JVP to launch islandwide anti-Government protest

By Chamitha Kuruppu

Demanding a Rs. 10,000 salary increment for the State sector and a 40 per cent increase for the private sector, the Marxist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) party complained that citizens in this country are ‘in misery’ due to the ‘bankrupt’ economic and political policies of the present Government and that the Government is hiding the actual truth about people in Sri Lanka suffering from hunger, malnutrition and unemployment.

Addressing a media gathering JVP Parliamentarian Anura Kumara Dissanayake said that a countrywide protest campaign would be carried out commencing 24 November against the Government’s bankrupt economic policies and dictatorship ruling.   

Dissanayake explained that rather than fulfilling the promises made by the ‘Mahinda Chinthana,’ the Rajapaksa administration was ruling the country according to its whims and fancies.

According to him the present Government is following the same economic policies of the UNP and there are hardly any changes in the UNP’s ‘Regaining Sri Lanka’ programme and the ‘Mahinda Chinthana’.

“Selling our land and assets to foreign companies and privatising education are some of the examples that both the Rajapaksa administration and the UNP believe in same economic policies,” he said.

He appointed out that the Government that promised to enhance sugar production and to develop the sugar industry when it came to power is now trying to lease out the Kantale Sugar Factory to a foreign company.

He further noted that the Government was also trying to lease out the Embilipitiya Paper Company for Rs. 600 million.

“The cost per kilometre of the Southern Highway is Rs. 770 million and they are selling an entire company that can manufacture paper for the whole country for just Rs. 600 million,” Dissanayake added.

Dissanayake also asserted that although the Government made numerous promises in the 2011 Budget and it has been almost a year since, the Government has failed to fulfil those promises. “People in the country are disappointed,” he noted.

“Minister of Finance President Mahinda Rajapaksa made various promises. He promised to raise the pension payment of elders, he promised a Rs. 100,000 allowance for the third child of disabled soldiers and he promised a special pension scheme for farmers. These were mere words. These are just broken promises of this Government,” he said.

During the presidential campaign President Rajapaksa promised a Rs. 2,500 salary increment for the public sector.

“It has been two years and there is no sign of such salary increment. The cost of living in the country keeps increasing by the day. But the Government has failed to raise salaries of the workers,” he explained.

“According to statistics of the Government, an ordinary four member family requires Rs. 42,500 per month to fulfil basic requirements. Considering the present situation we feel that the salaries of all workers should be increased by at least Rs. 10,000.”

“Private sector employees haven’t received any salary increments in the recent past. There are various collective agreements that promise salary increments for private sector workers, but they have failed to fulfil those promises. There are over 70 lakhs of private sector workers who find it difficult to manage their day-to-day expenses with the salary they get. We believe private sector workers need a 40 per cent salary increment.”

“With the recent fuel price increase, there is a threat of a bus fare hike. Three wheeler charges will also be increased in near future. It is the people in this country who will suffer from such situations. The Minister of Power and Energy who boasted that he would make the Electricity Board a profit-making institution now confesses that it has incurred a massive amount of losses. He is also hinting at an increase in electricity prices. They have secretly increased air mail charges. We shouldn’t forget that this was done in the wake of a budget,” he added. 

“Other than increasing the country’s production and enabling people to live a better life, this Government keeps spending massive amounts of public funds on extravaganzas. Such foolish acts of the Government will only hasten the country’s economic downturn,” Dissanayake emphasised.