President Gotabaya Rajapaksa said that irrational laws should not obstruct the policies formulated to achieve the economic objectives of the state.

The President stated this during a discussion with officials and ministry secretaries related to the Plantation Industry sector at the Presidential Secretariat yesterday (May 14).

The meeting was called to find solutions to a number of issues rooted in the Plantation Industry, the President’s Media Division reported today.

President Rajapaksa stressed that the state and affiliated institutions should not resort to legal measures and instead resolves their issues through discussion. Long rooted legal issues between the State Timber Corporation and the Sri Lanka State Plantations Corporation were discussed in depth.

The President also emphasized the importance of removing the plantations that are not suitable to the country or harmful to environmental conservation of Sri Lanka and plant the crops most suitable to the country.

“State institutions should be maintained without burdening the treasury. It should not take long to present these strategies. Mutual understanding among state institutions and proper awareness about state policies will ensure that there would not be any conflicts among institutions. When a government makes an accurate decision with regard to a state policy, all the state institutions should comply. There should be no room to withhold carrying out the right thing. The state official who could not execute the morally right thing is a burden to this nation. The state official is an individual who resolves issues and not neglects them,” President Rajapaksa stressed.

The President noted that a decision was taken to cease the importation of Ethanol which had been traumatizing the economy for a long time and he added that he would not withdraw his decision due to any influence from businessmen.

It was revealed during the meeting that state institutions had to resort to legal action as the affiliated institutions had not properly discussed their issues with each other. It came to light that the Land Reformation Commission has lodged over 800 cases and 300 out of them were against Plantation Corporations.

Minister Ramesh Pathirana and Secretary to the President J.B. Jayasundera were also present at the discussion.

-PMD