Santa sporting saataka
Editorial-September 17, 2014, 7:30 pm
Santa has arrived in Sri Lanka about three months ahead of Christmas with a noticeable change in his traditional attire; he is sporting saataka for a change. What a pleasant surprise!
President Mahinda Rajapaksa has reduced the prices of electricity and fuel. The commissioning of the Phase III of Norochcholai coal-fired power plant has made a reduction in power tariffs possible, we are told. The Chinese government has promised that there will be no more ‘unusual’ breakdowns there.
Let’s hope and pray that the Chinese engineers will be able to banish the jinx troubling that vital power plant once and for all and keep it operational throughout the year. The Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) will have to ensure that there are enough coal stocks to keep the plant running so that the so-called Power Mafia won’t be able to make a killing from time to time by purchasing power from the private sector at extortionate prices. However, the President has spoilt the CEB’s plans to help Sri Lanka beat Italy to become the country with the highest electricity prices in the world.
A 25-per-cent reduction in electricity tariffs will, no doubt, benefit the public immensely. But, the President seems to have forgotten another burning problem people are faced with—pipe borne water which the National Water Supply and Drainage Board has made as expensive as premium brand foreign brews. It is hoped that he will be considerate enough to order a reduction in water tariffs as well. If he does so, not only children but also grandmas and grandpas will queue up wherever he goes to hug him.
The government had been arguing, until Tuesday, that in spite of dipping oil prices in the world market fuel price reductions were not possible here. It concocted various theories to bolster its claim. But, the President has brought down the diesel, petrol and kerosene prices by Rs. 3.00, Rs. 5.00 and Rs. 20.00 per litre respectively. The Opposition has, however, put forth a very cogent argument that the diesel and petrol prices could have been reduced further. (Regrettably, Santa seems to have been influenced by Minister Bandula Gunawardane’s theory that a family of three needs only Rs. 7,500 for survival. Else, he would have been more generous.)
Staggered PC polls are a public nuisance because we have politicians scurrying about like cockroaches in some part of the country or another almost every year. However, the government wouldn’t have reduced power and fuel prices but for the upcoming Uva PC election which it is desperate to win with an impressive majority in view of an early presidential election expected next year. The last election to the Uva PC in 2009 a few moons after the defeat of the LTTE was a cakewalk for the government. But, this time around, it has had to make quite an effort with the Opposition putting up a good fight and it does not want to leave anything to chance. People stand to gain only when a government with a steamroller majority begins to see the Opposition in the rearview mirror.
The 20-rupee reduction in kerosene price will stand the UPFA in good stead in Uva, where there are many plantation workers dependent on kerosene. Our Rathu Sahodarayas are likely to cry from the rooftops that the government has bribed the people of Uva again. These days the people of that province seem to have all the luck! The plantation workers would have been happier if they had been given a substantial wheat flour subsidy as well. They are in need of economic relief more than others.
Dear Santa, thanks for the fabulous floating markets, wonderful jogging tracks, magnificent shopping malls, fantastic port cities and superb expressways, but please do something urgently to bring down the prices of essential commodities, which have gone into the stratosphere; please don’t wait till the next presidential election. Citizen Perera is famished!
