The Committee on Parliamentary Business has decided upon a 19-day debate for the 2021 Appropriation Bill after it is presented in Parliament on the 17th of November.

Accordingly, the Secretary General of Parliament Mr. Dhammika Dasanayake stated that the Second Reading of the Appropriation Bill will be debated from the 18th to the 21st and the Vote on the Second Reading will be taken on the 21st at 5.00 pm.

The debate of the Committee Stage will commence on the 23rd November and is scheduled to conclude on 10th of December. The Vote will be held at 5.00 pm on the same day as further stated by the Secretary General Mr. Dhammika Dasanayake.

The Committee on Parliamentary Business took this decision at the committee meeting held at Parliament this morning (11) under the chairmanship of the Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena.

The Parliament sittings will be held daily from 9.30 am until 5.30 pm on the dates scheduled for the Budget debate. The time allotted for Questions for Oral Answers will be from 9.30 am to 10.30 am on the 18th of November until the 20th whereas the time duration for Questions for Oral Answers from the 25th of November to the 10th of December will be from 9.30 am to 10.00 am.

The Leader of the House Dinesh Gunawardena, The Leader of the Opposition Sajith Premadasa, Chief Government Whip Johnston Fernando, Chief Opposition Whip Lakshman Kiriella, Ministers Prasanna Ranatunga, Nimal Siripala de Silva, Prof. GL Peiris, Dullas Alahapperuma, Vasudeva Nanayakkara, Ali Sabri, Mahinda Samarasinghe, Ranjith Madduma Bandara, Rauff Hakeem, Gayantha Karunatilleka, Anura Kumara Dissanayake, M. A. Sumanthiran, Dilan Perera, Mano Ganesan as well as the Secretary General of Parliament Dhammika Dasanayake and Deputy Secretary General and Chief of Staff Neil Iddawala were also in attendance.