The Hon. Chamara Sampath Dasanayake

¶ 01 Mr. Chairman, today we are debating the budget heads of the Ministry of Plantation Industries and Community Infrastructure Facilities, which is the Ministry of a Minister from our Province. I listened carefully to the Hon. Minister’s speech. However, Hon. Minister, many of the expectations you set have not been realized yet. It is still only whistles; there are no buckets. Show us the buckets as well as the whistles. Your President himself once told us, “Your government has whistles, but no buckets.” Even under you, it is still whistles without buckets.

¶ 02 After you assumed this Ministry, for the first time in the country’s history, the price of a coconut that was around Rs. 1,000 has gone up to Rs. 2,000. That is your misfortune, though you neither grew coconuts nor harvested or sold them. Since you took over, the coconut price has increased by Rs. 100, and you must accept that.

¶ 03 If so, we should get a Parliamentary recess tomorrow, because from 8.00 to 8.05 a.m. there is a survey of monkeys and langurs taking place. We too should join that census. Otherwise, count us 225 Members into that number too. When spending heavily to conduct a wildlife census, who is counting the animals raiding our fields, lands, and home gardens—also on our 225 Members’ lands? Therefore, give us a recess tomorrow as well.

¶ 04 Hon. Minister, when you assumed office you made proposals before the media. They have not materialized. You said you would take a large land and separately keep female and male monkeys and do something. But nothing has started—no segregation of female and male monkeys has happened. We hoped you would implement a concrete program handling the monkeys and langurs. We are still hopeful you will, because we cannot order the killing of animals while preparing to exhibit the Sacred Tooth Relic. President Anura Kumara Dissanayake once said, “The last refuge of the liar and the hypocrite is the temple.” We will not ask whose custody the Sacred Tooth Relic or the Temple of the Tooth is in.

¶ 05 Hon. Minister, you thanked the President for allocating tens of billions of rupees. Previously, under this Ministry, Pelwatte and Sevanagala sugar factories and many other units were grouped in. Now those entities are not under your Ministry. Lands and Irrigation are under the Agriculture Ministry. I heard this discussed during the Committee Stage of the Budget. Under your current vote, those sectors are absent.

¶ 06 You are talented; people like to listen to you. In Opposition, you spoke eloquently, and did a great deal for this government recently. Women swooned listening to you—like hearing Guttila’s veena, with even sea fish coming to shore to listen. You are a good orator and deserve a strong Ministry. I know what can be done with this Ministry. Except the JEDB, others belong to companies. Under Indian assistance, houses were given—both under Minister Thondaman and Minister Digambaram—4,000 houses were built and more supported. For decades, they did that work.

¶ 07 Now, what is happening in the estates? Daily wage is Rs. 1,350; they demand Rs. 1,750. Hon. Digambaram and Hon. Thondaman fought for it. Hon. Samantha Viddyarathna, do not blame them; I listened to you. Your own Members walked out during your speech, including the pair from Badulla with you. Still, I listened, as we both have long engaged on these issues. In Nuwara Eliya and Maskeliya, we have never lost historically. In Nuwara Eliya District—Maskeliya, Walapane, Kotmale, Haputale and Passara—where most Up-country Tamils live, your side won Parliamentary seats. But in the Presidential election, they did not vote for Anura Kumara. You lost 63 seats at the Presidential poll there; Sajith Premadasa won Badulla and Nuwara Eliya. Yet in the Parliamentary election, for the first time, the estate people largely voted for the alliance. They did not reject you. Now they await solutions to estate issues.

¶ 08 A big issue: in Badulla town, a coconut at Ajith aiya’s shop is Rs. 175; by the time it gets to Madolsima or the remote villages of Lunugala and Hadda Pitisara, or to Matigahatenna and Akiriya, it is Rs. 225. People suffer. Estate folk cannot live without roti and coconut. Please look into this and also strive, with urgency, to raise the daily wage to Rs. 1,750 as promised. They expect this government to deliver.

¶ 09 Next, the price for green leaf has dropped by Rs. 40 per kg since you took office—whether due to rain or quality, I do not know—but both low country and up country saw this decline. That is also on your watch.

¶ 10 This is a good Ministry with scope to work. Among Ministers, the one who most expanded coconut nurseries was State Minister Jagath Pushpakumara, producing the largest number of coconut seedlings. Minister Ramesh Pathirana developed a Coconut Triangle in the North, established a plan to introduce a million seedlings, and uplift coconut cultivation—this should be recalled.

¶ 11 We are happy a Badulla representative holds the Plantation Industries Ministry, as our people in Badulla and Nuwara Eliya rely on it. Since 1994, smallholder tea took a new turn—under President Chandrika Bandaranaike—with the Tea Shakthi Fund and enterprises like Kahataruppa, Kirinda, Neluwa. Smallholders emerged strongly. Now some closed factories are reopening. In Attampitiya, collectors asked me to help reopen a factory; many private factories in Uva run well—Uva Halpe Tea Factory by Aberathna family and 98 Acres linked operations. But many closed factories are not being handed over or repaired by the companies. Near Demodara Galwala, there is a water-powered tea factory—dating back to colonial times—now idle. When you go, please inspect it; it used hydro power from the Demodara Koonchiya bend water line.

¶ 12 In Badulla, most people live off tea. We must respect and nourish the tea bush and secure the best price for leaf. Everywhere, meetings clash with plucking schedules—people say “tea estate, tea estate.” Our Province brings significant revenue; ensure fairness.

¶ 13 You said you took over estates like Unugolla and Attampitiya, which is good. Because when companies get estates, they even cut existing trees. In Hanthana, a sensitive zone above the 3,000 ft contour, they have felled trees causing environmental damage around the University of Peradeniya, Mahaweli and Doluwa areas. I have a letter on this, which I will send you.