The Minister of State for Water Supply, Mr. Sanath Nishantha states that there are many ministers who are suffering from the inconvenience of having very low incomes. Therefore, if they work without getting paid, it will be unfair to them.
He said that he will take the salary and that salary will be returned to public by providing service.
He expressed these views while addressing the media at the time of his inauguration at his ministry today.
There is a big problem with drinking water in the country today. I believe nearly 62% of the total population has been supplied with piped drinking water. We have created a large program and a large number of projects for that. They are moving forward. Here, we suffered some setbacks. Mainly because of the economic crisis in the country, the global epidemic situation, and the global economic problem. I think as the Ministry of Drinking Water, we will be able to move forward without any problems. We have received a large amount of money, mainly from the Indian credit line, for the purchase of water pipes and accessories that we needed.
Therefore, when we get that, we will be able to continue with these projects. Therefore, we will be able to move forward through the program of bringing water to the village to solve the drinking water problem. Especially Keheliya Rambukwella, our minister, he talked to me personally. He is a minister whom we know very well and whom we work very intimately with.
At this time, we should especially remember Mr. Vasudeva Nanayakkara. On the one hand, we regret that he is not present today as the Cabinet Minister of the Ministry. He is a good leader who loves this country very much, a leader who has a certain vision. Also, let’s remember him especially, whenever I worked as a state minister before, he acted as a teacher as an adult and worked to lead us on the right path. Mr. Sanath Nishantha said that even though he did not accept the position of minister this time due to his policy matters, we appreciate and remember his service.
I think that on the first day of the month, like today, we will resign from the ministry or else we will leave the ministry on the first day of May. Therefore, I believe that this is a fateful event. However, we still have a lot of work to do for the people of the country. There is a challenge. With the world epidemic situation and the world economic crisis, we need to think about how we manage all this and do the work of the ministry. We are a very happy ministry.
There is a good board of officers. Especially the National Water Supply and Drainage Board, the Community Water Department and the Water Resources Board, all these institutions have a very efficient and good team of officials. There are some lazy officials and we have to move forward by motivating them. Therefore, there will be no obstacle for us to do these activities. Because we have studied a lot about this and have some experience with the situation in the country, we are confident that we will be able to do a part of the work for the country.
