TNA wants nine provinces replaced with three or four zones

… warns repealing of 13A could endanger country’s future

By Saman Indrajith

The government should do away with the existing provinces and introduce a system of devolution and administration consisting of three or four zones so that the expenditure to maintain nine provincial councils could be reduced, TNA Leader R. Sampanthan, MP said in Parliament yesterday.

He warned that any attempt to repeal the 13th Amendment could cause grave harm and irreparable damage to the country’s future.

Taking part in the fifth-day of the second reading stage of the budget debate, TNA Leader Sampanthan said any attempt to modify or nullify the 13th Amendment or to make it ineffective and worthless, would be counterproductive. "The 13th Amendment is the only provision that recognizes the diversity of the country to a certain extent."

The TNA leader said that the President had mentioned national reconciliation in his budget speech.

He demanded to know what had been meant by those words. He said: "People undergo hardships and are unable to repay loans. How could they think of reconciliation when they are over burdened with economic difficulties? Hundreds of thousands of people were displaced due to war. No allocation has been made for them in these budget proposals. Is this the way towards reconciliation?"