Work with existing powers before devolution – Basil tells TNA
August 29, 2014 08:38 am
The
Northern Provincial Council (NPC) should work with existing powers before
demanding further devolution, Sri Lanka’s Economic Development Minister Basil
Rajapaksa said on Thursday.
“They
have not done anything yet,” he said, speaking to media persons on the
sidelines of a press conference to announce a new bank loan scheme launched by
his ministry.
His
comments come less than a week after the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), which
leads the Northern Provincial Council, met Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi
in New Delhi. On the TNA’s visit to New Delhi, Mr. Basil Rajapaksa said: “We
knew they were planning to go. Some others, former politicians, also seem to be
trying for an appointment, but the TNA got it.”
While
the Sri Lankan government was yet to hear about it from the Indian government
formally, India had acted “professionally and responsibly as always,” he said.
In
the meeting with Mr. Modi, the TNA sought India’s help in pressuring the Sri
Lankan government to devolve more powers to the provinces as per the 13th
Amendment to Sri Lanka’s Constitution, which followed the Indo-Sri Lanka accord
of 1987. Mr. Modi is said to have reiterated India’s position on the matter,
assuring the visiting Tamil leaders that India was committed to engaging with
Sri Lanka on the full implementation of the 13th Amendment and “going beyond,”
as was promised by Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa earlier.
Speaking
on the Northern Provincial Council’s role in development projects in the island’s
former war zone, Mr. Basil Rajapaksa said the government’s development work in
the north had slowed down because of little cooperation from provincial
government, pointing to the delay in completion of the railway line to Jaffna.
Attributing it to inadequate action by the NPC — clearing squatters and making
certain roads available for the project — Mr. Rajapaksa said “We are willing to
work with them if they work with us.”
The
ruling coalition, he said, was privately engaging with certain members within
the TNA who were open to working with the government, the Hindu reports.
