C 4 fiasco will face natural death soon - Basil

Chaminda Perera

“The massive propaganda campaign carried out by treacherous elements in foreign countries against the country’s sovereignty and independence resulted in the controversial Darusman Report, the infamous video footage telecast by British Channel 4, among others,” said Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapaksa.

He said that the much talked about Channel 4 fiasco will face a natural death. The original audio and visual clip are now with the Sri Lankan authorities.

The minister said Sri Lankan authorities had the original Channel 4 video clip before it was doctored by vicious elements involved against the country.

Minister Rajapaksa stressed that the Channel 4 video is an attempt to disgrace the Security Forces who liberated the country from terrorists.

Speaking at a ceremony to inaugurate the carpeting of provincial roads in the Colombo district at Kolonnawa yesterday, Minister Rajapaksa said that this original video clip will be made public soon.

A stretch of 167 kilometres of provincial roads in the Colombo district will be carpeted under this project.

The carpeting of Kotuvila road in Kolonnawa was inaugurated by the Economic Development Minister. Over 104 provincial roads in the district have been earmarked for carpeting under this project for which the government will allocate Rs 2,035 million.

The minister said that there are people among us who support international forces against the country. He requested them not to betray the Motherland for dollars and Euros.

“Certain groups of people in the country is in the habit of opposing everything what the Government is going to do,” he said. He added that they voiced their opposition when the Government was going to introduce the pension scheme for the private sector. “These people have launched various campaigns against the fertilizer subsidy too,” he added.

The Minister said that the country has a stock of rice sufficient for consumption of four months. He said the country was self sufficient in rice within a very short span due to various steps taken by the government for the benefit of farming community.

Colombo District Parliamentarian Duminda Silva and Western Provincial Councillor Nimal Lanza were also present.

Meanwhile, Minister Rajapaksa also said that President Mahinda Rajapaksa as a person born in the village who knew the trials and tribulations of the ordinary masses including farmers, fishermen and schoolchildren launched the Maga Neguma project to eliminate difficult roads in the country and provide a modern road network.

As a result at least one rural road in each of the 36000 villages belonging to 14000 Grama Niladhari divisions has now been concreted, said Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapaksa. The minister was addressing a meeting after inaugurating the Polonnaruwa district Provincial Road Rehabilitation programme on Tuesday.

The minister said that when the President assured duties in his second term of office the ministers, MPs Provincial Council and Local Council members whom he met informed him that even though main roads in the nine provinces had been renovated under Maga Neguma, Gama Neguma and Jathika Saviya programmes the Local Council roads had remained neglected and such benefits of development had not filtered down to village areas. Following this the President allocated massive funds for carpeting provincial roads from the 2011 budget. The President also emphasized that those roads should be rehabilitated in a manner that would last for at least 10 to 12 years.

”It was due to the Presidents’ vision that villages in Polonnaruwa district too are now getting equipped with modern roads similar to the construction of main highways in the country,’ he said. Minister Rajapaksa said carpeting and developing a road will cost Rs 10 million per kilometre.

As such 63 km of of roads in Polonnaruwa electorate will be modernized at a cost of Rs 630 million. Polonnaruwa district will have the largest number of carpeted roads in extent of 127 km. The total expenditure on this will be Rs 1270 million. The North Central Provincial Council has not received such a large allocation for Polonnaruwa district during its 21 years of existence. Minister Rajapaksa said Minister Maithripala Sirisena in his capacity as the Former Agriculture Minister in the Presidents’ first Cabinet has rendered vital service towards the improvement of paddy cultivation.

The fertilizer subsidy he introduced at Rs 350 per 50 kg bag of fertilizer has been continued for six years of 13 seasons. By 2010 the farmer population had been able to increase rice production by 117 percent utilizing the fertilizer subsidy.

‘Sri Lankan’s economic dependence on foreign countries built by British rulers has now been eradicated to enable the country to stand on its own feet. Sri Lanka has now attained a growth rate of 8.5 percent and built up a foreign exchange reserve of 7 billion rupees equivalent to 24 months food imports.

In addition to mega development projects like airports, expressways, power stations and irrigation schemes the government has taken development to the village to enable people to lead a contented life without depending on others in a free and sovereign country.

‘Those who felt jealous about this process were hatching conspiracies against the state for the sake of dollars and Euros,” Minister Rajapaksa said.