The main Opposition United National Party (UNP) yesterday proposed in Parliament a full-day's debate should be granted to discuss the unprecedented electricity tariff increase.

Acting Leader of the Opposition, John Amaratunga, making a special statement in Parliament under Standing Order 23.2 said the recent power tariff hike was bound to affect all aspects of the everyday life of the people as there is hardly any economic activity that is not dependent on electricity. Full text of the statement: "As it is, the people are being crushed by the spiralling cost of living, on top of which the government has decided to raise the electricity tariff that in some instances is as high as 70%. The worst affected by this are those consumers in the lower end of the scale.

Captive funds in the Employees Provident Fund, a private citizens’ pension fund were being wasted on the construction of a 35-storey building on which there was little return, United National Party Parliamentarian Ravi Karunanayake claimed yesterday.

Raising a question in Parliament yesterday, Karunanayake said that the investment of Rs.7.5 billion by the EPF into the building was unwarranted and promised low returns.
“An amendment made on 12 January 2012 to the Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) Act of 1958 has enabled the Government to make use of the captive funds imprudently and waste it on the construction of a 35 storied building,” he said.

UNP MP and its chief spokesman on the economy Dr. Harsha de Silva yesterday described President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s remark to the effect that economy would have collapsed if the electricity hike wasn’t implemented on Monday during meeting with editors, was an “economic bombshell”.
“If the President who is also the Minister of Finance had said the economy would have collapsed if the CEB tariffs weren’t increased and in the process hitting the poor, then it is a serious crisis situation.

Having declared that the UNP would move Court against the government decision to increase electricity tariff, effective April 20, JSS president and UNP deputy secretary Dr. Jayalath Jayawardena said that he was in the process of consulting a panel of lawyers, headed Roland Perera, PC.

Gampaha District MP Jayawardena said that he had submitted all relevant documents pertaining to the CEB as well as his recent submissions to the regulatory body, the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL), against the latest tariff revision, to Attorney-at-Law Perera.

I objected to a formula proposed by the Finance Secretary on the electricity tariff hike on March 31, 2013 and also wrote to the President in January making clear my objection to it, Former Power and Energy Minister Patali Champika Ranawaka said in a statement today.

Ranawaka who is currently the Minister of Technology, Research and Atomic Energy points out that the statement made in Parliament yesterday by Minister Pavithra Wanniarachchi suggests that the proposal to increase electricity tariffs, was proposed by him as the former Minister of Power and Energy.

The two police officers alleged to have been threatened by the Mayor of Gampaha had been transferred to Peliyagoda Special Investigation Unit on their request.

The police media spokesperson said that they were now on duty at the Peliyagoda Special Investigation Unit led by DIG Vass Gunawardene.

Sources revealed that the Mayor of Gampaha was arrested recently for interfering with the duties of the police officers while they were on traffic control duty.
The police spokesperson BuddhikaSiriwardene said further that the Mayor had been later released on bail.  (Sanath Desmond)

Officials of the British High Commission has held discussions with the authorities of the Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) in the morning today (23), reports say.

The discussion was held at the headquarters of BBS with the participation of the leader of BBS Ven Kirama Wimalajothi Thera, Financial Secretary Ven Haputale Pagnarama Thera and Executive member Dilantha Vithanage.

The Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) says a visit to the US by a delegation of monks from the organization was successful.

A delegation headed by Bodu Bala Sena Secretary General, the venerable Galagodaththe Gnanasara Thero, had discussions with monks based in the US including the Chief Incumbent of the Indiana Buddhist Temple the venerable Thalangama Devananda Thero.

The Bodu Bala Sena says it briefed Sri Lankan monks in the US with regards to recent developments in Sri Lanka.

Minister Vasudeva Nanayakkara, the leader of Democratic Left Front (DLF), a coalition party of the Sri Lankan government, has said that he would complain to the President of the attack on the estate sector protest staged to demand a wage hike.

The Minister was quoted in the local media as saying that he would inform the President and request that necessary action be taken against the police officers who had disrupted the protest organized by the Plantation Trade Union Federation (PTUF) in Kotagala, in the Nuwara Eliya district.

Sri Lanka's main opposition United National Party (UNP) parliamentarian Sajith Premadasa says that the lack of proper industrial policies has compelled industries to move out of the country to other countries in the region.

Pointing out that the government did not have a proper plan to boost businesses, Premadasa noted that some of the key industries in the country have opened up factories in India.