“The government has no answers to these questions. What they are doing is telling people the problem. Minister Gammanpila says, “If you walk, there are lights. If you go in a car, you have to stay in the dark.” Minister Gammanpila, Minister Gamini Lokuge and the Electricity Board are coming out with various stories. Ministers are needed to resolve crises through discussions in the cabinet. Maintaining ministerial posts with public money is not to tell the people the problem. Their responsibility is to take decisions collectively, solve problems and make people comfortable. But now the problem is that the whole country is going astray,” says Information Secretary of the JVP Vijitha Herath.
He spoke at a media briefing held at the JVP head office at Pelawatta yesterday (26th).
He said, “Today, there is a severe energy crisis. It has been stated that they will not cut off the power supply till the 27th. No one knows what will happen next. Despite the explanations given by the CEB, the people are in a state of uncertainty. Government ministers come out with various stories. Recently, there was no oil to run power plants. Ships did not unload oil as there were no dollars to pay. Gammanpila says he will give oil if he is given dollars. Lokuge says if oil is given, they will provide lights. There is a fuel crisis today, and Sapugaskanda power plant cannot function. There is also a coal crisis, and thermal power plants are in danger of being shut down. There is also information that the Kelanitissa power plant has oil only for three and a half days.
According to a Cabinet decision, dollars have been released for unloading oil from ships. If oil power plants are allowed to run, there will be no fuel for vehicles. The supply of oil to other factories is also a crisis. The fuel in Kolonnawa is running out. An oil tanker will return on February 05 or 06. The crude oil ship will arrive on January 30th. These ships take five to six days to unload. That shows that no one knows what will happen tomorrow. The statements made by the CEB are changing rapidly. The CEB initially said that the power would be cut off for an hour to four hours. They then said they would not cut. On the other hand, the Public Utilities Commission said that the power would not be turned off until the 27th. Even if dollars are found somehow to buy oil, the problem of no water for hydropower generation has seriously arisen.
Due to the increase in hydropower generation in the past, the reservoirs dried up rapidly, and the supply was reduced to 30%. According to the Electricity Board, the power generation was expected to decline by mid-March. But the water levels in reservoirs have already gone down. As a result, hydropower generation will inevitably go into crisis. Lack of oil lack of dollars has led to a crisis in power generation, and a shortage of water has led to a crisis in the supply of electricity. The government has no answers to these questions. What they are doing is telling people the problem. Minister Gammanpila says, “If you walk, there are lights. If you go in a car, you have to stay in the dark.” Minister Gammanpila, Minister Gamini Lokuge and the Electricity Board are saying different things. Ministers need to discuss in the cabinet and resolve crises. Maintaining ministerial posts with public money is not about telling the problem. It is their responsibility to make decisions collectively, solve problems, and make people’s lives comfortable.
But now the problem is that the whole country is going astray. There may also be planned conspiracies behind the energy crisis. The people of this country have that distrust and suspicion. How can Cabraal find dollars immediately after the former president talks to him? We have spent US $ 374 million to import fruits and vegetables in 11 months of 2020. In the 11 months of 2021, US $ 415 million has been spent on this. There are dollars to import vegetables and fruits. They say there are no dollars to bring the oil. It is clear that there is a big conspiracy here.
A report released by the Public Utilities Commission on March 31, 2016, clearly stated that the annual electricity demand will increase by 5.5%. It was pointed out that it would increase further if there were more active situations. Accordingly, the government should have had a plan to start new power plants. But no government has taken precautionary measures to meet the electricity demand. Recently, Minister Gammanpila had stated that oil is not required for power generation as the reservoirs were full. According to the Electricity Act No. 20 of 2009, the prerequisites that a holder of a power transmission license should have are very clearly stated. Section (b) of Article 24 states that “efficient coordination must develop and maintain a reliable and economical transmission system. A licensee must also have a wholesale distribution of electricity to ensure a safe, reliable and economical supply of electricity to consumers.” These facts are very clearly stated. It must also ensure sufficient capacity derived from the generation specification to meet the previously predicted demand for electricity. The conditions to be fulfilled by the licensees are very clear.
In fact, due to the current crisis, there is no suitable environment to run industries and carry out daily activities. The government now tells people to drink less water, eat less food, use less electricity, use less oil, use less gas, drink less medicine and useless dollars. Do we need a government to tell us to reduce these? The government tells the people to use less instead of giving them relief. When the power crisis comes, the water supply will be disrupted. When the oil crisis comes, the running of the train goes into crisis. There is grave uncertainty in the country. The government is talking to develop the tourism industry. However, foreigners visiting Sri Lanka have been warned by their countries that they could face power cuts, train shutdowns and water shortages at any time. Canada is an example. Is it possible to develop the tourism industry in this situation? In this dubious situation, we have to reconsider the arrival of foreigners in Sri Lanka. When will the lights and water in their hotel be cut off? Will the gas explode? There is uncertainty.
There were conspiratorial betrayals of our power and independence. The Minister has requested that the capability to import oil from India be given to the Electricity Board to solve the oil crisis. According to the Petroleum Act, only the Petroleum Corporation can import oil. According to the Act that power cannot be given to the Electricity Board. However, the Minister of Power and Energy has asked for the import of oil in connection with the US $ 500 million transfer loan from India. A situation has arisen where control over fuel, crude oil, petrol and diesel is being handed over to India. An agreement to hand over the LNG power plants to the United States has already been signed. The control in ‘power and energy of our country has been handed over to the US and India. The country has been made to be caught up in a trap. The port went to China, the oil tanks to India, the LNG power plant to the United States. The control of ‘power and energy in our country is to be handed over to world powers. When the people are tormented with the energy crisis, they would say, “Give it to someone and give us oil, give us electricity.” We saw what happened after the gas cylinder started to explode. There is a situation where the queues are reduced, and people are withdrawing from gas consumption. Fear drives them away from using gas. There is a conspiracy to get the people to approve when power is given to multinational corporations.
Suspicion and mistrust have been created among the people due to the situation where government ministers are coming out with different stories. How do the factories run? Can they take the vehicle to the road ?, Does the water motor have kerosene? Etc. There are doubts. This government created a country with uncertainty. A country cannot exist like this. Today’s decision will be reversed tomorrow. Due to suspicion and mistrust, the government has pushed the whole country into a bottomless abyss. We demand the government to present solutions to the people without declaring their crisis to the country. People do not expect ministers to come out with excuses for the crisis. They expect a solution for the crises. We urge the government to work for that.”
