Whole country go dark for the next two weeks?

Ceylon Electricity Board Joint Trade Union Alliance has warned that the entire country will be plunged into darkness due to the power outage in the next two weeks. The convener of the alliance Ranjan Jayalal has told the media that this could cause more damage than the economic damage caused by the Covid epidemic.

He added that factories, government offices, private sector institutions, etc. are all inactive and employees have to stay at home.

Mr. Jayalal alleges that the CEB is violating the Electricity Act by not taking the necessary steps to provide uninterrupted electricity to the people. He points out that the Ceylon Electricity Board is obliged to provide uninterrupted power supply to the people and that the CEB officials are ignoring it.

He also states that if the people pay the electricity bills, the board should pay compensation to the people during power cuts. Mr. Jayalal has told the media that even in this situation where there is a severe power crisis, tender frauds are still taking place in the CEB.

However, Additional Secretary to the Ministry of Power and Energy Sugath Dharmakeerthi has stated that the predictions made regarding a 24 hour power cut will be completely refuted. Mr. Dharmakeerthi has further stated that there is a power crisis and that systematic steps will be taken to resolve it while making power cuts as required.