'A Wheeler Dealer budget' - M. H. Mohamed

By Walter Nanayakkara and Lishanthie Siriwardena

Parliament met at 9.30 a.m. on Friday, November 13, 1998. Speaker K. B. Ratnayake presided.

After presentation of petitions and reports and the answers to Oral Questions were given by ministers, House resumed the adjourned debate on the Appropriation Bill 1999, for the 4th day.

S. Sivathasan (EPDP - Jaffna District) continuing his overnight speech said: There was an industrial estate in Achchuveli. There is no indication that this would be revived.

What is happening to government owned cement industry. Hon'ble Lakshman Jayakody, who made the first speech from government side said the country should protect its national resources. The Kankesanthurai, Puttalam and Ruhuna cement factories fall into this category of assets.

If the Kankesanthurai cement factory is re-commissioned a bag of cement will be available at around Rs. 300. Today a bag of cement costs about Rs. 600 and more sometimes.

Most of the industries were started in the late forties or early fifties. Today all these factories remain closed. Not even a cottage industry is there now.

Vadamarachchi was famous for palmyra products in the by-gone days. A large section of the Jaffna community depended on these products for their living.

Today most of the palmyra trees have been cut down by armed forces and other organisations to make bunkers as the wood is very hard. There is no plan to replant palmyrah trees. There is an acute employment problem in Jaffna.

No cultivation is possible in the Valikamam North, which is an area of fertile red earth. The Provincial Agricultural Ministry is unable to release funds for the issue of seed paddy.

The Jaffna farmer is used to utilising natural fertilizers. Due to restrictions in force, Jaffna cultivators cannot market their produce. There is no transport. We depend on underground water for cultivation. People have to use kerosene operated water pumps to irrigate their farms.

There are 9324 fishing families in Jaffna. About 10,000 people are engaged in fishing. Fishing areas have been restricted to 500 meters from shore during limited times of the day. More restrictions have been enforced. This courses serious problems to the fishing community of these areas.

An egg is about Rs. 12 in Jaffna. People there do not have fish for their meals.

Hartley College is now occupied by the security forces. The school operate in another place.

No Samurdhi Scheme or self-employment schemes or loan schemes under the Samurdhi scheme are in operation in Jaffna. So Sumurdhi animators have not received their salaries.

Berty Premalal Dissanayake (Minister of Social Services) Our government has never deceived people unlike the previous government. We have clearly identified the needs of the people and formulated our policies accordingly. You presented budgets to hoodwink people.

The government has formulated long term policies to improve salaries of government servants the treasury hands out 28 lakhs to pay the wages of government servants who earn comparatively low wages.

We have achieved much in the war. Seventy five per cent of the occupied areas are now in our control.

The border villagers are protected. These are the achievements of the funds we allocate for defence.

We have given priority to develop village schools that were, at one time, totally neglected. You were even incapable of providing ambulances to hospitals according to their needs.

We have developed roads, even those under provincial councils have been developed systematically. We have increased the fleet of trains and improved the railways.

Today people don't have to bribe to get a telephone. There are mobile telephone shops in distant areas.

We have developed irrigation schemes. We expect to start on the stalled Moragahakanda project next year.

Dr. Karunasena Kodituwakku (UNP-Colombo District) said: I must first answer certain statements made by the Hon'ble Minister of Social Services, Berty Premalal Dissanayake.

He said the government is not mad to hold elections in 1998. I don't know who is mad or who is not mad. But I want to tell you that it was Minister Prof. G. L. Peiris who told our leader, when he was in Kataragama that the government was ready to hold the Presidential elections in November 1998.

Thereafter Hon. Dissanayake mentioned about telephones being given almost instantly. This reminds me what Queen Mary Anton-iette said about bread and cakes. You are a government which cannot give the school children their midday meal. You are now talking about telephones.

The Minister accused the UNP of failure to restore the Moragaskanda reservoir. You have been in power for 4 years. Why didn't you do it?

About the budget, I would identify it as the most bankrupt budget you have introduced so far. The so-called macro-economic fundamentals you had been speaking about, to prove the success of your economy does not, infact show what you are trying to show.

The Budget lacks the main feature of a budget that a government produces on the eve of an election.

The Telecom has earned Rs. 3496 million in six months. Out of this 40 per cent goes to the Japanese investor. This massive profit has come through taxes imposed on the people.

I cannot understand the tables four and five of your budget proposals. The figures lack clarity. Even a foreign expert was unable to explain the figures. Look at the budgets presented during the UNP period. Or look at the budgets presented by Dr. N. M. Perera.

You refused to provide any concessions to the potato cultivators. But you are giving concessions in ample measure to the computer trade. Why is this. Again you are helping Veytex financially. But you don't mind the eventual collapse of the potato cultivations. We are not opposed to giving assistance to business people. But what I am asking is why you don't think about the potato grower in the same way you treat the business people.

What have you done to meet the situation when garment industry would no longer be a viable industry?

We reject this budget. Please hold an election soon and give an opportunity for the people to elect a government of their choice.

Maheepala Herath (PA - Kegalle Dist.) said: This government, under the Samurdhi Scheme is ensuring the improvement of the quality of life of 20 lakhs of the poorest of the poor. During the past 4 years we have been striving to help these people to become investors with the Samurdhi Banks. They have not been deceived by welfare. We have handed over the future of this country to them. These people, once shut out from sophisticated banks during the previous government have now been given a chance to manage their finances with confidence without having to depend on scrupulous mudalalis.

M. H. Mohamed (UNP - Colombo District) said: I would describe the budget 1999 as a Wheeler Dealer budget.

A Finance Minister who do not take this budget proposals seriously must resign. If the changes made in this Parliament were done in another country the Finance Minister would have resigned.

You proposed to increase the rail fares by 25 per cent and to withdraw the Passenger Baggage Allowance but then came here and withdrew in cavalier fashion these two proposals.

When the British wanted a bridge across the Palk Straits connecting India and Sri Lanka my great grandfather opposed it. My great grandfather said that if such a bridge was built, there will be a flow of white turbaned gentlemen from India and such an influx would upset our census.

If the bridge was built by this time we would have been a District of Tamil Nadu. Everybody must appreciate the opinion of my great grandfather.

When your government liberalised textile imports under the 1998 budget, industrialists such as Gnanam protested. But you were adamant. But what has happened? Some of the textile mills have been closed down and 900 workers are on the road. This is the kind of industrial policy that your government is following.

Munidasa Premachandra Deputy Minister of Forestry and Environment said: Some of the shortcomings of the budget, which many opposition speakers highlighted were raised and discussed at a government party meeting by government parliamentarians before preparation of the budget. Not only the matters discussed but also shortcomings were remedied in the most democratic manner.

What matters is the vision that is underlying the budget. It is guided by a vision indeed and its aim is to improve the country.

The budget contains proposals to help both the middle class and the government employees. Two such concessions were the income tax concession on EPF contributions and the concessions to public servants to import cars. The budget also includes proposals to give concessions to investors and to the construction sector.

Other welcome features of the budget included assistance to produce seed paddy.

S. Sathasivam (CWC Nuwara Eliya District) said: The president has promised that peace will dawn soon. But when we look at the budgetary allocation for defence we wonder whether this would become a reality. The members of this House should truly seek a political solution to this problem.

The cost of living has risen to 2261 points in October this year. The cost of living has increased by 200 prints since the beginning of this year. The war is heaping unbearable burdens on the common man. The ministry allocation to develop the tea industry has been cut back. Privatisation has not bequeathed any benefits to improve conditions of the workers. Infrastructure has to be developed. Bus services in the plantation areas have stopped. You give concessions to buy vehicles to foreign employment agents who sometimes exploit poor workers. Anyway there are no roads for these vehicles to run on, specially in th Hatton-Nuwara Eliya and mostly plantation areas that remain neglected despite the efforts of the Minister of Transport.

If the nutrition schemes are going to reach the people through the Samurdhi programme the plantation sector will be left out once again as the plantation workers don't receive Samurdhi as they are regarded as fixed wage earners.

Don't consult economists and bureaucrats alone to make the budget.

D. M. Jayaratne Minister of Agriculture and Land said: Tea production increased by 4 percent in 1998. Sales of tea also increased. Production also increased in the small holdings sector.

Paddy production increased by 22 percent in one season alone in 1998. The total production was 1,800,000 bushels. Sugar production increased. Increases also were recorded in the production of vegetable, fruit and processed food production in 1998. Sugar production also increased.

So also in the production of export crops. We exported 11,000 MTS of Cinnamon and 4000 MTS of Pepper this year.

I don't say this is enough. We must develop these sectors more.

Now we have a problem with regard to seed paddy. We need 4.3 million bushels of seed paddy in an year. We had been producing only five percent locally but we have been able to increase it upto 20 percent. A special programme to cultivate seed potatoes and onions will get underway soon.

This budget has given prominence to education and the allocation for education has increased. Today the number of undergraduates in universities have been increased to enable more students to obtain higher education. The education system has not been designed to make students employable by those who governed this land for nearly 2 decades. The main contention of those who had been in power was to cling to power while others sought power. Both these categories have left national issues aside and yearned for power. Social and Economic structures will crumble if we don't think and act as a nation to solve national issues.

Tyronne Fernando (UNP - Colombo District) said: I consider this a very ill-considered budget. It is good that you have withdrawn the price hike of railway fares and the cancellation of the passage baggage allowance. The budget was designed without consideration.

It is like Nero fiddling while Rome is burning. You have not considered the rise in unemployment and crime rate, in the budget. This budget is for the super-rich.

You have mismanaged the economy that has dried up investment. Those responsible should resign.

Piyasena Gamage (Deputy Minister of Irrigation and Power) said: The opposition is trying to give the impression that they are doing their duty. They are intent in opposing the constructive policies formulated in this budget.

We cannot expect a prosperous budget in the face of a destructive war. However, the budget should be commended in the face of such constraints. The proposed infrastructure projects will provide more employment opportunities. Our development schemes have reached the villages.

We have developed village industries by increasing electricity. Alternative sources of energy have been initiated to avoid an energy crisis. Thermal power has increased to 40 percent from 16 percent in 1994. Necessary measures to meet the needs of the 21st century have been taken. Seethaliya, Dickoya, Rakwana small-scale electricity power projects have got underway to add to the national grid.

Jagath Balasuriya (PS, Kegalle District) said: A developing country spending a big slice of that budget on defence cannot afford generous welfore measures. Our economic victories have been restricted by military expenditure.

We have achieved 5.1% growth rate in the first half of the year amidst world economic markets collapse. The opposition should not act contrary to their policies by opposing the increase in NSL that will bring in necessary funds to wage a more effective war.

D. M. Bandaranayaka (UNP - Gampaha Dist.) said: This has not provided any relief to the people. This is because the economy is deteriorating. Ordinary people can't afford to buy a vehicle, the leasing schemes that offered some relief to those people have been hit by tax.

The government's own statistics prove that harvests have decreased inspite of the minister's claim of bountiful harvests.

Renuka Herath (UNP - Nuwara Eliya District) said: The budget provides no relief to the common man. There is no solution to resolve the problem of unemployment.

In your election manifesto you promised one million jobs in two years. There was also a proposal to create conditions for self-employment. But even your 5th budget makes no provision to give effect to such promises.

When the UNP came into power in 1977 under the leadership of President J. R. Jayewardene we brought about a revolution in development. We spent the first year for planning. In the ensuring period we implemented them. Massive development programmes such as the Mahaweli were implemented.

What have you done? Your budget is only a host of sweet words.

After presentation of the budget you withdrew two proposals. This means that you have not been serious about budget proposals.

You have created more problems for the people. Why can't you transfer the benefit of fuel price cuts to the people? If you did you could have reduced the cost of living.

The common man does not want Benz cars and Pajeroes. Give them what they want. Your government has destroyed the potato cultivator. You don't have proper plans. You have no targets. You have no vision.

You take years and years to take a decision. You dropped growing of seed potatos in the Green Houses in Nuwara Eliya, on the advice of some officers. Now again you are trying to study the possibility of growing seed potatoes locally.

Farmers are pawning everything they have. You must help the farmers without delay.

Your government stopped the nutrition support programme for children introduced by the UNP government.

There is an erroneous reference in the budget about the development of the Lady Ridgeway Children's Hospital. The budget states that the LRC hospital is being developed under Japanese Development Co-operation aid. Nothing more is beside the truth. The agreement was signed during my period as Health Minister by Director General of Health, Dr. Joe Perera with the Chinese Government. An eight floor hospital building is coming up now under Chinese aid.

The Chinese government might stop aid if you go on making mistakes of this nature.

House adjourned sittings till 9.30 a.m. on November 16, 1998.