Tuesday 5th December, 2023

The government is going hell for leather to boost its revenue at the behest of the IMF, and the public is desperate for economic relief. Taxes and tariffs have gone through the roof. Fuel prices are jacked up by copious amounts, but price decreases come in dribs and drabs. It is only natural that the people are resentful.

It looks as if the government and the bus mudalalis were competing to fleece the public. Private bus owners lost no time in declaring that there would be no downward fare revision in view of the 27-rupee diesel price reduction. They consider it a negligible amount! If so, it logically follows from their argument that they would not have asked for a fare revision if the diesel price had been increased by Rs. 27 from Rs. 356 (being the price as at 30 Nov.) to Rs. 383. Therefore, it can be argued that they must not be granted a fare hike even if the diesel price reaches Rs. 383 in the future. They must not be allowed to have the best of both worlds.

A downward diesel price revision is of little use if no benefits accrue to the public therefrom in the form of decreases in bus and train fares and cargo transportation costs. It only helps the transport operators maximise their profits at the expense of the state coffers.

When the fuel retail trade was opened up to the private sector, Minister of Power and Energy Kanchana Wijesekera claimed that there would be competition among the retailers to the benefit of the public. But all three outfits involved in fuel retail business—the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC), Indian Oil Company and Sinopec—are not competing at all.

One of the reasons the CPC has given for fuel prices increases is that it has to recover its losses. The other fuel retailers have no such problem, and their overheads are also much lower than the CPCs, but they too adopt the CPC prices. Wijesekera and other government worthies have apparently taken the masses for asses because as many as 6.9 million of them fell for their lies and voted for the SLPP at the last general election.

Shocking bills

The Opposition told Parliament yesterday that the electricity supply had been disconnected for more than 500,000 people across the country over the non-payment of bills. It is an irony that the government, which has defaulted on loans and is bent on debt restructuring, has chosen to penalise those who do not settle their electricity bills.

There is no gainsaying that utility bills must be paid, but the vast majority of the people affected by power disconnections have not settled their bills for pecuniary reasons. They are struggling to feed and clothe their families and are left with no funds for other things. So, the government ought to explore the possibility of restructuring their outstanding bills and introducing repayment plans if the reasons they have given for their inability to settle their dues are genuine.

Meanwhile, Parliament was informed yesterday that Abhayaramaya temple in Colombo was among the places of religious worship which had faced electricity disconnections due to the nonpayment of bills. Why didn’t Chief Incumbent of Abhayaramaya, Ven. Muruththettuwe Ananda, ask for help from the SLPP when his electricity bills went into arrears?

A few weeks ago, State Minister Sanath Nishantha settled an outstanding bill for electricity obtained for Namal Rajapaksa’s wedding in 2019. He paid Rs. 2.2 million. But for the Opposition’s protests and bad press, the bill would not have been settled, at all. Likewise, the SLPP politicians, who have amassed colossal amounts of ill-gotten wealth, ought to help Abhayaramaya, the cradle of the Rajapaksas’ comeback campaign, which stood them in good stead.

Will the Ceylon Electricity Board reveal the number of air conditioners and other such energy-intensive electrical goods being used at the religious places which have not settled their electricity bills?