MP Manoganeshan has requested Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe to give the barren lands in the hill estates to the estate people and to provide parcels of cooked food to the people living in flats and shanties in Colombo until the situation improves to face the food shortage.
Mano Ganesan was attending a meeting convened by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe on the food issue and mentioned this.
Minister of Agriculture Mahinda Amaraweera, Minister of Plantation Industries Ramesh Pathirana, Minister of Housing Prasanna Ranatunga, MP Mano Ganesan, MP Champika Ranawaka, MP Tissa Attanayake, MP Nimal Lansa and Sagala Ratnayake were present at this meeting chaired by PM Ranil Wickremesinghe.
Mano Ganesan made the following proposals at the meeting.
Mano Ganesan made the following proposals at the meeting.
City of Colombo
“Families living in slums and shanties in Colombo are suffering without adequate income, gas for cooking, kerosene and food.
For the next few months, they should be given cooked food at least once a day until the condition improves.
The kitchen of the Colombo Port and the kitchens owned by the Colombo Municipal Council can be used for this purpose. This responsibility can be given to the Army. Implement this plan immediately. “
Estate people in the hills
“People in the hill country do not have adequate income.
The value of the US dollar which was around Rs. 190 in January 2021 has risen to Rs. 360 by 2022 today. As such, the income of exporters has increased by 90% or almost doubled from the Sri Lankan Rupee.
But the plantation companies are not ready to share this excess surplus with the workers who produce these export crops.
The basic salary paid in January 2021 was Rs. 900 and in today 2022 it is still the same. Is this the justice?
So either increase wages and increase the purchasing ability of workers or give the barren lands in the hills to the estate people and allow them to cultivate their own food.”