Vehicles for Mali peacekeeping worth 360 million rusting at Panagoda!

Three container lifter trucks imported from India worth Rs. 60 million each has been allowed to rust at the Panagoda Army Camp for over a year. Even the Colombo Harbour does not possess such cranes, the Aruna newspaper reported.

Cabinet approval had been granted for the purchase of vehicles and equipment for the troops deployed for peacekeeping in Mali worth Rs. 600 billion. However, under these funds the three cranes imported to be sent to Mali has been parked at the Panagoda camp being unable to send them to Mali, it was revealed.

Due to the delay in issuing the clearance certificates by the Human Rights Commission, Sri Lanka has only been able to send a company of 200 instead of the battalion of 700.

As a result only one such container lifting crane has been sent to Mali so far.

Under the current circumstances, if Sri Lanka fails to send this battalion to Mali before December, these vehicles would have to be brought back to the country spending billions of rupees, the security forces chiefs have pointed out.