100 houses built by the Sri Lanka Railway handed over to the people under the chairmanship of the Minister of Mass Media Transport and Highways Dr. Bandula Gunawardena.
He was the chief guest at the housing title awarding ceremony held at the Ministry of Transport Auditorium, for the protection of the squatters living in the Railway Reserve during the acquisition of space for the development of the Kelaniveli railway line.
Recognizing the expected contribution of the Sri Lanka Railways to the national transport system, housing rights were given to 100 squatters residing in the section from Siwali Pura to Kirulapana in the Kelaniweli Railway Reserve in order to get space to develop the railway service in the suburbs of Colombo.
These houses were provided from Maligawatta Lak Hiru Sevana and Kalinga Mawatha Kolongtota Sarasavi Uyana apartment complexes built by the Urban Development Authority.
The Colombo Suburban Railway Development Project is being implemented under the loan support of the Asian Development Bank.
Minister Dr. Bandula Gunawardena, who further said
"All of you who have fought for your life to live on the railway line in Kelani Valley have been living under the label of unauthorized residents for a long time.The time may be twenty to thirty years.
All of you are guilty of a serious offense according to the Railway Ordinance made by white people in Britain.
Railway reserve cannot be used for construction for any reason.The law is to convict and fine those traveling on railways.
The railway department is not obliged to pay even a penny compensation for those who are killed by the train, because the railway reserve does not belong to anyone, it belongs to the railway service.
The Railway Department has the right to evict squatters at any time.
That is why the government has proposed to the ADB which is providing loan assistance to the Kelani valley railway development project, even though you have the right to evict them without any compensation. Let's build a little together with the Urban Development Authority.
These houses were built with the loan money obtained from the Asian Development Bank.The value of this one house is about one hundred and twenty lakhs.
This gives the right to a valuable property to all who do not have a decent home.
This is not a compensation for being on the railway, this is a kind payment.These houses are provided on a humanitarian basis after discussing with you.
If they do not go to the house they receive, they will go to court and evict them from the house they live in.
Because we all have to submit to the existing law of the country and respect the existing law, we cannot live a society under an anarchic situation.
This is a very valuable asset that you will receive during your lifetime. , power plants, schools, hospitals have been built with local and foreign loans.
36 billion US dollars in loans are stuck.
In the next 5-6 years, 37% of the debts will be paid.
More than 51% of those loans will be paid in the next 6 to 20 years, and 12% will be paid after twenty years, which means until 2050, the people of this country have no solution to this problem.
There is no political answer for that.
Even if the government changes, no matter who the president is, if this debt is not paid, it will not be possible to do any business in this country.
Debts taken during governance of a country must be paid.
Last year we all paid taxes regardless of income levels and everyone paid taxes to the Sri Lankan government.
Everything we buy is taxed and the tax is added to the price of the product.
They are indirect taxes.
Direct taxes are levied on high wage earners.
1751 billion has been received in the year 2022 from all those taxes.
1265 billion has been spent to pay salaries and pensions to government employees.
It is 72% of the total tax revenue.
506 billion was spent to provide other subsidies including Samurdhi, which is 28% of the tax revenue.
Then there will not be a penny left in the treasury.
How can the government move beyond that?
Last year, 1565 billion in loan interest and 715 billion in capital expenditure were paid by borrowing.
Now you can't get loans and you can't buy money.
That is why we are in a difficult place and there is no political solution for this.
There is only an economic solution for that, school children like Korea, China and India should work more in schools, university students in universities, farmers in farms and workers in the workplace. This is the true reality that the country can only get through that.
You have risen from a certain situation.
Through that, they should teach their children to be fit for the future world.
What is ahead is the world of working without humans through literacy and digitization.
This is the world of tomorrow.
Children should be given an education to go to that world.
The minister further said that by giving the knowledge required for the new world, we will work to make that child a resource not only for this country but also for the world.
Acting Secretary of the Ministry of Transport and Highways L. H. Tillakaratne, Railway Chief Engineer (Projects and Planning) D. J. At Premathilaka, the Project Director of the Colombo Suburban Railway Project Mr. Upali Mallikaarachichi and other government officials and home title holders were present.
