The Hon. Hector Appuhamy

¶ 01 You are being too strict then. Very well.

¶ 02 Hon. Speaker, revenue of around 7 to 8 billion rupees has been earned by selling this ash. However, only LKR 91 million has been spent on the welfare of the people in the area and other programmes. Hon. Speaker, you may not grasp how unfair that is because you are in the Chair, but for the people there, it is a grave injustice. These are the very people facing the environmental harm: on one side fishers; on the other, especially farmers; and also the households. They cannot even hang clothes to dry on a line; even if they do, they have to wash them again because of the ash. This is the situation, and no solution has yet been provided. You have been in power for a year now, but the problem existed even before.

¶ 03 My first supplementary is this, Hon. Minister. While this situation exists, recently low-quality coal has been imported, creating a serious issue. When coal is burned and the ash percentage exceeds 16 percent, it becomes a serious environmental problem. If, while people suffer environmental impacts, more harm is caused by burning low-quality coal that increases ash output, it is a major concern. Therefore, we request, and ask as a question, that an environmental report regarding coal combustion and resultant ash be presented to this august Parliament. We need a licence or environmental report regarding the ash produced by this combustion, especially to determine whether it is beneficial or harmful to society. Will you provide such a report?