Oil Crisis – a reminder that money lavishly spent belongs to people
Holmangedara Lodge part 72.
The Scene: Lodgers relaxing in the sitting room of the Holmangedara lodge after breakfast. Some are reading newspapers and others are playing rummy.
Lenin Deshabandu: (Looking up from the newspaper he was reading). Eksath, were you on duty last night? You had not returned to the lodge even by the time I retired to bed late in the night!
Eksath Karaliyadda: No. I was not on duty, but I had to cool my heels in a long queue at a filling station.
Helaruwan Polgampola: My god! For hours? You should have returned to the lodge to make a try early this morning!
Eksath: The petrol tank of my motor bike had run dry to the last drop, Helaruwan. So, I had no alternative, but to suffer the agony of a long wait for my turn!
Abdul Raheem Hashim: So Eksath you had to have the refill at the old price.
Eksath: Yes, Lanka Indian Oil Company had reduced the price only from last midnight!
Suresh Ramanathan: Now that the Indian Company has reduced the petrol price, the CPC too would have to follow suit in keeping with the ‘Supreme Court Order!
Eksath: Well, the CPC cannot reduce the price on its own. It has to await the Cabinet approval!
Hashim: And the Cabinet had decided at the last Wednesday’s meeting to take a decision on the Supreme Court ruling when they meet next Wednesday!
Lenin: If the CPC failed to reduce the price of petrol immediately, it would result lin a run-on Indian Company-owned filling stations.
Helaruwan: Lenin Sahodaraya, does the reduced price of fuel mean that the CPC has to sell the petroleum products at a loss? The newspaper reports say that the government is to incur a Rs. 15 billion loss of revenue due to the reduction in the price of petrol!
Lenin: No! No! Helaruwan, the price reduction is only a cutback on profit. The court has ruled that the levies and taxes on petrol should not exceed 100 percent of the cost price.
Hashim: In other words, the pricing formula imposed by the Supreme Court has only narrowed down the margin of the profit the CPC is making to provide a measure of relief to people!
Helaruwan: Well, Big boss Janaranjana has said that the government is not prepared to accept pricing formulas imposed on it. Besides other government leaders also have said, that attempts to block sources of government revenue are part of an anti-government conspiracy!
Viraj Pulle: Several Ministers have clearly explained that free education, free health and other welfare measures are funded by direct and indirect taxes and other levies collected by the government! Above everything, the war on terrorism is being prosecuted with the taxes collected from the people!
Helaruwan: That’s true! How can the government pay salaries to security personnel and purchase military equipment without collecting taxes from the people!
Lenin: Helaruwan, you are making a very valid point! Something our government political leaders seem to have forgotten!
Eksath: Do you mean, Lenin Sahodaraya, that at least some Ministers and top bureaucrats have forgotten the fact that they are liberally spending monies collected from the people by way of taxes?
Lenin: That’s the point I want to make!
Hashim: Yes! Some Ministers seem to have forgotten they are spending monies belonging to the people! They lavishly spend as if they are using up the wealth they have inherited from their parents or grand parents!
Helaruwan: There can be a few isolated cases of extravagant spending by some Ministers. But it is no reason for anyone to block the sources of government revenue!
Hashim: The government has incurred a loss of Rs. 75 billion or 675.72 million US dollars on the hedging deal. Just because the government wants to cover this massive loss, people had to pay Rs. 122 for a litre of petrol which really cost only Rs. 48/=!Eksath: That means people have to pay an unrealistically high price for fuel just because of a sin committed by someone high and mighty!
Helaruwan: We have to remember, Eksath that the government is fighting a war and people have to make some sacrifices for the sake of the country!
Hashim: Why should people alone make sacrifices when those in seats of power are wasting monies collected from them?
Eksath: They incurred a loss of Rs.3 billion when the budget airline Mihin Air failed. Now they have set apart a further Rs.6 million to revive the airline! Whose money are they sinking in risky ventures?
Lenin: Helaruwan, you are talking about the need to make sacrifices. Why can’t the government leaders set an example? India has only 30 Ministers. The US only 15. We, despite being a small country are maintaining over 100 Ministers!
Hashim: Just imagine the amount of money paid as rent for buildings their offices are housed in and salaries paid to the personal staff.
Lenin: Why can’t the Ministers having residences in and around the city stop drawing the rent allowance of Rs. 100,000/= a month!
Helaruwan: Lenin Sahodaraya, the Big Boss says that the attempt to block the revenue coming to the government when it is at war with the most dangerous terrorist outfit in the world is definitely an outcome of a conspiracy!
Viraj Pulle: Surely, the Big Boss will not make such an allegation without any basis!
Eksath: Any aggrieved citizen whether his grievence is real or perceived has the right to seek legal redress in a court of law. How can such action be construed as a conspiracy?
Lenin: However, there is a redeeming feature standing out in this unfortunate episode!
Helaruwan: What is it Lenin Sahodaraya?
Lenin: That the governments leaders have been reminded of the stark fact that the money they are spending so lavishly on perks for themselves and to keep their relatives and henchmen in ‘five star’ comfort are really people’s, extracted from them as taxes and levies!
Eksath: Which are mostly unfair and unjust?
Comments to: E-mail:
[email protected]
(The characters portrayed in this column are fictitious and are not related to any persons dead or living).
Holmangedara Lodge part 72.
The Scene: Lodgers relaxing in the sitting room of the Holmangedara lodge after breakfast. Some are reading newspapers and others are playing rummy.
Lenin Deshabandu: (Looking up from the newspaper he was reading). Eksath, were you on duty last night? You had not returned to the lodge even by the time I retired to bed late in the night!
Eksath Karaliyadda: No. I was not on duty, but I had to cool my heels in a long queue at a filling station.
Helaruwan Polgampola: My god! For hours? You should have returned to the lodge to make a try early this morning!
Eksath: The petrol tank of my motor bike had run dry to the last drop, Helaruwan. So, I had no alternative, but to suffer the agony of a long wait for my turn!
Abdul Raheem Hashim: So Eksath you had to have the refill at the old price.
Eksath: Yes, Lanka Indian Oil Company had reduced the price only from last midnight!
Suresh Ramanathan: Now that the Indian Company has reduced the petrol price, the CPC too would have to follow suit in keeping with the ‘Supreme Court Order!
Eksath: Well, the CPC cannot reduce the price on its own. It has to await the Cabinet approval!
Hashim: And the Cabinet had decided at the last Wednesday’s meeting to take a decision on the Supreme Court ruling when they meet next Wednesday!
Lenin: If the CPC failed to reduce the price of petrol immediately, it would result lin a run-on Indian Company-owned filling stations.
Helaruwan: Lenin Sahodaraya, does the reduced price of fuel mean that the CPC has to sell the petroleum products at a loss? The newspaper reports say that the government is to incur a Rs. 15 billion loss of revenue due to the reduction in the price of petrol!
Lenin: No! No! Helaruwan, the price reduction is only a cutback on profit. The court has ruled that the levies and taxes on petrol should not exceed 100 percent of the cost price.
Hashim: In other words, the pricing formula imposed by the Supreme Court has only narrowed down the margin of the profit the CPC is making to provide a measure of relief to people!
Helaruwan: Well, Big boss Janaranjana has said that the government is not prepared to accept pricing formulas imposed on it. Besides other government leaders also have said, that attempts to block sources of government revenue are part of an anti-government conspiracy!
Viraj Pulle: Several Ministers have clearly explained that free education, free health and other welfare measures are funded by direct and indirect taxes and other levies collected by the government! Above everything, the war on terrorism is being prosecuted with the taxes collected from the people!
Helaruwan: That’s true! How can the government pay salaries to security personnel and purchase military equipment without collecting taxes from the people!
Lenin: Helaruwan, you are making a very valid point! Something our government political leaders seem to have forgotten!
Eksath: Do you mean, Lenin Sahodaraya, that at least some Ministers and top bureaucrats have forgotten the fact that they are liberally spending monies collected from the people by way of taxes?
Lenin: That’s the point I want to make!
Hashim: Yes! Some Ministers seem to have forgotten they are spending monies belonging to the people! They lavishly spend as if they are using up the wealth they have inherited from their parents or grand parents!
Helaruwan: There can be a few isolated cases of extravagant spending by some Ministers. But it is no reason for anyone to block the sources of government revenue!
Hashim: The government has incurred a loss of Rs. 75 billion or 675.72 million US dollars on the hedging deal. Just because the government wants to cover this massive loss, people had to pay Rs. 122 for a litre of petrol which really cost only Rs. 48/=!Eksath: That means people have to pay an unrealistically high price for fuel just because of a sin committed by someone high and mighty!
Helaruwan: We have to remember, Eksath that the government is fighting a war and people have to make some sacrifices for the sake of the country!
Hashim: Why should people alone make sacrifices when those in seats of power are wasting monies collected from them?
Eksath: They incurred a loss of Rs.3 billion when the budget airline Mihin Air failed. Now they have set apart a further Rs.6 million to revive the airline! Whose money are they sinking in risky ventures?
Lenin: Helaruwan, you are talking about the need to make sacrifices. Why can’t the government leaders set an example? India has only 30 Ministers. The US only 15. We, despite being a small country are maintaining over 100 Ministers!
Hashim: Just imagine the amount of money paid as rent for buildings their offices are housed in and salaries paid to the personal staff.
Lenin: Why can’t the Ministers having residences in and around the city stop drawing the rent allowance of Rs. 100,000/= a month!
Helaruwan: Lenin Sahodaraya, the Big Boss says that the attempt to block the revenue coming to the government when it is at war with the most dangerous terrorist outfit in the world is definitely an outcome of a conspiracy!
Viraj Pulle: Surely, the Big Boss will not make such an allegation without any basis!
Eksath: Any aggrieved citizen whether his grievence is real or perceived has the right to seek legal redress in a court of law. How can such action be construed as a conspiracy?
Lenin: However, there is a redeeming feature standing out in this unfortunate episode!
Helaruwan: What is it Lenin Sahodaraya?
Lenin: That the governments leaders have been reminded of the stark fact that the money they are spending so lavishly on perks for themselves and to keep their relatives and henchmen in ‘five star’ comfort are really people’s, extracted from them as taxes and levies!
Eksath: Which are mostly unfair and unjust?
Comments to: E-mail:
[email protected]
(The characters portrayed in this column are fictitious and are not related to any persons dead or living).
