CEPA will flood Sri Lanka with Indian workers: UPFA minister
[TamilNet, Thursday, 10 June 2010, 05:33 GMT]
National Freedom Front (NFF), a constituent of the ruling United
Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) government Wednesday charged that the
Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) that is likely to
be signed by India and Sri Lanka is a ploy to fill the island with
Indian workers. Wimal Weerawansa, leader of the NFF said at a press
conference held Wednesday at the NFF headquarters at Battaramulle that
CEPA if signed would adversely affect Sri Lanka. NFF is a splinter
group of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP).
Mr. Wimal Weerawansa, who also holds the post of Minister of Construction,
Engineering Services, Housing and Common Amenities in the UPFA
government said the existing agreements allow more import of materials
to the island. However, CEPA will open the gates for workers too to flood
the island, Weerawansa said. Even now, Indians who arrive here on tourist visas work in
the fields in the north and sometimes leave with the harvests as well, the SL minister of construction added.
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