(UDHAYAM, COLOMBO) – President Maithripala Sirisena says the Government expects to get the assistance of foreign specialists to seek the possibility to take forward the Uma Oya Project by preventing the disturbance occurred for the people.
“The people in the area have to face the bad effects of this project which had been operated only on the political decisions, neglecting the advice of the engineers. Though the groups who corrupted millions of rupees through those wrong political decisions, and committed financial frauds are silent in front of the people’s protests today, the Government will carry out an investigation against them,” he said.
The President was speaking at a ceremony held on Thursday (29) in Nuwara Eliya.
“When the current Government came to power, the possibility to stop this project was examined. But we couldn’t stop it as 2/3rds of the project had been competed by that time. Furthermore, we had to consider moving the project forward as a huge loan had been taken from the Government of Iran for this project”, he added.
President Sirisena stated that he had discussions with local and foreign specialists about the actions to be taken now. He said a German specialist on mining has started investigations and another group of specialists will arrive in Sri Lanka to carry out further studies.
The President, commenting on the protest carrying out by the workers of the Electricity Board, stated that they are on this protest as the former Government gave salary increments only for the higher posts of the Electricity Board and did not provide any pay hike for lower rankers. The President expressing his views regarding the protests against the South Asian Institute of Technology and Medicine (SAITM) said, that issue also created by the previous Government.
The President further said that today, the Facebook and Social Media Sites are being obstacle to build national unity and religious reconciliation in the country. Extremist groups using this medium are attempting to create unrest in the society and all should understand this situation, he added.
President Sirisena said that the Government is committed to bring the beauty of the estate sector to the lives of its employees, and said that the Government has paid special attention to eliminate the child malnutrition in the estate sector and to eradicate the drug menace.
The 125th Anniversary of the Highlands College, Nuwara Eliya held under the patronage of President Sirisena at the D. K. W. Weeratunga Cultural Centre in Hatton.
During this ceremony the President presented awards to the students who showed outstanding performance at the School and also issued a commemorative stamp to mark the 125th Anniversary of the College.
The President handed over the title deed of ten acres of land to the Principal for the benefit of Highlands College.
The Governor of the Central Province Niluka Ekanayake, Chief Minister Sarath Ekanayake, People’s representatives in the area including State Minister P. Radhakrishnan, Arumugam Thondaman, Senthil Thondaman and others participated in this event.
Later, the President made an inspection tour of the Kotagala Tamil Maha Vidyalaya and looked into the education of the children.
Recently, during a President’s visit to the Talawakele area, the students of the Kotagala Tamil Maha Vidyalaya informed the President regarding the shortages of their school and consequently under the instructions of the President the relevant officials took steps to fulfil those needs of the school.
