News - CEB reforms: JVP to pull the plug

The JVP has put itself on a possible collision course with the government, vowing to strongly oppose the proposed Ceylon Electricity Board Reforms Bill to be presented in parliament on Tuesday – while a minister indicated the government might turn to the UNP.

While government leaders and the Treasury are insisting that the much-delayed bill is now essential and cannot be delayed any more, a JVP frontliner said yesterday the party would go all out to deal a blackout blow to the bill.

JVP union leader and parliamentarian K. D. Lal Kantha said his party had not yet been shown a draft of the new bill but he believed the proposals included subtle moves for privatization of the vital institution.

Mr. Lal Kantha said the party had learnt the bill provided for six public companies to run the CEB and though the board would remain as a showpiece, it was clearly the first step towards privatization.

“The CEB Board will remain for namesake whereas the six companies will function independently. We see this move as the first step towards the privatization of the CEB. We are against this move. We will oppose the bill,” an angry Mr. Lal Kantha pledged.

Meanwhile, in a counter move and an apparent bid to get the bill through, Power and Energy Minister John Seneviratne said yesterday the Government would seek support from the UNP. He said the bill was essential to save the CEB from collapse and JVP fears of subtle new features were unfounded.

Mr. Seneviratne said he believed the UNP would back the government in passing the bill because the party also believed it was necessary.

The minister said the JVP had been represented on a committee which drafted the earlier bill in 2002 but instead of proposing amendments, it had just pulled out.

The minister said the JVP had been given opportunities to propose amendments to the bill but it had not done so.

UNP Deputy Party Leader Karu Jayasuriya told The Sunday Times the party would decide tomorrow whether to support the government in getting the CEB Reforms Bill through.

Meanwhile, the powerful JVP-backed Viduli Sevaka Sangamaya gave a new dimension to the impending battle by saying that even if the bill was passed the union would block its implementation.

The union’s General Secretary Jaya Lal charged that the new bill was essentially the same as that presented by the UNP in 2002 with only some cosmetic changes. He said the real urgency for the bill was not any national need but the need to get an ADB loan.