The Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) had recently informed the nilames and organisers of the Kandy Esala Perahera to deposit a sum of Rs. 13 million in order to ensure an uninterrupted power supply for the festival, resulting in much uproar.
Opposition and Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) Leader Sajith Premadasa last week slammed the Government’s decision to send a hefty electricity bill to Sri Dalada Maligawa.
“A Government writing bills to the sacred tooth relic, before which even imperialists bowed their heads down,” he had said in a statement last week.
Premadasa had questioned the Government’s decision to send an unbearable electricity bill with the famous Esala Perahera just around the corner.
“The Government has resorted to an unprecedented practice of writing an electricity bill for the historical procession of the Temple of the Tooth Relic, which is the pinnacle of Buddhist reverence and has thus exposed its rude and unscrupulous policy. This vile act is a disgrace to the dharma of the enlightened Lord Buddha, to the entire Buddhist society, and the whole country in general,” he had noted.
The Opposition Leader had further added that the Government was unfairly burdening religious places and demanded a concession in electricity charges for places of worship, including Buddhist temples.
However, Sri Dalada Maligawa Chief Custodian Pradeep Nilanga Dela had said that receiving such an estimated bill was a normal procedure that the CEB had done before every annual Esala Perahera.
‘This is the first time’
Despite claims by Sri Dalada Maligawa Chief Custodian Pradeep Nilanga Dela that it was common to receive estimated electricity bills prior to the Kandy Esala Perahera, Basnayaka Nilames Association President Hemantha Bandara (Basnayake Nilame of the Paththini Devale) has been quoted as saying in the media that this was the first time an estimated electricity bill had been sent to the four devales prior to the perahera.
According to Bandara, the four devales had not received such an estimated bill earlier.
He had explained in a statement to a news website that he had been the Basnayaka Nilame for eight consecutive years under three Presidents and that such estimated electricity bills had not been sent to the devales all those years.
Bandara had further stated that a devale had to spend around Rs. 10 million for the perahera and that it was unfair to put the burden of an electricity bill over and above the usual expenditure.