Rs. 1,795 mn requested from Treasury for MPs' houses!

The Ministry of Urban Development and Housing has requested the General Treasury to provide Rs. 1,795 million to provide 101 houses for MPs from the Viyathpura Housing scheme.

The Ministry of Urban Development and Housing states that these houses will be provided on a temporary basis to MPs whose houses were destroyed in the May 09 riots.

Out of this amount, the Urban Development Authority is to provide Rs. 897 million to cover costs of contractors.

It is said that if the MPs who obtain houses agree to obtain houses on payment basis, the money received will be reimbursed to the General Treasury.

It has also been proposed to provide a house from the scheme for the wife of late Polonnaruwa District PM - Amarakeerthi Athukorala, who too died in the May 09 violence.

The President has instructed the UDA to hand over the houses from the scheme to the MPs.

Will the dollar crisis escalate?

However, a wave of protest has been building up on social media for reserving such a staggering sum for MPs when the country faces a dire lack of dollars, a major fuel and power crisis as well as nearly empty coffers requiring money to be printed even to pay the salaries of the public sector.

Meanwhile, expatriate Sri Lankans have emphasized their intense displeasure on social media, stating that they will stop sending their hard earned forex if Treasury funds are reserved for this.

They also state that MPs who wish to obtain these houses should declare how they had earned their money for these houses.