People have to protect themselves from the Corona as well as the government

Opposition leader Sajith Premadasa issuing a special statement said that the people have to protect themselves from the deadly Covid-19 pandemic as well as the anti-people government.

The statement issued by the leader of the Opposition, Sajith Premadasa states.

The people have to protect themselves from the Corona as well as the government. By now prices of commodities have gone up without any control. The government has lost control of the Corona as well as the price of goods and the situation has developed into a predatory form of strangulation.

Wholesale prices of rice, wheat flour, sugar, milk, coffee, soybeans and meat have risen by 16 to 32 per cent, while by-products of cereals and fruits have risen more than that. Milk powder, butter, soybean oil and various food items are among such products. A terrible trade mafia is in process while the government has turned a blind eye over it. .

The so-called gazette notifications and circulars, issued regarding the control the prices of commodities have all been blatantly violated, and the trade mafia has risen head above them all. It has been proven that the government has no ability to face it.

Eventhough the government boasted that it was facing the rice mafia, it has become a complete failure. Today, the price of rice is skyrocketing at the will of traders. The prices of sugar imported to the country by granting massive tax reliefs to friends, too have gone up.  The loss caused by the fraud is not marginal. The devastation caused by the oil fraud as well as the importation of poisonous coconut oil is immense. By now oil prices too have gone up.

There is a huge shortage of nutrients in the market and especially young children and pregnant mothers are facing severe malnutrition due to this. Even though those who earn their livelihood on a daily basis have fallen into a treble situation with the inability to cope up with the skyrocketing prices of commodities and food, the government has no care for it.  

The government's Cost of Living Committee has become useless and its not visible that the pro-people decision taken from it is being implemented on the ground.

At the moment, the government is implementing projects such as urban beautification and highway construction which are not essential while falling to the level of borrowing money from Bangladesh. Instead of keeping people alive, the government has made it a priority to expedite projects through which commissions can be earned

In the face of this terrible world catastrophe, all the governments in the world are giving priority to uplift the lives of their people, the Sri Lankan government is doing something completely different. The people of our country have to think of how to protect themselves from the government rather than from Corona.

The government's activities have become so inhumane in that context. In this movement, what the government should do is to put aside the game it is playing with the lives of the citizens and turn to a pro-people policy immediately after realizing the seriousness of the situation.