Sri Lanka’s Colombo opposition on Sunday criticized the resignation of the government’s energy minister over a coal import investigation, claiming substandard fuel quality had led to excessive use of diesel for power generation.
Power and Energy Minister Kumara Jayakodi resigned on Friday, shortly after announcing the establishment of a high-level presidential committee to investigate coal imports by a state-owned entity for power generation.
However, the government stressed that the substandard coal imports claimed by the opposition had not caused any losses to the country.
The opposition claimed that a minister’s resignation is usually seen as accepting responsibility for a particular issue, adding that the resignation must not affect the proceedings of the inquiry panel.
One of the anomalies, the opposition said in a statement, was that the import company in question was not registered when the import contract was awarded.
The report said the responsibility must rest with the government collectively, rather than singling out ministers, as the entire process has already been approved by cabinet.
“It wasn’t just one ship that imported low-quality coal, but many ships. The government itself admitted that it imported low-quality coal,” the statement said.
The opposition, while accusing the government of violating public trust, also claimed that substandard coal had led to excessive use of diesel for power generation.
“More than 800,000 liters of diesel are now used to generate electricity every day. The diesel is also used for transportation, making fertilizers and treating drinking water.”
Lanka Coal Limited was established in 2008 following a cabinet decision in 2006 and registered under the Companies Act No. 7 of 2007 to procure and supply coal for thermal power generation.
Two weeks ago, Lanka Coal’s offices were cordoned off by police for several days before reopening.
Along with Jayakodi, minister Udayanga Hemapala also resigned, President Anura Kumar Dissanayake’s office said.
Herat said the committee’s report would be submitted to the president within six months.
Earlier, Jayakodi became the first National People’s Power Minister to face a “no-confidence” motion, but with the NPP’s absolute parliamentary seat advantage, he completely defeated the NPP on April 10, 153 to 49.
The opposition also attacked the government for protecting the minister during a no-confidence motion in parliament a week ago and said it deceived the public by calling for his resignation on false grounds.
The government won the no-confidence motion, stressing that the opposition could not prove wrongdoing by the minister.
Sri Lanka relies 100% on coal imports. Official data shows that, in addition to a small amount of imports from India, China imports an average of about 2.5 million tons of coal from Indonesia, South Africa, and Australia every year.
This article was generated from automated news agency feeds without modifications to the text.
