The Hon. Bimal Rathnayake

¶ 01 Yes, tailor-made solutions, right? We need to do things specifically suited to them. That is what we, as a Government, are committed to. The President is not doing this looking at elections. There is no election pending. At this time, he is not deciding to go to those areas because of any so-called “GOD.” Hon. Mano Ganesan, first, giving houses and giving land are important, and so is recognition.

¶ 02 Because for a person who has suffered, beyond food and security, being acknowledged and recognized is also important. When the national leader is held by hands calloused and yellowed with turmeric from work, it is not a political show. At that moment, that mother feels strength. We are not people who put on a show. The President himself comes from a very poor family. We have nothing to show off. I say this to show that we have both understanding and the will regarding this. However, we accept, just as the Hon. Members have raised, that we too faced various challenges here. We have not faced a shortage of funds. We have no money problem to work in upcountry, in the plantations, in the North or in the East. I am not saying we have money in abundance, but we have enough to actually do things. The problems we face after starting these tasks are either weaknesses in the official machinery or the lack of intervention to work exactly according to needs. When I went to the Mooloya Estate, I saw that although there was a large school on that estate, there was no accommodation for the teachers.