Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa yesterday took pains to defend the Opposition from the accusations of blocking the Government’s attempt to settle the overdue payments of the contractors and give relief to the people during the New Year season.
Addressing a press conference at the Parliament complex, MP Premadasa tried to justify their opposition to a raise of the debt ceiling, adding that no responsible Opposition could support such a move when the country was on the verge of a debt crisis.
He claimed the Government with its recently announced tax revisions had forgone an income of Rs. 500 billion to Rs. 600 billion.
“This is 25 to 30 percent of the total State revenue and is equivalent to about three to four percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). At the same time, the Government abruptly stopped the Gamperaliya project, Enterprise Sri Lanka loan schemes, the nutrition pack given to pregnant women, the salary increments between Rs. 3,000 and Rs. 24,000 to all public servants since January as per the recommendations of the Salary Commission headed by S. Ranugge, Rs. 15,000 allowance for Executive Grade officers and the removal of pension anomalies.”
“It reduced the value of vouchers given to buy school uniform materials. Likewise, it is the Government which ruined the people’s New Year season by taking back the proposed relief,” he commented.
He added that the Government had 13 weeks to present an interim budget to provide relief to the public, but it waited until the February end to present a Vote on Account. “It consisted of two main parts. We agreed to the first part relating to development, but opposed the second part which sought to increase the borrowing limit. However, the Government withdrew both the items,” he added.
Opposition Leader Premadasa also invited all those who have been sidelined or lost due to the new alliance between the SLFP and the SLPP to join with the ‘Samagi Jana Balavegaya’. However, when questioned by a journalist on the moves of several minority parties including the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) and the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) to form a new alliance to contest the elections, Premadasa tried to dodge the question by diverting the attention back to the Vote on Account.
He briefly answered the question stating that he was not aware of any such move by the minor parties, and that all democratic forces would join hands with them at the upcoming elections.
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