Opposition members of the Horana Municipal Council have filed a complaint with the Horana Police alleging that an illegal method was used to pass the budget.
While the budget of the Horana Municipal Council, which has 6 seats for the ruling National People’s Party and 7 seats for the opposition, was scheduled to be presented at 10 am today, the government members who arrived at the council before the scheduled time changed the clock time in the hall to 10.05 am and presented and passed the budget before the opposition members arrived at the council.
Accordingly, the opposition members allege that the second reading of the budget was conducted five minutes before the scheduled time (9.55 am) without the participation of the opposition and only with the participation of the ruling party members. They say they condemn this act and will take legal action against it.
The Horana Municipal Council meeting, chaired by Horana Municipal Council Chairman Anil Indika Premasiri, began early. The proceedings of the meeting, which was scheduled to begin at 10 am, were started early and began five minutes before the scheduled time, i.e. at 9.55 am. Accordingly, the opposition alleges that only the six ruling party members had passed the budget together before the opposition members arrived at the meeting hall.
The opposition leader of the Horana Municipal Council, Granville Rajapaksa (Independent Group), commented on this incident as follows.
”We came to the meeting hall on time. The clock in the meeting hall was changed by five minutes. We members came exactly on time. Within those few minutes, the ruling party presented and passed the revised budget. After we arrived, they said the budget was passed. We had all seven opposition members present today. This is a serious situation. The budget was passed by force, disregarding the public opinion. We have filed a complaint with the Horana Police regarding this.”
Afterwards, we asked the Chairman of the Horana Municipal Council, Anil Indika Premasiri (National People’s Power), about this. He said that the council met on time. He further commented as follows:
”We presented the revised budget draft on time. No opposition member was present. All six members of the National People’s Power were present in the council. We passed the budget with their votes. There was a full house in the council when the budget was passed.”
All the opposition members of the Horana Municipal Council have filed a complaint with the Horana Headquarters Police regarding this incident.
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