sailor, I say: I will never allow the dignity of war heroes to be demeaned. That said, I thank the President for finally attending the National War Heroes’ Day and paying respect, devotion, and honour to our war heroes.

¶ 13 These tax policies being implemented are a resounding failure. Also, regarding the vehicle auction: how much loss occurred? Vehicles worth Rs. 45–50 million were sold for Rs. 15.1 million. I have the charts. This was outright theft. This must be investigated. Had it been a public auction, it would not have happened. Instead, they gathered a few cronies in a room, brought a bogus valuation report, and then divided the vehicles among themselves: “I’ll take this; you take that.” We need the names of who took them, and where those vehicles are now. If you want to increase State revenue, stop this. I tell the Government side: sell the remaining vehicles in open public auctions and see the prices. What is this crime? With that, I conclude. Thank you, Hon. Deputy Speaker, for the time.