Another DM story comes to limelight in Parliament

By Yohan Perera and Ajith Siriwardana  

Another story carried in the Daily Mirror came to limelight in Parliament yesterday when Opposition MP Ravi Karunanayake based a question on it. Daily Mirror’s lead story on January 21 under the title ‘Consumers to bear Rs 20 billion Cyclone Ditwah damage to Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) infrastructure’ came to limelight this time when Karunanayake based his question on it.  

The MP questioned on specific institutional, financial, and operational reforms implemented by CEB, the timeline for it, and how it would impact domestic, commercial, and industrial consumers.  

He questioned as to how the CEB would recover the losses, and on tariff hikes. Accordingly, he asked whether power tariff were increased to fund voluntary retirement scheme for approximately 2,500 CEB employees at a cost of Rs 12 billion and whether this burden will be passed to consumers and whether the approval of Public Utilities Commission has been received for it.  

The Minister of Power and Energy Kumara Jayakody who responded wanted two weeks to provide an answer.