Hon. Rohana Bandara

¶ 01 Please, do not cut ETF and EPF from wages, that is what the workers demand. So do not beat the drum claiming you increased the minimum wage as some special task; this proposal is not some unique achievement of yours.

¶ 02 I am glad transport issues touching Anuradhapura were raised. Because the President’s home address and the Thambuttegama signal posts were mentioned, let me say this: not to “develop” the Thambuttegama railway station, but to conduct a feasibility study to allocate Rs. 100 million in this Budget to identify its core functions and show Rs. 666,000—what is that supposed to mean? They point to the station’s proximity to an economic hub. I need not re-lecture you on our country’s rail transport. To take vegetables from the Thambuttegama economic center to the Thambuttegama station, you need a vehicle. Then you must bring them by train to the Fort station. From there, another vehicle must take them to the Peliyagoda Manning Market. Hon. Minister of Agriculture, what happens to the quality of vegetables when they’re transshipped seven or eight times? Even if the doors are shut in the iron wagons of our trains, what is the condition of those vegetables? There are many things to be done for Thambuttegama and Anuradhapura. You also know that, Hon. Presiding Member from our own seat.

¶ 03 Anuradhapura is the largest district in Sri Lanka. Yet, for a long time, it has been neglected like a stepchild. We are happy a President has now been elected. But spend in the right places. Selecting this station for development just because the name “Thambuttegama” appears in one’s home address is pointless. Trains derail continuously, without end. There’s no certainty they arrive on time. Elephants block trains. Those loading vegetables at Thambuttegama then board a bus and wait for hours until a train comes. In the end, they find the train derailed or hit by an elephant and cancelled. Should we then throw the vegetables to the elephants? So go for practical measures. Rebuild the school the President attended in Thambuttegama. Produce quality children for the nation. Increase the number of our children entering universities from Thambuttegama. Provide strength so our children can engage in sports with dignity. Just because the name of the area with the station appears in one’s address and something was done for Anuradhapura or “my village,” there is much more to be done for the village. Let’s discuss and do those. We will suggest them and give you our support. Ministers came and cleaned tanks. If you give us opportunities like that, we too can proceed with such work. Then we will also join with shramadana. With so much work to do, don’t waste funds on useless things. Do not boast; it serves no purpose. We ask that you allocate money for practical, beneficial work.

¶ 04 You also spoke about lands. Under the “Urumaya” program, the issuing of deeds has now been stopped. You know that securing land ownership is every person’s dream. Land is the foundation to build one’s economic life. To convert Swarna Bhoomi and Jaya Bhoomi permits into full deeds, farmers have to go from pillar to post; fabricate unnecessary certificates; get various letters; and go in circles. This undermines the sanctity of those lands. This was halted citing land security issues. Has anyone stolen land and run off? Tell us a single instance of a “white man” now stealing land in Sri Lanka. The Portuguese, Dutch and British stole our resources for centuries, but did they now steal even an inch of land? Do not, using false pretexts, stop people from getting rightful title to their land and thereby enable the corrupt to proceed further. Please focus on this. You can even coin a nice name; call it something under the National People’s Power, or in the name of Comrade Anura Kumara in some proportion; change the nomenclature if you like. But please establish a process to grant clear title to these lands.

¶ 05 There is much to say about education, but I have only two minutes. So let me speak on agriculture. I listened to our Hon. Minister of Agriculture. I thought he would speak of the farmer’s future. Now he is even embarrassed to say “Rs. 10,000.” They say a fertilizer subsidy of Rs. 20,000 per two hectares. Where did this two-hectare story come from? In our Mahaweli, lands have largely been given around one hectare, so practically most paddy lands are about half a hectare. The Minister wants to inflate the numbers: “Rs. 20,000 per two hectares.” Beyond that, what did he say about the farmer? Previously, even with the pundits, they spoke in acreage. How many metric tons of paddy have you actually procured? I shouted myself hoarse about this. When speaking of the rice issue, you turned to paddy procurement. I asked what is the proper system you have to purchase paddy and what is the fair price you will pay. We said we will show this scientifically. At the price you offered, are you getting paddy now? You clung to “Yahapalana”; but during that government, when fair prices were given, there was storage full of paddy—enough to fill Mattala five times. Why? Because a good, fair price was given. But you, claiming to be scientific, reduced the scientifically set price from Rs. 157 per kg then to Rs. 120 now.

¶ 06 When 670 kilograms of paddy arrive, you go to “receive” it—like how people used to garland oil tankers arriving in the past. When 675 kilograms arrived at the Marketing Board, a group went to welcome it. Here, national headline news: many Ministers go to hoist a sack of six-hundred-odd kilos of paddy! We spoke of ending a 70-year curse in the paddy market. What was the relief to farmers? Did you give a price for finger millet? Any concession for black gram? Farmers are unable to sell black gram. Where did you intervene?

¶ 07 Today, do you speak about the price of finger millet? Hon. Deputy Minister, previously you could not even leave the paddy field or escape the storm. You went and harassed those people even while they were chewing betel or at the rice pot, but you have not implemented even five percent relief for farmers from this Budget. Do not do that, Hon. Deputy Minister. The very camps that stood for you, that gave you strength to come to power—like public servants, farmers too worked to bring you to power.

¶ 08 On agriculture, President Anura Kumara Dissanayake says, “We must provide paddy as necessary; we allocate so much money for this.” Do you think you are the first government to spend on agriculture? You say billions for bunds and canals; who built the Mahaweli? Who built the great reservoirs under the Mahaweli project? Did you build all this? Or did it just spring up? Even the colonizers at times supported agriculture, even if they later destroyed it. From independence—from D. S. Senanayake’s time—every government invested to make this country self-sufficient in agriculture because rice consumption is high; rice is our staple. It is the duty of a government to ensure that. So, please focus on this work. Thank you, Hon. Presiding Member, for the time; I now conclude.