Sajith vows to create an era without hardships

• I promise in the name of my father that I will end hardships faced by the common man

By Yohan Perera   

UNP Deputy Leader and Housing and Cultural Affairs Minister Sajith Preamdasa yesterday pledged to create an era where the hardships faced by the common man would be no more and that it would begin in November.

He said this while flanking Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe at the opening of the “Green Valley’ apartment complex at Ranala in Kaduwela.   

“I promise in the name of my late father Ranasinghe Premadasa that I will end the hardships faced by the common man from November this year,” Mr. Premadasa said. “The portfolio of housing which I got is not the same portfolio which my late father got in 1977. Construction of all kinds of houses including houses for fishermen, the estate workers and for the middle income earners were under the preview of the Housing ministry during my father’s time. However this was changed from 1994. Accordingly the building of houses for the fishermen, the estate workers and the middle income earners were brought under the purview of different ministries just to satisfy politicians. The situation is the same today because only housing projects for rural people and projects under a private-public partnership basis come under my purview. I assure you this system will soon change.” 

Mr. Premadasa said a person’s right to own a house and a block of land should be recognized as a basic human right though many talk of the freedom of expression and freedom of gathering as basic human rights.   

I make this promise in the name of my late father Ranasinghe Premadasa  that I will end the hardships faced by the common man from November this  year

He said the present government had focused on the rights of people with Health Minister Rajitha Senaratne upholding the people’s right to healthcare by reducing prices of medicine while Education Minister Akila Viraj Kariyawasam had upheld the rights of schoolchildren through the ‘Langama Pasala Hondama Pasala’ programme.