The Hon. (Dr.) Kavinda Heshan Jayawardhana

¶ 01 Hon. Presiding Member, we want to know what happened to the solar power project in Sampur. When Indian Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi was here, that project was inaugurated by leaders of both countries on 05 April 2025. But what has happened is they have not published the tender. What is this? Are you trying to fool the people of this country and India? The transmission lines and the infrastructure for the Sampur project must go ahead. That is not happening. So, Sir, like the Dambulla Cold Storage Project, this project is also being postponed, and the people are being fooled. What we clearly see is that the Government is incapable of proceeding with these projects.

¶ 02 Hon. Presiding Member, another matter is tourism. Under the Ministry of Tourism, there are four institutions. Have the directors met with their associations and with officials in the travel sector to discuss shortcomings? We are told such meetings have not taken place. When we talk about tourism, we must also note that a tourist can obtain a driving licence at the airport, then rent a vehicle, and make online bookings—then a percentage of those funds go out via platforms like booking.com, Airbnb, Agoda. Further, taxi services through apps are affecting local hired car drivers. There are also places without proper sanitation—no toilets at Horton Plains, none in Nuwara Eliya.

¶ 03 They say a tourist here spends USD 150 a day; that is something we should regret because in this region tourists often spend around USD 600 per day. There is a Tourism Fund—what programmes have been done for promotion? What social media promotions and advertisements? What we saw was only a letter to promote LGBTQ tourism. That is what was done. Even Hon. Archchuna mentioned related matters. What madness is this? The House must be informed how this came about; it has not been done. This Government seems to be promoting LGBTQ matters, and that is what is happening in the tourism sector.

¶ 04 We must speak about the Judiciary as well. The Judiciary has a responsibility—to deliver justice to our people, including the innocent who suffered in the Easter Sunday terrorist attacks. But that is not happening. I saw in Lankadeepa, Mawbima and The Sunday Times a report: “CID goes to London behind the back of the Attorney General.” They had gone to London without informing the AG to probe the President’s two-day visit to the UK. Was that not public money spent? Without AG’s permission or even informing him, will people at the University of Wolverhampton answer questions from our CID? If UK police came to the University of Kelaniya, would we answer them? There is a lack of understanding of diplomatic protocol. Properly, you speak to Mr. Wijitha Herath, then to our High Commissioner in the UK, and then send information to the UK police. But here they went secretly without informing the AG.

¶ 05 Hon. Presiding Member, on tourism, we also regret that tourists are being sexually harassed today. The police still have not been able to arrest all the perpetrators.

¶ 06 Are they arrested? This is serious, very serious! To promote tourism, the law must be enforced properly against such groups.

¶ 07 Hon. Presiding Member, there was talk about Buddha statues connected to the Trincomalee incident. I am a Catholic; my mother is a Buddhist. Remember, Saharan once went and smashed a Buddha statue. Yesterday, the behaviour of some police officers was like that. We saw officers with batons pushing and forcibly removing the venerable Buddha statue. We saw a venerable monk being thrown to the ground and beaten. We worship monks out of respect for the Buddha and the robe. If so, the law must be enforced against those police officers. Tourists also come to visit our sacred Buddhist sites such as the Atamasthana. A Government that has not delivered justice to the Easter victims is now unleashing police oppression against Buddhists. I state this firmly.

¶ 08 Hon. Presiding Member, when this Government came to power, they said Ministers would not take official residences. Now what has happened? Six Ministers have taken official residences. They also said, “We do not want anything the people do not have.” They said they would not take fuel. The President said we should emulate foreign Ministers who go by bicycle, bus or train.

¶ 09 But see Circular dated 21 January 2025. No Government has given a Minister 900 litres of fuel. Yet for a Minister’s or Deputy Minister’s official vehicle, a maximum of 900 litres per month is given. For one vehicle 900 litres; even for two vehicles it seems 900 litres each. How can one vehicle consume 900 litres? Consider how they squander the people’s money. No Government has given 900 litres for a Minister’s vehicle. Moreover, secretaries and staff—private secretaries, coordinating secretaries, media secretaries, public relations officers—use vehicles. One person uses up to five vehicles. Around Rs. 1.12 million per month is spent—over Rs. 1 million monthly just to maintain private secretaries, coming to Rs. 14.4 million annually. A secretary’s salary is Rs. 66,862; other expenses Rs. 27,300; fuel Rs. 68,855. With five such secretaries, it totals Rs. 163,017 each, with about 15 staff in the team. This is how Cabinet and Deputy Ministers use public funds, despite promising to travel by bus, van, train, on foot or bicycle.