WPC erupts over body building equipment to PSD

by Shamindra Ferdinando

The JVP and the UPFA yesterday clashed at the budget debate of the Western Provincial Council over allocation of funds to procure a set of body building equipment for Temple Trees.

Dr. Nalinda Jayatissa, JVP member of the WPC, said that of Rs.11 million allocated for development and promotion of sports in the entire province, Rs. 180,000 had been spent on body building equipment. The JVP Central Committee member said that Temple Trees could easily afford to buy whatever it needed and there was absolutely no need for the WPC to supply sports equipment to the Temple Trees.

Jayatissa attacked both the government and the WPC administration amidst protests by UPFA members.

Jayatissa said that due to severe financial difficulties the WPC had allocated Rs. 2 million less than the 2008 allocation. He said that the WPC should be ashamed as it had also failed to help a deserving student of Kelaniya Gurukula Vidyalaya to obtain a pair of running shoes. Although she needed it to prepare for the forthcoming National Games, the WPC declined her request claiming insufficient funds but Rs. 1.8 million had been squandered.

Jayatissa said that Rs. 19.1 million had been allocated for the Office of the President and other institutions coming under his purview through the vote-on-account approved in Parliament on Thursday whereas allocations made for other sectors were relatively low. He said that the Temple Trees could have purchased a set of body building equipment on its own without WPC Sports Minister Upali Kodikara wasting their funds.

Speaking to The Island later in the day, Jayatissa said that the UPFA councillor had told him that the set of body building equipment had been handed over to the Presidential Security Division (PSD) based at Temple Trees. He said that that the Police Department should have supplied such equipment to the PSD. The JVP would never dispute the right of the PSD or any other specialised unit to receive what it required but not certainly from the WPC funds, he said.

A sports organisation based in the Western Province was entitled to Rs. 15,000 only whereas the PSD could receive sports goods worth Rs. 180,000. Referring to the allocation of Rs. 30 million through 2009 budget for 101 UPFA and UNP councillors to visit China, he said that the WPC was wasting its funds.