The Island
Not worth calculating,about .000001 of GDP’ – .000001 of GDP(Rs.4,825 bn) comes to Rs.5 mn
The government yesterday claimed that the cost of hosting this week’s Cabinet meeting in Killinochchi was negligible and not worth even calculating.
Cabinet spokesman and Media Minister Keheliya Rambukwella, when questioned at the post Cabinet press briefing held in Colombo, as to what it cost the tax payer for the Cabinet headed by President Mahinda Rajapaksa to meet in Killinochchi, he replied “It is so negligible, that we didn’t take the trouble to calculate it.”
When it was pointed out that the cost of transport, security and accommodation would have totaled a sizeable amount, he said “it might work out to about .000001 of GDP.”
Asked what the role of the Provincial Councils was, if the entire Cabinet had to be transported out of Colombo, Rambukwella replied that it was actually a boost to the provincial administrations.
“When the Cabinet holds its meetings in the provinces, it revitalizes the Provincial Councils. It has a positive and not negative effect,” he claimed.
Rambukwella said that this was not the first time a Cabinet meeting had been held outside Colombo. On two earlier occasions they had met at Embilipitiya and Kandy.
“By going to Killinochchi it gave us a first hand opportunity to identify the problems faced by the people of the district and also conduct a mobile service to find solutions to most of the issues on the same day itself,” he said. “The other reason pertained to a comment by the late Thamil Chelvam that Killionchchi would be the capital of Eelam. By holding the Cabinet meeting in that city, we were able to send a signal to the world that Sri Lanka was a united country and there was no room for divisions.”