New flats to eradicate slum culture : Gotabaya Rajapaksa

COLOMBO (News 1st) - Gotabaya Rajapksa addressed a rally organized in the Gampaha District yesterday (November 03). Attending a rally held at the Siyambalape junction yesterday he welcomed a group of UNP supporters who pledged their support to Gotabaya Rajapaksa. Speaking on the occasion he said: "We have a large number of industries that are unique to our country. They are disappearing fast. Especially the jewellery industry and in some areas the pottery industry. These industries are disappearing. I would like to state that we will take steps to provide loans to the people involved in these industries so that they can continue to operate and we will also bring down the technology and expertise to support these industries. In addition, certain industries have collapsed due to various taxes. There are no new investments. We have presented a transparent tax policy that will bring in new investment, increase production, increase consumption and take this economy forward." Gotabaya Rajapaksa then attended a rally held in Wattala. Addressing the crowd he said: "We have proposed many concessions for the fisheries industry. We have presented a policy where we can bring in technology, concessions, loans and give them an opportunity to purchase better boats and develop the fisheries industry. You know that when we ended the war in addition to the navy we create a coast guard. The main reason for the creation of the coast guard is to protect the territorial waters of the country. To protect our fishermen from the foreign fishermen who encroach on our waters and bother our fishermen. Although we took these steps to protect the fishermen this government has been unable to continue these measures." The rally in Dematagoda was held last night where Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Presidential Candidate of the SLPP spoke: "You know that we built flats in these areas for low-income families and provided these living spaces to them. Not only that we changed the entire environment in this area. We carpeted roads and paved the pavements, we built play areas, grew flowers and created parks that changed the entire environment in this area. That was our vision. I can assure you that if we continued this program, no one in this country would have been living in slums today. That was our plan. One unit was valued at about Rs 3 million when we were handing over the government back in 2015. We had distributed 6000 units then. There were another 14,000 left. I would like to tell you that we will provide suitable housing for your families to live in and a suitable environment. We do not always look at the statistics. We look at how people live in a practical aspect. We want to develop all areas. We want to uplift people living in all classes of society."