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Out-of-Education BG vows hara-kiri on Galle Face if paid commissions
View(s):Former Education Minister Bandula Gunawardena vowed to kill himself at Galle Face Green, Colombo, by slitting his stomach with a sharp knife- dali-pihiya- if anyone proves that he obtained commissions or was involved in fraudulent dealings in the construction of Mahindodaya Technology Laboratories in schools.
The former Minister said he will leave politics if it was proven that over Rs 10 million was spent for each Technology Lab by the Ministry.
At a local talk show, Mr Gunewardena said a complaint had been lodged against him at the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption for awarding contracts to construct Technology Labs without following Tender procedures. However, he stressed that he had followed accepted procedure.
“We wanted to build these Labs at a low cost. I consulted Deputy Minister Mohan Lal Grero and Western Province Chief Minister Prasanna Ranatunga and implemented a pilot project in Ratmalana. The cost came to Rs 14 million, of which Rs 6 million were our contribution and donations,” he said.
The Minister confirmed that, of the 1,000 Mahindodaya school Technology Labs, Tenders were not called for 825 schools. He however, claimed that he followed a legal procedure by getting Cabinet approval.
He said that, as the Ministry wanted to lower the cost, the Central Engineering Consultancy Bureau (CECB) was consulted and was told the cost would be around Rs 8.2 million.
According to him, the CECB along with the National Construction Association and the Education Ministry worked on it, while the District Secretaries were told to select the contractors.
“There has been no corruption in the process. Call all the District Secretaries and members of the Construction Association to the Financial Crimes Investigation Department (FCID),” he said.
He said the balance 175 schools were through Tender processes, to meet World Bank requirement for funding. The former Education Minister denied naming the Technology Labs ‘Mahindodaya’, after former President Mahinda Rajapaksa.
“There were projects such as Navodya, Isuru and this (Mahindodaya) which is a combination of Mihin-Udawa, and not Rajapaksa’s name,” he said.
Mr Gunewardena said the first stage of 407 Technology Labs were built for Rs 3,256 million, while the second stage of 418 schools was constructed at Rs 3,846 million.
“Except in one where the Tecnology Lab was constructed at Rs 9 million, the rest were constructed at Rs 8 million each. We were able to save about Rs 5,000 million by going through this procedure,” he added. The former Education Minister said 3,000 pianos were donated by the Korean government to the Education Ministry.
Last week, present Education Minister Akila Viraj Kariyawasam told Parliament that the pianos were distributed to a private pre-school chain run by the former First Lady’s Office.
- (NF)