Blowing crises out of their proportions has become the order of the day for the opposition parties, Chief Government Whip Highways Minister Johnston Fernando said today.
Addressing a ceremony held at the Kottawa Interchange to launch the LANKAQR app enabling toll payments for the expressway users, the Minister said that crises have become the pet subjects of speeches of opposition parties.
“Whenever they open their mouths, nothing but harangues of this or that crisis come out from them. Take a look at the recent speeches by some of our opposition politicians. They speak of nothing but crises. Most of them speak only of imminent dangers, possible crises and thereby instilling fear and uncertainty in the minds of people. None of them speak of how to better the status quo. Their objective is panic-mongering thinking that it would lead to instability which would enable them to return to power again. Suppose they were in the Government right now and what would have happened to this country in a situation like this? The difference between them and us is that we never back down in the face of crisis. We neither retreat nor surrender. We continue to develop this nation amidst challenges. One such example is the introduction of this new app to cut down the time wasted at toll gates of the expressways. Today we introduce a cashless payment method at toll gates. It is introduced with the help of the Ministry of Digital Infrastructure. There had been a time when the Ministry was nothing but a signboard under the Yahapalana Government which did nothing for the development of digital infrastructure,” the Minister said.
Minister Fernando further said “Anura Kumara Dissanayake and Sajith Premadasa by propagating lies about crises do the same as Velupillai Prabhakaran. It had been the job of the LTTE to create fear, uncertainty, and panic to destabilize the Government in power. Now the JVP and SJB have taken over that task. They criticized us when we started a national vaccination drive. They did the same when we started constructing expressways. Today, their lies are exposed and we stand correct. The present problems too are temporary and, in the times to come, problems would not exist but we will prevail. We know that facing crises and difficulties would strengthen us and increase our resilience to make us a stronger nation. Last night we had to increase the fuel prices. That decision has been made as a temporary measure in the face of world market price fluctuations. The global pandemic compels us to make harsh decisions because we are bound by the duty of protecting people unlike the opposition which has no such responsibility but to speak of imminent dangers,” the Minister added.
Stating that drivers on expressways could scan a QR code through a LANKAQR mobile payment app at the toll gate by indicating the relevant amount on their mobile phone, Minister Fernando said this will take a maximum of 10 seconds to process the payment and reduce the congestion at toll gates.
Associated with Minister Fernando was Governor of the Central Bank Ajith Nivard Cabraal and Minister of Youth & Sports and State Minister of Digital Technology and Entrepreneur Development Namal Rajapaksa, Secretary to the Ministry of Highways RWR Pemasiri, and officials of the Road Development Authority (UDA). (NewsWire)