Pay hike or development

17 November 2010 06:25 pm - 65 - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

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President Mahinda Rajapaksa told the Cabinet today that the government would be compelled to forgo the mega development projects if substantial salary increases were announced in the budget for the public servants.

President Rajapaksa announced at the Cabinet meeting today that it would cost Rs.1.4 billion a month for the government to increase the salaries of public servants by Rs. 100 a month. At this point, Education Minister Bandula Gunawardane had reportedly pointed out that the government’s salary bill for the public servants is Rs. 500 billion out of its total annual revenue of Rs. 800 billion. (Kelum Bandara)

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Comments - 65

Maidan Thursday, 18 November 2010 06:34 AM

Well they deserve a salary increment and we deserve a better service from them.

Bad Boy Thursday, 18 November 2010 07:34 AM

are you Nan or Nun

michi Thursday, 18 November 2010 07:07 AM

Do you eat? Do you wear clothes?

JoeT Thursday, 18 November 2010 06:47 AM

Our dear government workers deserve a pay hike,after working so hard give it to them. After all they asked for it.
Then let the government workers be taxed, we have the highest percentage of government workers in South east Asia per population. That will ease the burden, and provide more money for development.
And us in the mercantile sectors will not be the only ones who provide the much needed income tax for the 10%, MR and his whole family,,,

Ami Thursday, 18 November 2010 06:41 AM

Are you talking about an empty tummy development ??? Before every thing you must feed the people who are starving ! The government should carry out an impartial research as to what should be exactly done !

The Prince Thursday, 18 November 2010 06:40 AM

Yes... this is exactly what Mcchavelli wrote to the Prince Medici.... MR is following exactly those instructions...

Nan Thursday, 18 November 2010 06:38 AM

ok how about this for a solution, you make government institutions efficient and profitable, so that they become self sufficient, and then use the tax payer money for development? if it was up to me, I'd pick development because i have never seen a single public servant who deserves a salary increment.

mallie Thursday, 18 November 2010 06:37 AM

Is he planning to develop graveyards. We sure will be there if pay hike does not come!

Subha Thursday, 18 November 2010 06:34 AM

Why dont u get all your family members, the Basils, Chamals, Namals, and all other Rajapakses, then sell ur blood, bone marrow and organs such as kidneys, lungs, heart, cartilage and corneas, so that you can afford our pay hike? We would surely value that act of service.

Bad Boy Thursday, 18 November 2010 07:37 AM

100% correct my dear friend they also need to live in this country & they need to fight against the rising prices of goods

pingonna Thursday, 18 November 2010 06:31 AM

NO NEED FOR SALARY INCREASES TO THE PUBLIC/PRIVATE SECTOR EMPLOYEES ONLY INCREASE THE PRESIDENTS AND HIS FAMILY SALARIES.

Pissu Poos Raja Thursday, 18 November 2010 06:24 AM

MR didn't you know this when you were drafting mahinda chinthanaya?

Lehman Brother Thursday, 18 November 2010 06:23 AM

reduce 10% of all spending and calculate.

Assay Bayai! Thursday, 18 November 2010 02:24 AM

Good for 10%

Assay Bayai! Thursday, 18 November 2010 02:23 AM

SUPER COMMENT! LIKE JILMART!

Assay Bayai! Thursday, 18 November 2010 02:20 AM

Wow what a IRONICAL statement,u can easily collect this amount by stopping the Rs700 million parliament building project,cutting of Ministers and MP's perks(back up vehicles,mobile,staff,fuel,rent allowance,salary cuts...etc),reducing the no of state functions or keeping it on a low key,corruption,government servants paying taxes,stopping jumbo delegations....etc. I think it is just a pretext,the leader must set an example here!

willows Thursday, 18 November 2010 02:12 AM

unnecessary thamash or development????

suran Thursday, 18 November 2010 02:08 AM

why not buy some mercs go on foreign trips build some private holiday bunglows in sinharaja forest ,that is the development of this country.

Nadaal Thursday, 18 November 2010 07:44 AM

first fulfill the election promise. Alleviate the sufferings of the poor citizens. We tighten our belts during the war. Now expected to tighten during development. What next? Please grow up.

steve Thursday, 18 November 2010 07:44 AM

Oh really Mr President, you are talking about cost cutting now??
How much could we save if we are to reduce the cabinet by half? how about reducing the number of luxury vehicles (Jaguar/BMW/Aston Martin) to the ministers and their goons?
How about the amount we spend on world tours on you, ministers and their families?
Please tell us how much you could have saved on your inauguration ceremony?

tissa Thursday, 18 November 2010 08:02 AM

2009 වසර අගදී අර්ධ රාජ්‍ය අංශයේ සේවකයන්ද ඇතුළුව සිටි මුළු රාජ්‍ය අංශයේ සේවක සංඛ්‍යාව 13,13,584 කි. මේ අයට රුපියල් 10,000 කින් වැටුප් වැඩි කළහොත් මසකට රු. 13135840,000 ක මුදලක්‌ ද වසරකට රු. 157630080000 ක මුදලක්‌ දී දැරීමට රජයට සිදුවෙයි. එනම් වසරකට රු. බිලියන 157.63 ක්‌ නැතහොත් රු. කෝටි 15763 ක්‌ දරන්නට සිදුවෙයි. මෙය සුවිශාල මුදලකි. මේ මුදල දළ වශයෙන් රටේ දළ දේශීය නිෂ්පාදිතයෙන් සියයට 3 ක්‌ පමණ වෙයි.

knight rider Thursday, 18 November 2010 08:05 AM

how much fuel is wasted per day for the additional vehicles used for every ministers every journey ?

knight rider Thursday, 18 November 2010 08:09 AM

correct ! and when the parliament expands we can imagine cost of maintenance,

Conrad Thursday, 18 November 2010 08:14 AM

Cut wasteful expenditure on government thamashas. Do away with back up security for MP'S. Eradicate bribery and corruption by Govt. Officials. Reduce over staffing of Ministries and Govt. departments. Drive all govt. departments to be efficient and work concious. Impose taxes on govt. servants. You will then find the difference.

Maths Teacher Thursday, 18 November 2010 09:22 AM

1.4bn = 1400mn
1400mn/100 = 14mn
SL Total population = 20mn

Smart Aleck Thursday, 18 November 2010 09:55 AM

Is MR talking of Family Development?

xlntgson Thursday, 18 November 2010 10:02 AM

No doubt, development first; the public sector is not marginalised in Sri Lanka, they are privileged.

suresh Thursday, 18 November 2010 10:40 AM

Why don't you come and live here before talking? Idiots like you who live in luxury abroad are the ones to blame for an idiot being president!

Darren Thursday, 18 November 2010 10:46 AM

In the same way you lead the nation to finish LTTE we are certain that you can develop the country.Dear sir we have given you a clear mandate to do that and we will continue to do so.All the best our great living god Hon. Mahinda Rajapakse who gave us our lives back.

Poor Lankan Thursday, 18 November 2010 11:49 AM

There you are , you name says how clever you are. good calculation ...

Dr. PR Thursday, 18 November 2010 12:01 PM

Let me get this straight. To increase the salary by Rs. 100 it would cost GOSL 1.4 Billion (a billion has 9 zeros). Thus it would mean that there are 14 million government sectors employees in Sri Lanka. The countries population is 20.5 million of which 4-5 million are under the age of 18. That leaves about 15-16 million which mean only about 1-2million in this country are either employed in private sector or unemployed. Interestingly the Census dept of Sri Lanka states that the total number of state sectors employees are 500,000 (only 0.5 million). In addition if what Mr. Gunawardana states is true then GOSL requires RS 500 billion to pay salary for 500,000 state sector employees per year. Thus if you calculate this means the average salary of a government sector employee is Rs. 85,000/. How many of us earn Rs. 80,000 per month? Dont be blinded by figures that is my message

Saradial Friday, 19 November 2010 07:09 AM

Blind Darren, You donot know who won the war, That is our hero SF. MR was silent keeping Hm Hm that time. Listen to Ven Amila's speeches on You tube.

EW Golding Friday, 19 November 2010 08:14 AM

Thanks for working out the numbers.
It is obvious they are lying through their teeth.
They always did!

pissu balla Thursday, 18 November 2010 12:13 AM

We do not need a pay hike. Please build the nation and put some money into your pocket.

shace-UK Wednesday, 17 November 2010 06:37 PM

No need of pay hike....go ahead with the coury's developent!!!

kumar Wednesday, 17 November 2010 06:40 PM

Just a larger increase to the Cabinet, Leader of the Opposition and ALL M.Ps, Judges, Armed Forces will do just fine, thank you very much. We know exactly where we are going; the most advanced nation in the East.

Dr D D Jayasekera Wednesday, 17 November 2010 06:54 PM

When the judges were given a pay hike recently with arrears for few years where was Mr Bandula Gunawardena. They know that their pay also go up with it.

Neomal Wednesday, 17 November 2010 07:03 PM

Somebody is joking here. What about that election promise of Rs.2500/-? So, that's the joke.

Pity those who got suckered in for that gimmick..

Suba Wednesday, 17 November 2010 07:04 PM

What part of development do CASINOS come in to?

CITIZEN Wednesday, 17 November 2010 07:46 PM

you are right. But to stop Brain drain- you should balance the both. Low pay will lead to corruption and bribery. Otherwise Mr.President and Co should show a simple life to public.

Roland Kuranage Wednesday, 17 November 2010 07:54 PM

Development is very good for country but without corruption and also you have to reduce cost of leving.

Ranil Wednesday, 17 November 2010 08:42 PM

Ha? 1.4 bn a month for a 100/- per month increase? You mean we have 14 million public employees in SL? That's about two thirds the population working for the govt. Type or cooked numbers?

Miles Wednesday, 17 November 2010 09:22 PM

How much is the salary bill of all the politicians per annum (MP's & PC's included)? I am sure we can save this too! Atleast the last two pay hikes for these blokes!

suwantha Wednesday, 17 November 2010 09:59 PM

president you kept winning president in jail.honestly can you swear as president .now you revenge the people.stop unwanted spenditure and use it to pay hike of innocent public servants.

RC Wednesday, 17 November 2010 11:13 PM

so much for that 2500 then!

NADARAJAH SETHURUPAN Wednesday, 17 November 2010 11:35 PM

Mr.President Mahinda Rajapaksa, mega development projects better than substantial salary increases, “something is better than nothing”.

saranga Wednesday, 17 November 2010 11:40 PM

Good dont give any increment, bloated public sector wants more, I mean JVP!!

Smart Aleck Wednesday, 17 November 2010 11:50 PM

Perhaps pay hikes could still be given if unnecessary Thamashas including publicity cut outs and unnecessary jaunts are stopped immediately.

Ray Wednesday, 17 November 2010 11:56 PM

And exactly how much of that 500 billion rupees goes towards salaries, allowances and other perks of the President and parliamentarians?

Thinuka Wednesday, 17 November 2010 06:34 PM

Guess government can save more than 500 billion, if could stop corruption and bribery... We agreed and accept ur desire of Development. It is clear. But 1st thing 1st. Finish Corruption and bribery in all scale 100%..

Pubudu Thursday, 18 November 2010 12:19 AM

You only have to promise; no need to give.

raymond Thursday, 18 November 2010 12:22 AM

It should be development? Pay hike, my foot!!!!

Senator Thursday, 18 November 2010 12:33 AM

What is said now is just the opposite of what was said during the Presidential and General Elections. OMG

sunila mendis Thursday, 18 November 2010 12:35 AM

How much of the total budget is taken to sustain the mediocre cabinet ministers in your Govt? How much is spent on joy rides abroad? May four Gods protecting SL punish these rogue Govt.

Percy Mandawala Thursday, 18 November 2010 12:41 AM

It looks like no pay rise this time and corrupt project deals to continue.

Aneez Thursday, 18 November 2010 12:54 AM

Will they increase the salary of the University Lecturers, which were promised by the Govt in past.

uni Thursday, 18 November 2010 01:00 AM

Politicians can share their personal wealth which were earned unlawful manner for development. I am sure R family must be owning billions of dollors looted from our country

ampare son Thursday, 18 November 2010 01:02 AM

development importent. lot of people suffering without job. pay hike dosent solve unemployment.

steve Thursday, 18 November 2010 01:22 AM

Pay hike for ministers is acceptable not public servants. I believe the public sector does not deserve a pay hike but giving the small man is far better than giving the goon in charge.

Bad Boy Thursday, 18 November 2010 01:29 AM

Mr President is talking about the Scarecity & oppertunity cost.... I mean this is ture from the Gov point of view..

victoria Thursday, 18 November 2010 01:33 AM

That means NO pay hike ? The workers are CHEATED again and OVER again

victoria Thursday, 18 November 2010 01:36 AM

The Hon. Minister of Education always talks nuts. Earlier he said that he is going to establish about 1,000 schools of high grades - without having teachers how can he do it???

Wijebahu Thursday, 18 November 2010 01:48 AM

Didn't you know then it costs 35 billion per month to increase 2500.00 as you promised??? Liar, Liar.

AjayH Thursday, 18 November 2010 01:49 AM

Keep the projects. Just ' control ' the corruption & cut the tamasha's.

Prabath Perea Thursday, 18 November 2010 01:54 AM

Former Finace minister (RS) who added 40,000 graduates to the public service should responsible for this. He added unskilled, non talented graduates for sake of giving jobs. It created a burden to country and public servants has to pay for that.

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Pay hike or development

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