Sri Lanka's opposition slams govt over energy minister's resignation after coal probe announcement

Minister for Power and Energy Kumara Jayakodi resigned on Friday soon after a high-powered Presidential Commission was announced to probe a state-owned entity’s coal imports for power generation.

The government, however, stressed that no loss had been caused to the state by the substandard coal imports as alleged by the opposition.

The opposition claimed that a ministerial resignation is generally regarded as an acceptance of responsibility for a specific issue, adding that a resignation should never affect the proceedings of an inquiry panel.

Among the anomalies is the fact that the importing company in question had not been registered at the time of granting of the contract to import, the opposition said in a statement.

That responsibility must be collectively taken by the government without singling out the minister as the whole process had been approved by the cabinet, it said.

“Not just one ship with sub-quality coal that was imported but a number of them. The government themselves admitted to the low quality coal that was imported,” the statement said.

While accusing the government of breaching public trust, the opposition claimed the sub-standard coal had caused the excessive use of diesel for power generation.

“Over 8,00,000 litres of diesel are being used daily now for power generation. These could be otherwise used for transport, manufacturing of fertilizer and processing drinking water.”

The Lanka Coal Company Limited was established in 2008 to procure and supply coal for thermal power generation following a decision taken by the Cabinet of Ministers in 2006 and registered under the Companies Act, No 7 of 2007.

The Lanka Coal offices were sealed by the police for a few days a fortnight ago before reopening.

Along with Jayakodi, Ministry’s Secretary Udayanga Hemapala too resigned from the post, President Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s office said.

The Commission report would be submitted to the president in six months, Herath said.

Earlier, Jayakodi became the first National People’s Power minister to face a ‘No Trust’ motion, but survived on the strength of sheer parliamentary numbers enjoyed by the NPP to soundly defeat it 153-49 on April 10.

The opposition also slammed the government for protecting the minister at the no-confidence motion in parliament a week ago and said that the government asked him to resign for false reasons to hoodwink the public.

The government won the no-trust motion and stressed that the opposition was not able to prove wrongdoing by the minister.

Sri Lanka is 100 per cent coal import dependent. Official data shows it imports on an average about 2.5 million tonnes a year of coal from Indonesia, South Africa, Australia apart from a small quantity from India.

This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.