Govt decision on CEB, CPC will benefit country - UPFA

THE UPFA Government will not act in an irresponsible and arbitrary manner regarding the future of the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) and the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB), the UPFA said in a statement issued yesterday.

Signed by Minister Mangala Samaraweera and MP Wimal Weerawansa, the statement said the Government will allow a wider public debate on this issue and reach a correct decision that will benefit the country.

The statement said the Government was striving to take a correct and beneficial decision on the Government shares of these two institutions. These shares have been earmarked for mandatory sale by the former UNF Government.

The statement: "The sale out of national economic resources has been brought to an end in this country today.

The present crises relating to the Ceylon Electricity Board and Petroleum Corporations are sequel to steps taken by the previous UNP regime. During their two year rule, the UNP passed legislation to restructure the Ceylon Electricity Board.

Now the joint efforts of the UPFA Government and the Trade Unions are motivated to turn this trend which has proceeded to a considerable extent to a new direction that is beneficial both to the Electricity Board and the country.

It was the same UNP Government that split the Petroleum Corporation into three divisions and signed agreements to sell it to three parties.

UNP Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe, with the support of his stooges, has now launched his usual media campaign of slandering the UPFA Government by levelling unfounded charges.

The intention of this group is to divide the United People's Freedom Alliance before the speculated Local Government Elections and the Presidential Election.

Wickremesinghe has taken steps to launch several conspiracies apart from the media campaign to achieve this objective. During the period immediately preceding the 2004 General Election, the UNP media mafia generated in the minds of the people an economic phobia of foreign exchange decline in the event of a UPFA victory.

This generated large scale imports which brought about a drastic devaluation of the rupee. This situation affected the masses adversely.

Nevertheless, the UPFA Government managed to maintain the exchange rate close to Rs. 100 due to its efficient economic management.

Within a short period, the UPFA Government under its first budget increased the salaries of State employees by 40 per cent resulting in a minimum salary increase of Rs. 2,500.

The rural masses were completely ignored by the Wickremesinghe Government.Their fertiliser subsidy was totally scrapped. They were not provided with infrastructure facilities to improve production.

The UPFA Government's program of 1,000 tanks restoration program and removal of VAT while provision of fertiliser at a concessionary rate in spite of price hikes in the world market are some of the relief provided to the rural masses under the UPFA Government.

The anticultural westernisation of the media has been prevented today. A total of 41,000 unemployed graduates were recruited to the Government Service. Projects like "Maga Neguma" have proved themselves to be of tremendous service to the country.

Steps have been taken to confirm in service voluntary teachers who taught children in difficult areas. Local agricultural producers received incentives in a number of ways. The "SMV" Bank dedicated to serve the small and medium scale entrepreneurs is now in operation.

Relief activities for tsunami victims are going on satisfactorily while within 57 days railway tracks devastated by the tsunami have now been restored.

The UPFA could handle this catastrophic situation in such a short time so successfully because of its ability to enlist the support of the public and various other organisations including the State employees.

What the UNP is doing now is similar to the old saying gahen vetunu minisata gona aninawa (like cattle goaring the man fallen from the tree). They are agitating into mental unrest the victims battered by a natural catastrophe to gain political mileage. The fuss over the 100 metre limit is one such example.

Groping in the dark to solve the national problem is not the policy of the UPFA Government. Ranil Wickremesinghe's peace process pivoted around the wishes of the LTTE.

On the other hand, the UPFA seeks a lasting solution beneficial to the entire country. It believes in a political solution that will ensure the sovereignty, territorial integrity and national security of the country. We are in the process of retrieving the country from the snare it was entrapped in.

The constituent parties of the UPFA are not divided but engaged in the tedious task of an open dialogue with the participation of the public at large, a process the UNP misunderstands as a rift that will tare apart the Freedom Alliance.

Wickremesinghe has no people's force behind him. He has only a limited media strength. Slogans like Rata Perata - Rata Wala Pallata are electronic media inventions of Maha Rajahs only.

It is a vulgar display of nudity on the part of unscrupulous business tycoons who have lost avenues of exploiting the public with the blessings of the UNP who have gave them tax amnesties running to billions of rupees.

The UNP leadership is certain of its defeat at the pending elections. Hence we have all these conspiracies and melodramas.

The United People's Freedom Alliance will never turn back until and unless their determined task of putting the country on the correct track is fulfilled. The country is certain to march forward with the People's Alliance by defeating the challenges."