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State Minister for Batik, Handloom and Local Apparel Products Dayasiri Jayasekara during an inspection visit to Lanka Salusala in Jawatte Road, Colombo 05 in September 2020.[/caption]
State Minister of Batik, Handloom, Fabric, and Local Apparel Products Dayasiri Jayasekara, speaking to The Morning, said: “It is quite sad to see that the once thriving local handloom enterprise is now in a dilapidated state. The machinery in place is over three decades old and what I observed is that the facility has been neglected for far too long that it needs to undergo a complete overhaul.”
Lanka Salusala had been regarded as a loss-making state institute and then Non-Cabinet Minister of Textile Industries Jayatissa Ranaweera had presented a cabinet paper in 2006 condemning the facility, noting that no more budgetary allocations should be separated to keep the institute afloat.
Today, the facility has been repurposed by the Ministry of Defence and is used as quarters for the officers of the Ministerial Security Division and Prime Minister’s Security Division. Jayasekara noted that discussions will be held with the Ministry of Defence on reacquiring the said property.
“There are several other properties that belong to Lanka Salusala which are repurposed by the Ministry of Defence and other state institutions, which will also be reacquired in the coming months so that we could establish Salusala showrooms in each district and encourage local craftsmen and cottage industry holders to supply local apparel and handcrafts to be sold at sales points.”
During our visit to the facility, The Morning news team observed that the stores have been repurposed by the military units as a vehicle park. The staff currently employed at this once thriving enterprise has dwindled to 17, which includes the Chairman, two directors, administrative staff, two seamstresses, and one showroom manager.
A Sri Lanka Nidahas Sevaka Sangamaya (SLNSS) member and an employee who has been working at Salusala for over two decades, under condition of anonymity, revealed that the staff had not received their salaries for three months now.
Accordingly, there are internal disputes among some of the staff which is preventing Lanka Salusala from developing.
“There is quite a lot of misappropriation of funds taking place and we have filed an RTI application requesting the financial records of the institution from 2016. During the Yahapalana Government, the facilities and the salary allocations were misused by the then Chairman who was appointed to manage the facility.”
The employee further noted that all the shortcomings that occurred during the period of 2016-2020 are now being compiled to be presented to the State Minister for action.