President appoints three-member committee

Sri Lanka President Maithripala Sirisena

With Sri Lanka imposing power cuts once again, inconveniencing the public, President Maithripala Sirisena yesterday (26), appointed a three-member committee to look into the power cuts and find solutions to the on-going power crisis.

Ministers Kabir Hashim, Ravi Karunanayake and Dr. Harsha de Silva were entrusted with this responsibility.

The committee was appointed  following the Cabinet discussing the current crisis at length when the Cabinet met last morning at the Parliament Complex. Meanwhile, a senior Cabinet Minister told Ceylon Today that the President strongly criticised the conduct of the coun-try’s regulatory body the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL). He has blamed the PUCSL and several engineers’ unions in the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) for allowing the country to run into a power crisis, the senior Cabinet Minister claimed. The Cabinet met under the patronage of President Sirisena at the Parliament Complex last morning and the Ministers had discussed the power crisis and power cuts at length.

According to this Minister, the President has apparently said that some officials of the PUCSL and several Engineers of the CEB having links with private power plant owners has resulted in them obstructing the long-term power generation plan.

The President has said that he in fact has received information about Commission Members and engineers going on foreign tours with the owners of private power plants.

(Source: Ceylon Today – By Gagani Weerakoon)