Hundred Day Program, a reprint of Budget 2015: President
Tuesday, 23 December 2014 01:35
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President Mahinda Rajapaksa said the Opposition candidate’s 100 day program to create what he called a new Sri Lanka was a mere copy of his 2015 Budget.
He said the value of the promises rests purely on how the parties concerned were able to deliver on their promises in the past.
The President added that the entire country had to wait for 60 years until he became the President to create a new Sri Lanka.
President Rajapaksa stressed that the Opposition candidate’s manifesto was a copy of the Government’s 2015 Budget and everything the Opposition candidate said in the manifesto had already been implemented.
The President added that the Opposition candidate had mentioned in the manifesto that employees in the public sector who had completed over 180 days would be absorbed into permanent service.
“The Opposition candidate has nothing to do since I have already granted them permanency,” he said.
President Rajapaksa added that such employees who were working in the Ceylon Electricity Board were also granted permanency though there is a delay in issuing the letter to each and every such employee.
“I have directed the authorities to issue the letters to them soon,” he said.
President Rajapaksa added that the Opposition has come to an agreement with separatist forces to divide the country and these agreements were not divulged to the people.
“What the Opposition wants is to stir the flames of communalism and racism to destroy this country and the policy paper has been designed to meet the requirement of the separatist forces,” he said.
The President was addressing a massive rally at Weerasinghe stadium in Ampara on Saturday, which was attended by thousands in spite of heavy rains.
The President added that the Opposition candidate has not mentioned a single word about the fertiliser subsidy being provided by the UPFA Government to the farmers in his manifesto. “This means that he wishes to stop extending this facility to the farmers if he happened to be the President,” he said.
The President added that the monopoly in the paddy purchasing and rice production would be ended after 9 January.
He said that there were elements who were in the practice of purchasing paddy from the farmers at cheaper rates and selling them after processing them at the highest rate.
“We will give more teeth to the Paddy Marketing Board to ensure the rights of innocent farmers. This practice of exploiting the farmers and consumers would be ended after 9 January,” he stressed.
The President added that the strength of the public service which was to be totally privatised was increased from 0.6 million to 1.5 million and 150,000 youths would be provided Government employment soon.
He said the funds for the recruitment of 150,000 youths to the Government service has already been set aside through the 2015 Budget.
“The people in the Ampara District have not forgotten the era in which they had to live in jungles in fear of terrorism. Buddhist monks were brutally killed in Arantalawa,” he said.
“I believe the people in Ampara have not forgotten the killings at the Mangalagama temple, Kattankudi mosque and many other areas in the district by terrorists.”
He said the Government led by him ended this gloomy era and was striving to uplift the living standards of the people through the ‘Mahinda Chinthana’ policy framework.
