The Hon. K. Sujith Sanjaya Perera

¶ 01 Hon. Presiding Member, ministers justified the emergency extension on grounds of the cyclone. The Leader of the Opposition himself supported invoking emergency at the time, and both government and opposition members cooperated to enable action. Six months have now passed since the Ditha cyclone. Have you delivered what people expected?

¶ 02 You keep citing Rs. 25,000 and Rs. 50,000 grants. But you also promised Rs. 500,000 grants for fully damaged houses without complex assessments, and the President promised Rs. 500,000 for land and another Rs. 500,000 to build a house. None of this has materialized.

¶ 03 Despite distributing Rs. 25,000 and Rs. 50,000, many families in high-risk zones, officially instructed to vacate, still have not received a single plot or house. In my Kegalle District — Yatiyantota electorate and DS division — more than 335 families are marked as high-risk; not a single family has been given a house. Please investigate and expedite land allocation and payments, as promised.

¶ 04 Months ago you told us, “Next month it will be done.” Even if you extend the emergency for another six or nine months, you still won’t deliver. This government is one of unfulfilled promises.

¶ 05 Regarding estate workers, you claim to have raised wages by Rs. 400, but Rs. 200 of that is by companies and Rs. 200 by the government. In 2018–2019, the daily wage was Rs. 1,000; two years ago, the then government raised it by Rs. 350 at once — you did not. Do not take undue credit.

¶ 06 There are estate workers without houses, being removed from line rooms with no solution. In my electorate, one estate has 50 such families; in Nuwara Eliya’s Watawala too, families are marked for eviction. Your circulars prevent Divisional Secretaries from allocating land and enabling houses. Amend those regulations to allow land and housing solutions.

¶ 07 We also saw recent assaults on estate workers — in Pelmadulla, at Mokka Estate in Maskeliya, and at Delmar Estate in Nuwara Eliya. You hold May Day rallies and speak with crocodile tears, but cannot provide land, houses, or even basic security to estate workers. Increasing wages on paper while workloads and targets are raised is exploitation: tea plucking targets raised from 12kg to 15kg or 17kg; rubber tappers told to tap 325 trees instead of 300. This is how you “raised wages.” Stop rhetoric; solve housing, land, and protection.