By Saman Indrajith
A sum of Rs. 1,177,434,333 had been spent for publicity projects by the Ministry of Mass Media and Information for the Commonwealth Heads of Government (CHOGM) meeting in 2013 in Colombo, parliament was told yesterday.
Responding to a question raised by JVP leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake, Minister of Mass Media and Parliamentary Affairs Gayantha Karunathilake said that the funds allocated through Treasury grants, had been spent under nine categories including construction and maintenance of the Media Centre, publicity programmes in electronic media, public awareness programmes, purchase of office equipment, creation of the official logo and newspaper advertisements, entertainment of local and foreign journalists, allowance for the officers of the CHOGM Project Office, allowances for other officers and other expenses.
A breakdown of the expenditure incurred by the aforesaid ministry showed that Rs. 828,327,661 was spent on the construction and maintenance of the Media Centre while Rs 180,547,649 had been spent on public awareness programmes.
MP Dissanayake demanded to know why Sri Lanka, a small country, had spent over one billion rupees for the event.
"Why did the government spend so much money? Can such expenditure on a single event be justified? The former government spent over Rs. 180 million on publicity through electronic media for CHOGM. Did they think Sri Lanka was as big as Europe?"
Minister Karunatilaka responded that such expenditure could in no way be justified.
The breakdown of funds spent showed that Rs 10,022,905 had been spent on entertainment of local and foreign journalists including dinners, while only Rs 4,551,707 had been spent on the purchase of office equipment.
MP Dissanayake asked for the menu of a dinner that cost over Rs. 10 million for a single night. "Did they serve 5,000-rupee notes for that dinner? How can Rs. 10 million be spent on a dinner? I would like to know the menu for this dinner that cost the people so much," he said.
Minister Karunatilaka said he was not aware of the menu, but that it was evident that even a child could understand that kind of expenditure was not justifiable.
"The people decided that actions the former regime took could not be accepted, that’s why they voted against Mahinda Rajapaksa and his regime on January 08 and brought in a government of good governance" Karunatilake said.
Minister of Health and Indigenous Medicine, Dr Rajitha Senaratne said that every citizen of Sri Lanka had paid Rs. 550 to cover the costs incurred.
From The Island : http://www.island.lk/index.php?page_cat=article-details&page=article-details&code_title=119980
