“Funds released for paying gratuity to retired public sector employees”
Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena said in Parliament yesterday (10) that the Government has already released funds for the payment of gratuity to retiring government employees.
The Prime Minister further said there was a delay in releasing funds for the payment of gratuity to retiring government employees due to the economic crisis.
He was replying to a question by Parliamentarian Jagath Kumara Sumitrarachchi.
The Prime Minister said that this gratuity payment was owing to retiring government employees from 2021.
Prime Minister Gunawardena said that in order to make this gratuity payment, the Finance Ministry and the Public Administration Ministry held lengthy discussions and as a result of that the Treasury released the required funds in December last year.
State Minister of Home Affairs Ashoka Priyantha said that there is a huge problem with the retirees’ paperwork. When an employee retires, it is the responsibility of the head of the organization to prepare the concerned person’s file. It is also the responsibility of the retiree to complete their paperwork on the day of their retirement. If this happens, the retired people can get their pension without any delay. From January 2023 to December 08, 50,616 public sector employees have retired. The amount of gratuity paid to all those pensioners is Rs. 62,322 million.
“Electricity for LC bodies should not be cut due to non-payment of bills”
Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena categorically stated in Parliament yesterday that his stance is that electricity connections to Local Government (LG) bodies should not be disconnected due to non-payment of electricity bills, and discussions have been initiated with the Treasury and the Power and Energy Ministry to resolve the matter.
He said that some Local Government bodies have installed rooftop solar photovoltaic power generation systems, but the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) is behaving arbitrarily without connecting them to the National Grid.
The Premier expressed these views in response to a question raised by MP Dayasiri Jayasekara who queried that there is a rule that the electricity bills for the streetlights should be paid by the relevant Local Government bodies and some Local Government bodies have an outstanding electricity bill up to Rs. 600,000 in this regard.
A decision has been reached and announced that all payments related to streetlights that were previously under the Highways Ministry should be made by the local government bodies. Accordingly, the CEB assigned all these payments to the Local Government bodies. However, income earned by several Local Government authorizes is insufficient to make these payments.
According to the announcement, disconnection can be done very easily if the money is not paid. But the Prime Minister, as well as the Minister of Local Government, are of the position that such injustice should not be done. “We have started discussions to resolve this issue,” the Premier said.
“No new casinos have been registered”
State Minister of Finance Ranjith Siyambalapitiya said in Parliament yesterday (10) that 10 applications have been received for new casinos and no new licence has been issued recently.
He was responding to a query by MP Ven. Athuraliye Rathana Thera. The Minister said that Rs. 500 million was charged earlier as registration fees for five years when starting a casino business and a decision has been taken to increase that amount for new registrations. State Minister Siyambalapitiya further said that the annual taxes on casinos have been increased from Rs.200 million to Rs. 500 million with effect from August 01, 2022.
He said locals are charged Rs. 16,000 for admission to a casino and this entrance fee is charged to discourage locals from visiting casinos. The Government wants to limit casinos only to foreigners.
“Many Acts to be amended for just and fair society”
Justice Minister Dr. Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe PC told Parliament yesterday that many Acts will be amended to create a conducive environment for a peaceful and just society.
The Minister said this while joining the debate on several Bills including the Contempt of Court, Tribunal or Institution Bill, the Recognition and Enforcement of International Settlement Agreements Resulting from Mediation Bill, Mediation Board (Amendment) Bill, Powers of Attorney (Amendment) Bill and Notaries (Amendment) Bill.
He said that there has been a long discussion regarding contempt of Court or an institution due to the loopholes in the law. He pointed out that there wasn’t a clear definition for contempt of Court on the relevant Bill previously and it has now been made in this Act.
The Minister further stated that the enforcement of international settlement agreements resulting from mediation is an important Bill. He also said that mediation has been encouraged in Sri Lanka. This would prevent the pile up of minor cases in the Courts.
Sabaragamuwa Medical Faculty yet to be opened due to lack of auspicious time – AKD
Irangika Range
NPP Leader MP Anura Kumara Dissanayake told Parliament yesterday that the vesting of new buildings built for the Sabaragamuwa University Medicine Faculty to the students has been delayed due to lack of an auspicious time.
He said that the newly constructed parallel clinical building of the Sabaragamuwa Medicine Faculty has not yet been handed over to the students.
He further said that the problems related to medical faculties in Sabaragamuwa, Moratuwa and North-West Universities have arisen and the students have suffered a lot due to this.
He said the Faculty of Medicine at Sabaragamuwa University was started in 2019 and lecturers and students have had to face many problems due to lack of a proper faculty complex and lack of human and physical resources in the last four years.
“Land rights to people of the North will be expedited”
Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena yesterday said that the Government has decided to expedited the work of giving land rights to the people of the North within the next two months.
The Premier expressed these views responding to a question by Member of Parliament Charles Nirmalanathan.
The Prime Minister further stated that the people currently occupying lands without proper authorization or permission will never be evicted from those lands.
He further stated that the President has decided to pay priority to solve the war-related problems of the people in Jaffna, during his recent visit to Jaffna. Furthermore, the Prime Minister said that the Government has accepted as a policy the provision of relief to all the residents of these lands.
“All bills within allocation limits were paid by Dec. 15”
State Minister of Finance Ranjith Siyambalapitiya yesterday (10) announced in Parliament that all the bills submitted within the allocation limit were fully paid until December 15, 2023.
State Minister Siyambalapitiya said this while joining the debate of the adjournment motion forwarded by Member of Parliament Kapila Athukorala.
State Minister Siyambalapitiya said that when the President took over the Finance Ministry in 2022, an amount of Rs. 360 billion remained to be settled as bills and arrangements have been made to fully pay all the bills submitted within the allocation limit up to December 15, 2023.
In addition, around Rs. 48 billion has been released to pay gratuity of retired public servants. Apart from that, Rs. 184 billion was spent in 2023 for the subsidies given to Samurdhi beneficiaries, the disabled, the elderly, and kidney patients.
“Electricity bills would reduce due to drop in world crude oil prices”
State Minister of Finance Dr. Ranjith Siyambalapitiya said in Parliament yesterday (10) that he believes that oil prices and electricity bills would be reduced due to the decline in the crude oil prices in the international market and the hydropower generation capacity reaching its maximum level due to abundant rain.
The State Minister also said that the relevant amendment will raise the existing 15 percent VAT limit to 18 percent and remove the VAT exemption of 97 items.
He said this while opening the Parliamentary debate on the Value Added Tax (VAT) Amendment Bill.
The State Minister also said that this amendment is expected to increase state revenue by 1.2 percent, which is Rs. 378 billion.
He said that Rs. 65 billion was previously spent on social welfare activities, and it is proposed to increase it to Rs. 209 billion next year.
State Minister Siyambalapitiya said that it is the Government’s expectation to take state income to the level of 12.5 percent in 2024 compared to the current level of 9.1 percent and by 2025, it is expected to raise it to 15 percent and the economic reforms for that are being carried out.
The State Minister also stated that the direct and indirect tax rates, which previously ranged from 20 percent to 80 percent, have now reached the level of 30-70 percent, and proposals to further revise it have been included in this year’s Budget.
He said that although various parties requested the removal of goods newly subject to VAT citing various reasons, such ‘sticking plaster’ solutions taken in history led to the creation of a country in economic decline. He also said that many items including school equipment, rice, flour, wheat, vegetables and milk will continue to be exempt from VAT.
The State Minister also said that with this amendment, inflation is likely to increase by 1.5 to 2 percent.
