TNA should participate in PSC - Devananda

Sandasen Marasinhge, Irangika Range and Disna Mudalige

Traditional Industries and Small Enterprises Development Minister Douglas Devananda said the resolution of the present conflict through dialogue entirely wrests on the TNA’s participation in the Parliamentary Select Committee. Speaking during the Budget 2013 Committee Stage debate in Parliament yesterday, Devananda said the budget before the House was designed to take the country forward to make Sri Lanka the Emerging Wonder of Asia.

“Inflation has now been reduced and the country has achieved several millennium development goals,” he said.

He said the government also initiated the Negenehira Udanaya and Uthure Wasanthaya programmes to help rebuild the lives of the people who were caught up in the three decade conflict.

Rehabilitating and recruiting 12,000 ex-LTTE combatants was a remarkable achievement, the minister said. “These achievements were possible due to President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s initiatives,” he said.