Business excellence Dhammika Perera attended a meeting at the Katunayake Bandaranaike International Airport this (20) morning, and SJB MP Asok Abeysinghe, who is a former State Minister of Transport Civil Aviation, questioned his visit in Parliament today. Certain media reports claimed that his visit was a part of his plan to purchase the BIA.
However, LNW learned that Mr. Perera joined the BIA meeting to seek the views of the Private Sector on some of the essential development initiatives to be carried out at the Airport in connection with the development of the Tourism Industry, a key area with which Sri Lanka is supposed to recover from the dollar crisis befallen the island nation.
The DP Education Co-Founder also revealed that three main issues pertaining to the matter was discussed at the meeting.
Increase the number of aircrafts that can land at BIA within 24 hours
Even when the country’s Tourism Industry was at its peak in 2018, only 94 aircrafts were able to land at the BIA in 24 hours. The meeting discussed the shortcomings that need to be addressed to increase the number of aircrafts to 250.
Attract more budget airlines (low cost carriers) to operate to Sri Lanka
Generally, by international standards, a budget airline flight should be able to return within 25 minutes of arrival at the international airport. However, according to the current situation at the BIA, it will take about 40 minutes to complete the operation. Therefore the meeting discussed measures to be taken to reduce the additional 15 minutes.
Convert the VIP Lounge and its boarding gates at BIA to normal operations
The VIP lounge at the BIA is currently being used mostly by MPs and Ministers, leaving the terminal empty without use in most cases, considered of which suggestions and ideas were exchanged on how to facilitate passengers during their arrival and departure from the terminal by charging US$ 300 per passenger.
These concerns have been brought to attention at the recent Cabinet meeting and the Ministers have even appointed a committee to seek the views of the Private Sector in this regard, Perera told LNW, adding that he as well as a number of Private Sector business figures and government officials were present at the meeting held at the BIA.
Mr. Perera also debunked the speculations that an unrest situation had occurred at the premises, revealing that all stakeholders to the event have cordially exchanged their views at this successful meeting.
He also reminded that in his 2019 Dialogue Policy Paper titled ‘Sri Lanka 2030 A Developed Nation’ proposals are made to develop the Civil Aviation Sector in Sri Lanka and that in order to achieve the target of attracting an annual incoming of 05 million tourists, the BIA must be upgraded as demonstrated above.
Four more state ministers have been sworn in before President Rajapaksa at the President’s House yesterday (19).
Accordingly, the following ministers have been sworn in;
State Minister of Youth and Sports – Sathasivam Viyalendran
State Minister of Rural Road Development – Sivanthurai Chandrakanthan
State Minister of Textile Industry and Local Apparel Production Promotion – Mohommed Musharuf
Meanwhile, the State Ministry appointed to Suren Raghavan, the State Ministry of Education Services and Reforms, has been amended as the State Ministry of Higher Education.
Despite President Rajapaksa’s confession on not being able to supply fertiliser to the farming community, the people will not forgive him easily, said Prof. Liynage Amarakeerthi, speaking to the public rally organised by the National People’s Power (NPP) at Lipton Circle yesterday (19).
The dagger struck on the hearts of the people by the Rajapaksas being pulled two inches back cannot be defined as progress, he emphasised, adding that this journey, nevertheless, began with the goal of pulling back all daggers struck on people’s hearts by all regimes throughout the course of time.
Literary critic Mahinda Prasad Masimbula addressing the public rally held at Lipton Circle yesterday (19) as part of the three-day protest organised by the National People’s Power (NPP) from Beruwala to Lipton Circle demanding the government’s stepping down delivered an artistic interpretation to the people’s struggle.
Driving through the verdant landscape of Rajanganaya, a rural district in north Sri Lanka where the hibiscus flowers pop out of rich green foliage and the mango trees are already weighed down by early fruit, it is hard to imagine this is a community in crisis. Yet for many of those who have farmed this land since the 1960s, mainly with rice and banana crops, the past year has been the toughest of their lives.
“If things go on like this, in the future it will be hard to find a farmer left in Sri Lanka,” said Niluka Dilrukshi, 34, a rice paddy farmer.
Sri Lanka is grappling with the worst economic crisis since its independence in 1948, and foreign currency reserves sit at their lowest level on record due to what many see as gross economic mismanagement by the government. There is barely a citizen of this south Asian island who hasn’t felt the bite of catastrophic inflation and fuel, food and medicine shortages in recent weeks.
For the farmers of Sri Lanka, their problems began in April last year when President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who now stands accused of pushing the country into financial ruin, implemented a sudden ban on chemical fertilisers.
The full implications of the ill-advised policy – which has now been reversed – are only just being realised. Farmers say their livelihoods are under threat and for the first time in its modern history, Sri Lanka, which usually grows rice and vegetables in abundance, could run out of food as harvests drop and the government can no longer afford the food imports the country has become overdependent on in recent years. The rice yield dropped to 2.92m tonnes in 2021-22, down from the previous year’s 3.39m, and the speaker in parliament last week warned of imminent starvation among the island’s 22 million people.
Rice farmer Niluka Dilrukshi with his wife, Milinda, and their two children. They saw their rice crop deplete by 60% in the last harvest. Photograph: Hannah Ellis-Petersen/The Guardian
“We are a tropical country full of rice paddies and banana plantations, but because of this stupid fertiliser ban, now we don’t even have enough food to feed ourselves,” said Rajith Keerthi Tennakoon, 52, former governor of the southern province. “We have had past economic crises, security crises but never in Sri Lanka’s history have we had a food crisis.”
On the face of it, a push to organic farming would be seen as laudable, given concerns over the use of chemical fertilisers. Yet it was the sudden and obtuse manner in which the ban was introduced – imposed virtually overnight and with no prior warning or training – and the questionable motives behind it, that have left even organic farming advocates furious.
Prior to the ban, successive governments had encouraged an overdependence on chemical fertilisers by the country’s farmers, who, thanks to subsidies, would receive hundreds of kilos of fertiliser. Aside from a few select farmers, most had no idea how to successfully implement organic farming practices, and in protest many refused to farm altogether. Some believe the policy was meant to save valuable foreign dollars, others believe it was part of a more sinister agenda, following a growing intervention into the farmers’ lives by the government.
“There was no proper plan, no training or education, so it’s clear to the farmers there was an ulterior [motive] here,” said Vimukthi de Silva, an organic farmer in Rajanganaya.
“Prior to this policy, the government had unsuccessfully tried to commercialise farm land, which is the biggest commercial asset the country has. So many of us think this was another way to try and get farmers to leave their land, or to weaken the farmers’ position and enable a land grab.”
In Rajanganaya, where most farmers operate on a small scale with no more than a hectare apiece, the majority of those the Guardian spoke to reported between a 50% to 60% reduction in their crop harvest. Last week, more than 300 farmers from the area staged a protest calling for Rajapaksa to resign.
“Before the ban, this was one of the biggest markets in the country, with tonnes and tonnes of rice and vegetables,” said De Silva. “But after the ban, it became almost zero. If you talk to the rice mills, they don’t have any stock because people’s harvest dropped so much. The income of this whole community has dropped to an extremely low level.”
For his whole life, 55-year-old HP Sarah Dharmasiri, had farmed udu (black gram) and rice on little more than a hectare, which was enough to feed his family and sell the rest at market to provide necessary income.
But without the chemical fertiliser he was used to, his harvest from his rice crop was so little that he didn’t even have enough to bring to the market. Meanwhile, the price of pesticides needed for his gram crop had increased in price so much that he was forced to take out a high interest loan just to afford them. By the end of the last harvest he was crippled with debt and no profits to pay it off, and he has now taken up work as a daily wage labourer.
“I don’t think I can be a farmer any longer,” he said. “We have some fruits and vegetable in the garden so we can survive for the moment but I think in the future there will be a time when we go starving.”
Several farmers told the Guardian that last season they barely sold any of the rice or vegetables they cultivated, instead keeping it just for their own consumption to ensure the family wouldn’t go starving. It was a decision that led to a drop in the amount that went to the markets to feed the rest of the country, further driving up prices for consumers on top of already sky-high inflation.
Paddy farmer Dilrukshi will only cultivate 0.2 hectares of rice this season, as opposed to the 1.6 he usually harvests. “We can’t afford the expense of cultivating any more, as the yield has gone down while prices have gone up,” he said. “We will be able to sell a little bit of that but not much, the rest we will eat ourselves.”
Rice paddy and banana farmer Piyasiri Atalugama and his family, who have stopped farming bananas and can barely afford to cultivate rice. Photograph: Hannah Ellis-Petersen/The Guardian
The problems have been heavily compounded by the domestic economic crisis, rising global inflation and more recently the war in Ukraine, which has sent the price of fuel, pesticides and fertiliser soaring. Seeds have tripled in price, so have become unaffordable for some, and farmers who used to rent additional land for cultivation have stopped for this coming season. Farmers rely on diesel to run their tractors to harvest the land, but prices are so high and availability so limited – some farmers have been forced to wait in queues of over 24 hour to refuel – some have had to abandon this season’s paddy cultivation or will plant late, which means a reduced crop.
The power cuts, lasting upwards of eight hours, have meant that water pumps that send water to higher areas have stopped working, cutting off the water supply for fields of vegetables and bananas. The mills, which turn the paddy into rice, also rely on power and some of the rice crop has gone bad as it couldn’t be milled in time. Farmers also don’t have the petrol or diesel to transport their crops to the market. As the next season approaches, many fear that severe crop shortages are on the horizon.
The prime minister, Mahinda Rajapaksa, announced this week the government would be reintroducing the fertiliser subsidy for farmers, but that was met with scepticism by many. “We know they don’t have the dollars to buy fertiliser,” said farmer Piyasiri Atalugama. “They think they can fool us farmers with false promises.”
In recent months, Atalugama, 49, lost most of his banana crop, which is heavily dependent on chemical fertilisers, and has now decided to stop cultivating the fruit altogether after losing 150,000 rupees (£350).
“I campaigned for Gota [Rajapaksa] – he had huge support from the farmers,” he said. “I am betrayed and sad by what he has done to us.”
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The International Monetary Fund said discussions with Sri Lanka on a potential IMF loan program are at an early stage and any deal would require “adequate assurances” that the island country’s debts can be put on a sustainable path.
In a statement emailed to Reuters, IMF Sri Lanka Mission Chief Masahiro Nozaki said that IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva discussed lending options and policy plans with a Sri Lankan delegation on Tuesday.
“An IMF-supported program should be designed to resolve Sri Lanka’s acute balance of payments problems and put the economy back on a sustainable growth path as early as possible,” Nozaki said.
The statement came after protests in response to shortages of fuel and other essentials turned deadly on Tuesday and Sri Lanka’s Finance Minister formally asked the Fund for a Rapid Financing Instrument loan for countries needing urgent balance-of-payments support.
Nozaki said the IMF is “very concerned about the current economic crisis in Sri Lanka and hardships suffered by the people, especially the poor and vulnerable.”
But he noted that IMF staff had determined last month in an annual economic review that Sri Lanka’s public debt was unsustainable, and the country needs to take steps to restore debt sustainability prior to any IMF lending, including the emergency Rapid Financing Instrument (RFI).
Such restoration of debt sustainability typically requires a restructuring or reprofiling of public debts, which in Sri Lanka’s case would require cooperation from China, one of its largest bilateral creditors.
The IMF used the low-conditionality RFI loans extensively to assist countries during the COVID-19 pandemic and has provided such loans to ease balance of payments problems after natural disasters, conflicts and commodity price shocks.
“These considerations would need to be examined for a potential RFI for Sri Lanka, once adequate assurances are obtained that debt sustainability will be resolved,” Nozaki said.
He added that the specific design of a Sri Lanka IMF loan, including program targets and conditionality, would be agreed through extensive discussions between the government and IMF staff.
“The discussions are still at an early stage,” Nozaki said.
Internal sources said that the shooting of the protest in Rambukkana yesterday (19) was ordered by SSP K.B. Keerthiratne who is in charge of the Kegalle division and approved by Transport and Industries Minister Dilum Amunugama.
According to police sources, SSP K.B. Keerthiratne is a staunch supporter of Rajapaksa and some reports said that he was an inhumane person.
Protesters had blocked the main railway line from Rambukkana for more than 12 hours yesterday. It is said that SSP K.B. Keerthiratne has repeatedly contacted Transport Minister Dilum Amunugama seeking permission to attack the protesters as the protest was disrupting the transportation.
He has told the Minister that if he saves himself from future problems, he can open this railway line in his own way. Sources said that after obtaining the approval from the minister SSP’s own group had set fire to a three-wheeler and set the stage to open fire the protestors.
One person was killed and 11 others were injured in the shooting. The condition of three of them was reported to be serious.
Following this, President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa has contacted Transport Minister Dilum Amunugama and reprimanded him severely in this regard, sources said.
Opposition leader Sajith Premadasa says that the Rajapaksa government, which has a history of ‘murderous bloodshed’, has returned to its usual brutal manner today.
He stressed the need for an immediate inquiry into the attack through a team of retired judges and called for a meeting of party leaders today with the Secretary to the Ministry of Defense, the Secretary to the Ministry of Public Defense, the Inspector General of Police and the Senior Superintendent of Police in charge of the area.
The Minister of Public Defense Prasanna Ranatunga has stated that the police fired on a protest in Rambukkana yesterday (19) in accordance with the Police Ordinance and that the police have the necessary powers to do so.
The Minister said that the protesters had tried to set fire to a bowser containing 33,000 liters of fuel and if that had happened, there would not have been a Rambukkana left today.
He also accused the opposition, led by the Samagi Jana Balawegaya, of intensifying the recent protests in the country by drawing people by buses.
Addressing Parliament this morning (20), the Minister made this special statement amidst strong opposition from opposition members. They were seen protesting, calling the minister a “murderer.”
Political sources say that the SLPP government is in danger of losing a simple majority of 113 seats in Parliament today (20).
The Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and the Wimal-Gammanpila-Vasudeva alliance have left the SLPP government, which won a two-thirds majority in the 2020 general elections. Accordingly, the government was left with about 118 seats.
Sources said that a group of former ministers who are disappointed with the government over the recent appointment of a new cabinet is also in talks to become independent. It is said that considering the intensified opposition in the country following the police firing in Rambukkana yesterday, the government is likely to lose its 113 majority today.
