‘Mobile phone tax boost for environmental conservation’

Chamikara WEERASINGHE

Chairman of the Central Environmental Authority Udaya Gammanpila answering all criticism levelled against him and the Environment Ministry for slapping a two per cent levy on the monthly bills of mobile phone users, yesterday said that the Bill was “progressive” by all means because it deals explicitly with mobile phone users and not with non-user village folk.

He said the Central Environment Authority introduced the levy under the Environmental Conservation Tax Act 2008 in keeping with the Rio Protocol of the first Earth Summit held in Rio De Janeiro in 1992, which Sri Lanka was a signatory, on the polluter pays basis.

Gammanpila was speaking at a press conference held at the Central Environmental Authority in Battaramulla. The tax aims to make the users of mobile devices as well as the public more perceptive and sensitive about the environment, not to make money to sustain the Central Environment Authority, he said.

“The Central Environment Authority can very well look up to the Treasury for the funds and live on its allocations and it can do well without any funds being drawn from a two per cent mobile phone tax,”he added.

“The tax is a progressive because it will exclude non-handset holders who are village folk. Hence we believe that leftists like Vasudeva Nanayakkara and Wickremebahu Karunaratna will support our tax scheme imposed on mobile phone users.”

Explaining what they would do with the tax money , Gammanpila said, “we expect to set up a scheme for collecting , recycling and safe disposal of mobile phones with the use of funds collected through our Environmental Conservation Tax Bill”.

Mobile phones and their accessories contain poisonous substances including Cadmium, Rhodium, Palladium, Beryllium and Lead Solder which are among the ten most dangerous substances known to mankind.

He said, the neighbouring countries, India and Singapore have their own Recycling centres for the safe disposal of mobile phones which contain environmentally dangerous electronic substances. “Sri Lanka too needs a mobile phone Recycling and Management facility for the safe disposal of dangerous accessories in them.”

There is criticism level led He said with the environmental conservation tax of two percent being imposed on that avarice , the mobile phone user pays around Rs. 20, an amount which is less than what he or she has to pay for a pound of bread.