The Mahaweli Authority of Sri Lanka has decided against dispatching adequate water from reservoirs to the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) for the uninterrupted supply of electricity for the duration of the General Certificate of Education Advanced Level (A/L) examination, citing insufficient water in reservoirs and low rainfall. The Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL) has described the decision as perhaps being made under a cloud of “political interference”, while the Commission and the Ceylon Teachers’ Union (CTU) filed legal action against the Ministry of Power and Energy and the CEB over the imposition of power cuts during the examination period, thereby violating an agreement reached by the authorities.
Citing the rights of over 331,000 students, PUCSL Chairman Janaka Ratnayake also stated yesterday (1) that the PUCSL will not approve any scheduled power cuts (two hours and 20 minutes) as requested by the CEB for yesterday and today (2), until the conclusion of the exam on 17 February, further warning that any power cuts during the said period would therefore be deemed both unauthorised and illegal.
Speaking to the media yesterday, Mahaweli Authority of Sri Lanka Deputy Director Nilantha Dhanapala said: “While we anticipated high rainfall on Tuesday (31 January) and today (1), it is now moving towards the Northern Province. Therefore, we had to reduce the dispatch of extra water that we supplied on Monday (30 January) and Tuesday.”
Meanwhile, speaking to The Daily Morning yesterday, Ratnayake stated that the Mahaweli Authority of Sri Lanka had arrived at this decision despite having a higher capacity of water in reservoirs in comparison to the previous year (2022). “If you compare the water levels of last year (2022) and this year (2023), there is excess water available in the reservoirs. Although water is available and they released the same for two days (Monday and Tuesday), they are now stating that there is insufficient water and insufficient rainfall. Although they agreed to dispatch water for the duration of the A/L examination a few days ago, they are now going back on their word. They should think of the welfare of the students. Issuing another few megawatt hours of water is not difficult, but they are coming up with many excuses. They say that the rainfall is not as expected and that it is moving elsewhere. The excuses they are providing aren't professional enough. They may have succumbed to some political interference. It is a pathetic situation.”
Following a request made by the PUCSL to the Mahaweli Authority of Sri Lanka on 29 January to dispatch adequate water from reservoirs to the CEB, no power cuts were imposed on Monday and Tuesday. In a letter to the Water Management Secretariat on 29 January, the PUCSL had requested to allow the CEB to release at least two gigawatt hours per day more than the allocated water dispatch until 17 February for power generation, for the benefit of the candidates who are sitting for the A/L examination.
Although not approved by the PUCSL, power cuts of two hours and 20 minutes were yet again imposed yesterday.
When The Daily Morning queried into other alternatives available for ensuring a continuous supply of power, Ratnayake noted: “We don’t have any alternative option. It is in fact the CEB that should look into an alternative. This is becoming impossible. Our hands are tied, so we are going for legal action.” The PUCSL issued a statement yesterday notifying that the Commission had filed a writ application before the Court of Appeal (CoA) to obtain an order against the CEB in order to prevent power interruptions during the A/L examination. Responding to a query, Ratnayake noted: “The respondents are mainly the Minister of Power and Energy Kanchana Wijesekera, Ministry of Power and Energy Secretary M.P.D.U.K. Mapa Pathirana and the CEB. We filed it today and we shall see what happens within the next couple of days.”
Meanwhile, the Ceylon Teachers’ Union (CTU) filed a petition at the Supreme Court (SC), requesting that an order be issued preventing the imposing of power cuts during national examinations. The petition was filed by the CTU’s General Secretary, Joseph Stalin, with Pathirana, the CEB Chairman, the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) Chairman and the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL) being named amongst the respondents. The petitioners claimed that although a settlement was reached between the relevant parties before the HRCSL that an uninterrupted supply of power will be provided during the period in which the 2022 GCE A/L examination is being held (presently ongoing), the aforementioned parties had failed to abide by the said settlement, which in turn had resulted in the violation of the basic fundamental rights of those students sitting for the exam. The petition further stated that the implementation of such power cuts has also caused a great disadvantage to the students. Thus, in their petition, the CTU called for an order to be issued against the respondents, preventing the implementation of power cuts during the period in which any national exam is being held. They also requested the SC that an investigation be conducted into this matter.