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| Wednesday, 17 March 2004 |
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by Victor Marambage, Talawa group corr Today Sri Lanka and Sri Lankans are facing a grave crisis. They have to take decisive steps to avert this danger. Hence the dissolving of the Parliament by President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga is a blessing in disguise", said Piyal Parakrama, Veteran Environmentalist at a conference held at the Centre for Society and Religion (CSR) Maradana on Environment. "Sri Lanka owed none in 1948 when she became independent from British rule. But today after 56 years, we owe so much that every individual, including children born last night owe the world Rs. 150,000 each. Whether these loans obtained as development loans were actually used for development in a question to be asked. Some say Sri Lanka is a developing country. I say it is not so. We are a nation going from bad to worse. We are indebted so much. "Governor Robert Brownrigg said that if Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) is to be captured the only way was to disrupt its agro-economy. We had one of the best irrigation systems in the world. All fauna, flora, forests and nature were tightly bound together with our culture and civilization. Water was and is the most valuable resource in our country. Water is the sprout of fertility of the earth. Today this water and one rain forests are sold out to foreigners. All plans are ready to be implemented and executed by the government for us, the real owners of these resources, to purchase them from these foreigners. "When the Minister of Finance go a begging for funds to foreign countries he goes as a very proud man. When he obtains loans successfully he becomes more proud. Our media hail him as a hero. But do we have needed drugs in one hospital?, Parakrama questioned. "We will be forced to obey several laws when water management is handed over to foreign agents. Bathing, washing, cleaning of dogs and houses will have to be paid for. The section "bathing of houses" in the Parliamentary Act itself shows that this Act is an imported one. So today itself we all must decide whether we vote for a political party of this nature or not. If not we will be left only with free oxygen for our breathing. Even that the foreign multi-national companies will claim as their as oxygen is produced by forests belonging to them and that this also has to be paid for", he added. "Removal of sand from Deduru Oya was prohibited by the courts of justice. The Oya was returning to normal. But since about six months the removal has re-started. Gem mining in the Kumbukkan Oya is done using back-hoes. No report of any newspaper is allowed to take photographs of these as political mafia is intense", Douglas Chandana Kumara of Sri Lanka Green Party said. Laxman Jagath Kumara of the same party also spoke. At these conferences the members of the plantation sector, agricultural community, FTZ employees, IDPs, and women and children give vent to their grievances directly to politicians and others who are responsible and seek solutions if and when they are successful at the coming elections. Rev. Fr. Tissa Balasuriya and Rev. Fr. Anselem Silva presided at the conference. |
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