The Hon. Bimal Rathnayake

¶ 01 Please give me a little time, Madam Member.

¶ 02 There are plenty of official quarters on that estate that have been locked up and abandoned. I proposed even to the Prime Minister to take those quarters on rent through the Ministry of Education, paying for them, until the estate’s own need arises, and to provide them to these teachers. Otherwise, these teachers cannot commute to that area in the morning and go back in the evening every day. I discussed this also with the Prime Minister and with Minister Madhura Senanayake, as he is from Nuwara Eliya. What has sometimes happened is that instead of seeking very simple answers to very practical problems, we have gone around in circles searching for grand answers. We too are structured to some extent, aren’t we, Hon. Radhakrishnan? There is a setup that has developed and we are changing it. We are not landing afresh on Robinson Crusoe’s island and doing politics there. Therefore, we too have challenges.

¶ 03 Finally, I would like to say: let us do these things together without being antagonistic. Please, you too know, during the incident, the suspects were arrested the very same day. Find out whose estate it is and who that estate’s owner is. It is not good for me to name names. Hon. Gayanthe Karunathilaka can find it out very quickly. It is in the hands of a top figure in the BOG of his party. They do not allow people to live and they beat and drive them away. They are the same people who again come as Ministers asking for votes.