Protests by political activists during the COVID crisis caused distress to people: Lokuge

People are suffering due to the protests carried out by various trade unions and political activists at a time when the COIVD pandemic situation is at a certain control level, Power and Energy Minister Gamini Lokuge said.

Addressing the media today, he said the COVID pandemic situation in the country has reached a certain level of control due to the vaccination program initiated by the President.

"Various non-government organizations (NGOs) and some trade unions are planning to boycott this program. Yesterday there was a protest near the office of the Education Ministry," he said.

We have stated in our election manifesto that the National Institute of Education (NIE) is under the Education Ministry and it will be brought up to the university level, he said.

Those protesters claimed that the government had not brought them to the university level, he said. 

"Our government gave the promise, but we will implement our promises." However, the protesters know that this cannot be done with the COVID crisis. We discussed the anomalies that have arisen for them. We made our election manifesto after having discussions with the respective trade unions. We will implement our promises one by one, "he said.

But opposition leader Sajith Premadasa and the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) are trying to create issues in this regard, Minister Lokuge added. (Chaturanga Samarawickrama)