The country must be closed down, except for essential services at this critical juncture, former Minister Patali Champika Ranakwa said today.
Issuing a special statement, the ex-minister said the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) must immediately be transferred and be operated under a Specialist Board.
“We have been pushed to live in a country where the power supply is disrupted for a period of 13- hours,” he said.
Stating that the sun is nearly directly above the country, he said the consumers have to also face severe heat during this period, while the usage of water has also increased.
MP Champika Ranawaka pointed out that the key issue for all of this was the power crisis.
“The power crisis has crippled the operations of the households, as well as private and state offices. The staff of the various public and private offices report to work but return home without conducting any work due to the electricity disruptions,” he said.
The former Minister said the power crisis has also crippled the operations of factories in the country.
“Small and medium-scale businesses have been severely affected. Several places that use Air Conditioners and refrigerators are facing the fear of expired food and medicines. This has resulted in affecting the quality of foods and medicines,” he said.
MP Patali Champika Ranawaka said part from prominent supermarket chains, nearly 400,00 other small-scale stores, and supermarkets have been severely affected due to this.
He further said nearly 1 million factories in the country have been severely affected due to the power crisis.
The Government is yet to understand the oncoming issues the country is heading towards, the MP pointed out.
Stating that he had warned of this situation a few months ago, MP Ranawaka said the reason for the electricity system to collapse is the failure to purchase fuel and the closure of power plants operated by fuel.
He added that the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) has fallen into such a serious state due to the actions of the present Government. (NewsWire)