Sajith will surpass Ranil in election defeats ­– Minister Chandrasena

Land, Land Development, Wildlife Conservation and Environment Minister S.M. Chandrasena said that in the future, former Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa would break the record of consecutive election defeats experienced by United National Party (UNP) Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe.

Speaking about the country's current political, economical, and healthcare situations, Chandrasena told the Daily News that the government's farsighted precautionary steps, including the timely quarantine systems, has been instrumental in controlling the spread of COVID-19, and keeping the fatality rate at 9 during the past two months.

Referring to the demands made by the Opposition headed by Sajith Premadasa, that the government should pay Rs.20,000 as life support gratuity to low-income families affected by the coronavirus instead of the present Rs.5,000, and the accusation that the government was going to impose pay-cuts on government employees, the minister emphasized further that such childish statements were a reflection of the immature political wisdom and hypocrisy of the former Opposition Leader.

"He will understand that to be in the calibre of a political leader, he would need thorough knowledge in national income, banking processes, prices fluctuations, state financial strategies, deflation and inflation, state sponsoring, public welfare, etc. And this has to be coupled with political experience, Chandrasena said.

He added, "The Opposition has been misleading the public that foreign aid worth billions have been granted to the country. It is baseless. The Opposition, previously headed by Sajith Premadasa, purposely thwarted the government's efforts to get additional funds passed in Parliament to meet emergency issues, by misusing their majority in the House. The prevailing scarcity of fertilizer in the country was a result of such petty politics."

Speaking about about the growing human-elephant conflict in the country; mainly in the Anuradhapura, Kurunegala, and Polonnaruwa districts; the minister said it has been accepted that appropriately designed and planned electric fences could minimize such incidents.

He said that in addition to the present 4,500-kilometre electric fence, a new fence that is 1,000 kilometres long would be set up soon. Furthermore, 300,000 lime plants are being planted parallel to the 145-kilometre-long Wilpattu electric fence, Chandrasena said.