The Hon. Eranga Gunasekara

¶ 01 An Opposition Member came early and asked how one could create a prosperous country and a beautiful life with Rs. 300 million. What is happening here, Hon. Deputy Chairperson? They look at the cover, not the inside pages. What is actually there?

¶ 02 As I know, that Hon. Member has two research assistants. Either those two are putting him in difficulty every day, or he does not read what they give him properly. Therefore I table in this House the proposal from the National People’s Power Government regarding the citizens’ welfare allocation, under the “Sri Lankan Day” initiative. I tell that Hon. Member: this is about holding a Sri Lankan Day. He read only the title “Prosperous Country – Beautiful Life” and missed the contents underneath. It starts with that theme and ends by saying Rs. 300 million will be allocated for the Sri Lankan Day. That is the extent of that item. He then comes here to ask how to build a prosperous country and beautiful life with Rs. 300 million. These are the five-minute lies. Within this Budget, Rs. 8,835 billion has been allocated for the people of this country. We are not building a prosperous country and beautiful life with Rs. 300 million. So these five-minute fabulists are within the Opposition.

¶ 03 Not only that, now the Opposition brings up national security and very sensitively speaks about the Easter attacks. The very side that spoke earlier used the Easter attacks, kept it as a prop, and built a massive Parliament before this. That Government had two years. Yet within those two years, neither that Member, nor that President, nor that Cabinet made the correct interventions on the Easter attacks. Doing none of that, they now come to speak about interventions.

¶ 04 What are we doing? The National People’s Power Government is making proper interventions on the Easter attacks, step by step. The relevant investigative teams are engaged in revealing the facts. This will not be revealed in one day. Now, even within the debates brought by the Opposition and through our Government’s actions, it is becoming possible to reveal the true trail behind the Easter attacks and the process that carried them out.

¶ 05 He also raised synthetic drugs. We feel like laughing when they speak about it. Why? Yes, our investigative teams know that underworld crime and narcotics are interconnected, and these link with politics as well. That is why in the past when the Police Narcotics Bureau seized drugs, that Member’s father flew by helicopter to a certain Minister’s house to send the signal not to seize them.

¶ 06 Now the sons of those fathers come here to speak about synthetic drugs. Back then, the Prime Minister — the second citizen of that Government — sent a chit not to check a departing drug container. Those from such Governments now come to lecture.

¶ 07 What are we doing? Within this citizen-focused Budget and within this people’s Government, for the first time in Sri Lanka, we have removed the political head that connected drugs and the underworld. Therefore, no political interference is now allowed in these actions. Thus our Police, Armed Forces, and intelligence units, together with skilled investigative teams, are intervening swiftly to trace information and resolve this issue. We are intervening properly. Recently, Opposition MPs claimed inside this House that containers had gone out with drugs. Where are they now? Five-minute lies. Even before that, they claimed containers had gone out.

¶ 08 Issuing passports falls under the Ministry of Public Security. There was an issue. What happened? We know the disruptions under the previous Government. The continuity was broken. We have taken Government to solve those issues. What did we do? With the intervention of the relevant Ministers and staff, the situation has been changed. Initially 1,200 to 2,500 passports per day could be issued; now operating 24 hours a day, over 4,000 passports are issued daily. That is how problems are solved. We are not merely lecturing the old lot. We directly intervene, discuss with officers, and solve issues with Ministers, Deputies, and staff. The Government does not only speak of problems to the Opposition. Whatever the Opposition does and however politics has been for 76 years, our responsibility is to resolve issues step by step. We are doing that.

¶ 09 Further, on disaster management under the Ministry of Defence: generally, disaster management here has been reactive — interventions only after incidents such as floods, rainwater, or landslides. I am not blaming the forces, but attention has largely been post-event. Disaster management is not that. For a country like ours, though we may not manage an unforeseen tsunami-like event, we know our people suffer most from rain, floods, and landslides. We need investigative and technical interventions. We have not had that sufficiently.

¶ 10 The first pillar is pre-disaster management. The Ministry is intervening. The second is that after a disaster, as a country, we have a duty not only to rescue people but also to protect nature and animals. The Ministry of Defence is now intervening accordingly. The third is managing the disaster; the fourth is managing to prevent recurrence. Disaster management is not merely distributing food or relocating people. We are preparing appropriately, reorganizing disaster management with new technology and knowledge to free people from disasters.

¶ 11 According to statistics from January to December 2024, 416,257 families were affected; over 1.4 million individuals were impacted; 543 houses were totally destroyed; 127 deaths occurred.

¶ 12 During the previous Government, only Rs. 2,430 million was allocated for disaster management. Hon. Deputy Chairperson, I note I have two more minutes.

¶ 13 To manage disasters properly, to reform and re-study these pathways, in this Budget, under the Defence Ministry’s Head, more than Rs. 8,950 million has been allocated.

¶ 14 Furthermore, our disaster committees existed, but weather, floods, cyclones, and landslides cannot be changed overnight. For example, in Colombo District, by late April to May there is precipitation; people suffer from floods again — it is a process outcome. It cannot be changed in 24 hours or even a year. However, with the Prime Minister’s and Defence Ministry’s interventions and others, we expect to implement a special program to manage disaster situations in the main districts affected by floods. We are focusing on reorganizing village-level disaster committees.

¶ 15 Disaster management had become the subject of a few officers like the Grama Niladhari. The Government alone cannot handle it. While State institutions must intervene, communities and volunteer organizations need clear guidance. The present Government is preparing to reorganize disaster committees. The Ministries of Defence and Public Security will continue to ensure the safety of citizens and the public. Thank you.