CEB engineers forego duty-free car permits:

by Shamindra Ferdinando

The CEB Engineers’ Union has dropped its long standing demand for duty-free vehicle permits after Treasury Chief Dr. P. B. Jayasundera and President Mahinda Rajapaksa had explained the unprecedented financial crisis the government was facing due to the steep rise in crude oil prices in the world market.
Well informed sources said the Union had accepted the President’s position that foreign reserves shouldn’t be squandered on non-essential purchases due to mounting pressure on the economy.

The sources said the government delegation, which included Secretary to the President Lalith Weeratunga and Dallas Allahapperuma, wouldn’t have anticipated an early end to the trade union action launched by the union. Their action had caused frequent power breakdowns in several parts of the country.

The President has assured them that the suspension of the duty-free facility would be temporary.

The President summoned the influential Union for a meeting at Temple Trees after it resorted to trade union action to obtain duty-free permits. The government had earlier suspended the facility in a bid to save the country’s dwindling foreign reserves.

The sources said that initially the CEB Engineers’ Union had been sharply divided over the decision to drop its demand. In fact, their move had taken other unions, which had felt this would be detrimental to their efforts to obtain the concession, by surprise.

Trade union sources said the government had given in to the GMOA’s demand for duty-free vehicles after the association resorted to trade union action. They said the government had meekly met the GMOA demand fearing the doctors would cripple the health sector. The CEB engineers could have done the same but acted sensibly when the government had explained the untenable economic situation, sources said.

Chief Government Whip and MEP leader Dinesh Gunawardena last week assured Parliament that the government would shortly take action to control the import of fuel guzzling vehicles. This was the assurance given in response to a query raised by UNP MP Ravi Karunanayake. Gunawardena acknowledged the urgent need to curb vehicle imports as the country could no longer afford the extravagance.

Trade unions said the government should review the issue of duty free permits if it was genuinely interested in halting the import of fuel guzzling vehicles. The government, too, would have to set an example by cutting down on its expenditure. With the CEB Engineers’ Union setting a sterling example, the politicians on both sides of the divide and other trade unions, too, should curb expenditure wherever possible, a senior official said.

Sources said duty free permits issued to politicians, officials, professionals, sportsmen and religious institutions had been a heavy burden on the taxpayer. The facility which had been introduced by the first JR Jayewardene administration allows beneficiaries of this scheme to obtain duty-free permits periodically. MPs have the opportunity every five years.

The recent controversy over the transfer of a Mercedes Benz imported on a duty-free permit issued to JHU leader Ven. Ellawela Medhananda and the battle between JVP factions revealed the brazen abuse of the facility by political parties.