Tuesday Dec 02, 2025
Tuesday Dec 02, 2025
Tuesday, 2 December 2025 03:22 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
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| SJB MP Kabir Hashim |
Opposition lawmakers yesterday staged a walkout accusing the Government of refusing to allow a formal discussion on the policy response needed to manage the unfolding disaster caused by Cyclone Ditwah which left over 350 dead, 360 missing and 1.1 million people affected by landslides and flooding.
The MPs said they would rather assist affected communities than sit through proceedings that, in their view, avoided the central issue of the crisis.
Raising the matter in the chamber before the walkout, Samagi Jana Balawegaya MP Kabir Hashim said the scale of devastation could have been significantly reduced had the Government acted on advance warnings.
He said both the Meteorology Department and the Irrigation Department had issued alerts on 12 November of the likelihood of severe weather and high-risk conditions in multiple districts. According to him, these warnings were neither meaningfully considered nor translated into precautionary measures.
Hashim said past practice in reservoir management required water to be released gradually when heavy rainfall was forecast.
Instead, he argued, delays forced authorities to open spill gates suddenly, contributing to major flooding downstream. Referring to earlier emergencies, he said Parliament had previously discussed similar risks and that institutional memory should have guided decisions ahead of the current crisis.
The MP claimed that had water releases been phased from mid-November, most lives lost could have been saved. He argued that Parliament should have debated these warnings in advance, drawing on technical expertise that could have shaped a timely response.
When the Speaker proceeded to the next item on the agenda without accommodating the request for a discussion, the Opposition announced its decision to leave the chamber.
Opposition members said the Government had failed to recognise the urgency of the situation and that keeping the matter off the Parliamentary agenda reflected a disregard for preventive action.
They maintained that the disaster’s impact was worsened by avoidable delays and a lack of coordinated decision-making despite clear forecasts.
