People are currently engaged in protests in many places in Colombo demanding for gas and kerosene.

Protests have been conducted in the Grandpass area in Colombo since yesterday demanding the supply of gas and currently, the protesters are protesting on the highway. The protest has also caused heavy traffic congestion in the Grandpass area yesterday.

Meanwhile, gas consumers in the Navinna area in Maharagama also started a protest this morning. They were blocking the High-Level Road and police were deployed to control the protesters.

In addition, people in many parts of the country are protesting for gas.

It is reported that there is a shortage of gas throughout the country at present and it has not been possible to supply the required gas for essential services.

We have seen reports that a water cannon vehicle was imported by Government of Sri Lanka under a credit line extended by Government of India. These reports are factually incorrect.

No water cannon vehicles have been supplied by India under any of the credit lines extended by India to Sri Lanka.

Credit line of USD 1 billion to Sri Lanka is intended to help the people of Sri Lanka with availability of food, medicines and other essential items required by the people of Sri Lanka in the current situation.

Such incorrect reports don’t make any constructive contribution to the cooperation and efforts undertaken to address the ongoing challenges faced by the people of Sri Lanka.

The General Secretary of the National Olympic Committee of Sri Lanka (NOC SL) Maxwell de Silva became a victim of an unprovoked physical attack by two unidentified assailants at his residence in the wee hours Friday and then made their getaway by hi-jacking the house owners’ private car.

As a result, de Silva sustained four finger injuries which he sustained while trying to ward-off the attackers who were branching knives.

The two attackers had gained access to the de Silva residence when the lady of the house opened the front door of the house as a result of a rumpus made by the two dogs who had heard noises in their front yard.

The assailants then confronted the sleeping Maxwell de Silva and attacked him alleging that they had been the victims injustice.

It is believed that this is a result of the Commonwealth Games selections and a party who is affected by it. It also thought this is an extension of the rivalry between de Silva supporters and the faction that faced defeat at the last contest for the executive committee positions of the NOC SL.

Now the BOI authorities are talking about these workers who are earning much needed foreign exchange  the island nation for the first time after four decades. 

Board of Investment (BOI) Chairman Eng. Raja Edirisuriya now called on all Export Processing Zone (EPZ) employees to support to protect ‘the only’ foreign exchange earning sector and investors to safeguard the economy of all Sri Lankans. 

We need to safeguard the foreign investors that have kept their trust in Sri Lanka and created employment for thousands of people in this country. Exports are the only  sector that has continued to keep the economy afloat from COVID to-date.

 Therefore, he  called on all concerned parties to support and protect our only foreign exchange income generating sector,” he noted in a statement issued yesterday.

Unlike other times of protests, yesterday’s hartal did not allow any container or vehicle to enter the EPZ or to come out of it, disrupting the entire manufacturing process of the country. 

He said “We witnessed that the work life of the zone’s countrywide was disturbed and people were inconvenienced. This may not be the situation we need to create, rather it is the time we tell the world – despite political and economic instability, the Sri Lankan workforce are not giving up on its people or investors. 

“Create positive energy to tell the world that investments in this country are safe and protected. The workforce behind the global top brands are committed to economic turnaround,” Edirisuriya explained.

He said the EPZs under the purview of BOI are a result of hard work of 44-year blood and sweat to ensure an export growth and economic boost. The EPZs are responsible for 70% of overall exports, 85% of national industry exports, whilst over 500,000 are direct employees and indirectly over two million people are dependent on the export sector.

“We do understand that this is a time to think fresh and ensure there will be long-term solutions. However, we need to first protect our only sources of foreign inflows – exports. When we block the containers, which are going out from the  country then it will delay all our export deliveries and cause long term repercussions such as losing valuable customers, losing credibility and investors moving to other destinations. 

It also means over three million engaged in the sector also being unemployed leading to a major economic catastrophe,” he said.

Sri Lanka is known for its quality products, talented human capital, reliability for timely delivery, hard-working workforce, ethics and sustainability practices around the globe via the top world-class brands.

“As Sri Lankans we all want a stable economy. To achieve that we cannot destroy the only steady foreign exchange earning avenues like export industry. I hope the support of all concerned will live up to their responsibilities and do the utmost to overcome the economic crisis collectively,” the BOI Chief said.