The Committee Stage debate of the Budget began this week with the votes of several important ministries taken up for discussion. These included the votes of the Office of the President, Prime Minister, Parliament, Ministry of Defence and Urban Development

Prime Minister, D.M. Jayaratne:

It was (Former President) the late J.R. Jayawardena who gave a weeklong holiday to the police, after the 1977 elections. Does the UNP want us to do a similar thing and send the police on leave before the polls? The Executive Presidency (EP) has come under criticism, but no one has brought proposals yet to remove it from the Constitution. The country has developed under the EP and it has to continue.

National List MP & JVP Parliamentary Group Leader, Anura Dissanayaka:

There are two groups living in the shadow of Prabhakaran and the LTTE in this country. One is the remnants of the LTTE the Government talks about, and the other is this Government which is living in the past. You have not moved forward after the war. You are demonising the Diaspora and making political capital. There is no need for unlimited power in a single person’s hands. Under this system, instead of making collective decisions, one person takes all the decisions. Millions have been allocated to the office of the President. This amount when divided into 365 days, it amounts to Rs 262,000 for a day. What do you do with this much of money? Does he swallow Rs 5,000 notes for breakfast and make a mellum of it for lunch.

Trincomalee District MP & TNA Parliamentary Group Leader, R. Sampanthan:

The question of land in both the Northern and Eastern Provinces is the main problem that we have. Particularly, in areas such as Valikamam in the North and Sampur in the East, where we have done our utmost to get the Government to be able to look at these issues objectively and make fair decisions. But, we have thus far not been successful in having those lands returned to our people, though we have done all that we could do to enable that. High Security Zones (HSZ) were declared in the Northern and Eastern Province, quite understandably, when the LTTE possessed long range artillery, and there was a possibility of that artillery being able to reach security installations in the North and the East. In such a situation, the Government cleared certain areas up to a point beyond the reach of the LTTE artillery, to ensure the security of those security installations. That is understandable; that is legitimate. But, now the war is over; the LTTE is over; LTTE artillery is not there. So, there is no need for a HSZ. These are lands in which these people have lived for generations.

UNP Colombo District MP, Ravi Karunanayaka:

The tagline of Mihin Air is ahasa ape (the sky is ours). Others say the sea is ours, and now, the Chinese say the land is ours. So what is there for the people? The Colombo Port was made one of the best in the world, but now it has fallen into degradation. A group of UNP MPs went to see the corrupt practices at the Ports Authority and found it being used for political propaganda work.

Minister of Civil Aviation, Priyankara Jayaratne:

Under the Mahinda Chintanaya, we are moving towards being an aviation hub. In 2013, over 7 million used the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA), while up to October 2014, 6 million people have used the BIA. This shows that the BIA is up to the standards of any other international airport. We are in the process of increasing the passenger capacity of the BIA to 15 million users, and will increase the number of Duty-Free shops, as well as hotels. In the same manner, we are also going to develop Mattala Airport. We saw the shortcomings in the BIA and decided to build a new airport. Some said this airport will be turned into a Museum. Today there are several international airlines coming to Mattala. By next year, many international airlines have agreed to use this airport. We have also developed many domestic airports. We are also upgrading our airline fleet. We have A340, but it is time to phase them out. They will be replaced with A330 and A350 by 2020. Today, Mihin Air too has started to make profits.