By Kelum Bandara and Yohan Perera

The main opposition UNP yesterday criticized the government for allocating in the 2009 budget a massive Rs.6,000 million for the grounded and cash-strapped budget airline `Mihin Lanka`.

UNP front-liner John Amaratunga taking part in the budget debate said the international airline industry was in doldrums with more than 30 airlines heading for bankruptcy.

He said in these circumstances, the allocation of such a massive amount would be a colossal waste of public funds.

Mr. Amaratunga said `Mihin Lanka` already owed more than Rs.3 billion to its creditors as such the government should have allocated these funds to give relief to people who were burdened with a soaring cost of living.

UNP front-liner Gamini Jayawickrama Perera charged that 150 Sri Lankan youth who travelled on a Mihin Lanka flight had been stranded at the Seoul Airport in Korea for one month.

He said the government appeared confused on how to handle the economic crisis facing the country.

He alleged that for every Rs.250,000 spent on the development of a rural road Rs.200,000 went into the pockets of government henchmen.

Mr. Perera said the government had no viable programme to develop the production of bread using rice flour.

There is no point in increasing the import duty on wheat flour without implementing such a program, he said amid heckling by government members.

Citing another example of the government`s indecision in economic matters he said that when President Mahinda Rajapaksa said the second International Airport would be built in Weerawila his brother Aviation Minister Chamal Rajapaksa said the location had been changed.

Why is the government so confused today, he asked.

Mr. Perera charged there was large scale corruption in the liberated areas in the North and the East.

It is the civil officers who are involved in corruption and not the security forces, he added.

Mr. Perera said it was the UNP that had initiated agricultural development in this country. Minister Maithripala Sirisena and his family who have benefited from this development work should thank the UNP, he said.