The Hon. R.M. Ranjith Madduma Bandara

¶ 01 As per that, I felt otherwise; I will recheck.

¶ 02 Today, it costs about Rs. 235 to produce a kilo of sugar in Sri Lanka due to high fertilizer and fuel prices. The government earns about 80 percent margin on fuel. Our electricity tariffs are among the highest. Fertilizer prices have increased roughly seven-fold. Please intervene.

¶ 03 I recall in 1989, when the Indian company Motherson came to establish the Siyambalanduwa sugar factory, three investors were shot dead by the JVP—Mr. Bansal, his wife, and Ms. R.P. Kotha, among others. Those who destroyed then—are they now seeking to destroy again?

¶ 04 Recently, visiting Siyambalanduwa and Pelwatte, I saw people uprooting cane, because payments are delayed three to four months; some have still not been paid, forcing them to pawn jewellery to survive. Did you come to power to destroy the cane industry? Please protect it. The strongest trade unions in your coalition are in these factories, and even the present Deputy Minister of Agriculture previously spent much time there.

¶ 05 On rural economy: At Independence, 90 percent of export earnings were from tea, rubber, and coconut; only 10 percent from industry. Due to reforms since J.R. Jayewardene, over 76 years, industry now provides about 90 percent of export earnings, and tea/rubber/coconut about 10 percent.

¶ 06 Today, 35 percent of our people are poor, according to the World Bank; 80 percent of them are rural and agricultural communities. You have allocated Rs. 25 billion under the national “Praja Shakthi” programme, forming Community Development Councils at the divisional level, chaired by your Presidential Coordinating Committee appointees—often MPs or party cadres. Is this fair? Previously, programmes like food stamps, Jana Saviya, and Samurdhi were administered by officials, not politicized. Now you are politicizing poverty alleviation, allocating funds and projects through political chairs who decide beneficiaries and estimates, even for food security. I have the circular. This is wrong. Return power to village communities and officials. Do not turn public funds into partisan projects. Please do not drag politics into poverty alleviation—hunger knows no party or colour.

¶ 07 Thank you.