Senthil Thondaman has been elected as the new leader of the Ceylon Workers Congress, at the national council meeting held in Kottagala today (30).
Jeevan Thondaman will be continuing to serve as the Secretary General of the Party.
Meanwhile, MP Rameshwaram has been elected as the Party Chairperson.
MIAP
A suggestion has been forwarded to lock down the country for several days as a solution to the ongoing fuel crisis.
The government has been told that the country should be locked down for a few days and be reopened by providing temporary solutions to the crises including the fuel shortage.
In the wake of the fuel crisis, operations at schools, offices and the general public have been severely hampered and the daily power cuts have now exceeded 10 hours worsening the frustration on a whole new level.
The Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL) had also suggested that office workers should be working from home today and tomorrow as a solution to the fuel crisis.
The suggestion to lockdown the country, however, has not yet been responded by the government.
MIAP
The Minister of Irrigation Chamal Rajapaksa states that the people in the queues for fuel, gas and essential food items are strongly blaming the government. The Minister says that he is still able to meet the people by listening to reprimands or going to the village.
The Minister also states that it is with great sadness that people have to wait in queues for days to buy goods.
He further stated that the people should be given the opportunity to purchase essential items without having to wait in queues and that the steps taken by the government in this regard are by no means adequate.
Speaking to the media after a ceremony in Colombo, Chamal Rajapaksa stated that despite pressure from opposition political groups to resign in the face of the current crisis, the government’s resignation will not solve the problems of the people.
The power cut which lasted for more than 7 hours was extended to 10 hours for the first time today. This is due to the massive fuel crisis facing the country.
The Kelanitissa power plant has been completely idle since yesterday due to lack of fuel and several other power plants have not been able to continue generating electricity.
CEB sources say that if there are not enough stocks of fuel to generate electricity, the power cut will exceed 10 hours from next week.
Even the stocks of fuel required for this week have not yet been released and accordingly the 10-hour power cut is likely to take effect over the next few days.
The issuance of diesel for vehicles has been completely stopped and the supply of fuel to petrol stations has been suspended for two days.
This morning the Chairman of the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation stated that the issuance of diesel has been suspended for two days and that there is no need of queuing for diesel.
It has been decided to give the family members of the Members of Parliament the opportunity to visit the Parliament from the 1st of next month. This decision has been taken after considering the requests received from a number of new Members of Parliament representing the present Parliament.
Visitors were barred from entering the Parliament complex due to the covid risk.
Meanwhile, the Chiefs of Parliament have instructed the Canteen Division to keep the guest dining room open for the family members of the Members of Parliament who visit Parliament. Visitors to Parliament from tomorrow will also have the opportunity to taste a Parliamentary meal.
It is noteworthy that the guest dining hall is also open to the family members of the Members of Parliament, despite proposals from the Members of Parliament themselves to close the dining hall at a time when the country is facing a crisis.
Only those who have received all three doses of the covid vaccine and have been fully vaccinated are allowed to enter the Parliament complex.
Meanwhile, Parliamentary authorities are focusing on reopening the Guest Gallery and the Public Gallery on both sides of the House. Chief Serjeant-at-Arms Narendra Fernando says the galleries will be open to a very limited number of people.
Only the Media Gallery is currently open.
The Ceylon Petroleum Corporation states that it will not be able to issue diesel today and tomorrow (30-31). The chairman of the corporation says that the stocks of diesel owned by the corporation have been exhausted by now.
A consignment of 37,500 tons of diesel was scheduled to be unloaded but the consignment could not be unloaded as scheduled.
However, the release of diesel for essential activities including power generation is going on as usual, he said.
Many fuel stations have run out of diesel and the Petroleum Chairman warns the public not to wait in line.
The issue of diesel has been problematic but the release of petrol is going on as usual, he said.
The 5th BIMSTEC Summit is currently being held in Sri Lanka. Its Heads of State Summit is scheduled for today.
The Heads of State Summit will be chaired by President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa and will be attended by Heads of State from Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, and Thailand via video conferencing. Myanmar’s Foreign Minister will attend the summit on behalf of Myanmar.
The BIMSTEC Charter for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation in the Bay of Bengal is due to be ratified and a number of legal agreements are proposed to be signed.
The Supreme Court yesterday (29) issued an interim injunction suspending the decision of the then Cabinet to grant the former President Maithripala Sirisena the official residence he used to hold during his presidency, even after his retirement.
That was when a petition filed by the Director of the Center for Policy Alternatives, Pakyasothy Saravanamuttu, was considered.
Accordingly, when inquired by the media yesterday regarding the situation regarding this house, the Minister of State Dayasiri Jayasekara replied as follows.
“Further action is being taken in accordance with the court decision. A place for the former President is essential. As a former President, he could not live in Polonnaruwa. So we are discussing what action to take in the future. ”
Located on Mahagamasekera Mawatha, Colombo, this house is a spacious house that was renovated and designed at a huge cost by combining three government ministerial quarters.
Lasantha Alagiyawanna, State Minister of Consumer Protection says that gas prices will inevitably go up further.
Question: Will people have to wait in these gas queues until the Sinhala New Year?
“Especially as Litro has announced, it is currently releasing those gas products to the market at the rate of 100,000 per day. Litro has said that this deficit will be eliminated by the 4th to the 5th. So we hope that such a situation will arise and the inconvenience caused to the people will be minimized. ”
Question: Will the price of Litro gas increase?
“Gas prices will continue to rise”
Minister of State Lasantha Alagiyawanna stated this while answering several questions raised by journalists yesterday (29).
Sri Lanka government will seek international sovereign bond payment extensions from Paris Club lenders and other creditors following its decision to work out a debt restructuring plan with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), official sources said.
The round table negotiations with sovereign bond holders will be carried out in New York or France in accordance with the convenience of those creditors, he disclosed. Ten per cent of Sri Lanka’s creditors are members of the Paris Club, with Japan being the main bilateral creditor for Sri Lanka.
Negotiations with bond holders in China and India, who are not Paris Club partners, have to be conducted outside the Paris Club.
No final decision has been taken on Sri Lankan officials who will be participating at these negotiations.
Sri Lanka is also exploring the possibility of working out a debt financing package to secure foreign exchange inflows into the country including remittances, a senior Finance Ministry official said.
One of the other alternate strategies is to raise funds from investors to deal with the upcoming debt payments, he added. All these suggestions included Sri Lanka’s plan of bridging finance proposals will be presented to the IMF during discussions to seek their assistance.
He disclosed that official talks were held with bankers from Rothschild & Co. and Lazard on these financing proposals including the debt financing package.
Sri Lanka will hire a global law firm to provide technical assistance on debt restructuring ahead of talks with the IMF on the country’s economic crisis, Cabinet spokesman Minister Ramesh Pathirana said.
In a movement of unity, 12 opposition MPs have called on the Sri Lankan government to negotiate a postponement and restructuring of its $25 billion debt repayments due between now and 2026.
Issuing a joint statement recently they noted that the “only way forward for Sri Lanka is to immediately initiate a multi-step process towards an orderly negotiated postponement and restructure of repayment of its sovereign debt”.
Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa will be visiting Washington next month to present Sri Lanka’s plan of bridging finance proposals to senior IMF officials, a senior Finance Ministry official revealed.
He will be accompanied by the Treasury Secretary, Central Bank Governor, two top officials each from the Finance Ministry and the Central Bank for these IMF spring meetings, he said.
The government will seek IMF assistance for debt restructuring, foreign exchange crisis, revenue generation and reforming state-owned enterprises, according to Sri Lanka bridging finance plan.
According to former Central Bank Deputy Governor W.A. Wijewardena to rescue Sri Lanka from the present acute foreign exchange crisis, there is no alternative other than getting a longer-term loan of at least $4 billion from the IMF.
It is estimated a total of $5 billion will be need to service debt obligations (principal + interest) and other commitments in 2022, Finance Ministry data showed.
The debt restructuring suggestion was discussed widely in local media and various other public forums during the past one and half years. But it went unheeded up to now.