BENGALURU: Bridged Suren, a Sri Lankan national doing business in Bengaluru, recalls his home where ‘manikam’ (in Tamil) or precious stones were found in abundance. But now, he feels helpless as he watches life as he knew it thrown out of gear. 13-hour power cuts, prices of essential commodities skyrocketing, fuel crisis augmenting...the instability in Sri Lanka (SL) has turned life upside-down.
A place that was a travellers’ paradise until a few months ago, now looks like a breeding ground of protests and economic catastrophe. Lankans working in Bengaluru are watching helplessly as their country plunges into darkness.
Suren’s family in Colombo, runs a fabric, rubber and tea business. With the ban on chemical fertilisers, rice, maida, and tea are in acute shortage. “My uncle who manages the tea estate is finding it hard to pay the salary of labourers. Their phones are switched off because mobiles are out of charge due to long power cuts. Although they are from a well-off business family, they are sticking to one meal a day, because ration shops are running out of essentials. I cannot financially assist them from here, because the currency exchange system has collapsed completely. It’s really sad to see my country undergo this struggle,” says the 44-year-old.
While Suren is in despair looking at the economic repercussions, Isuru Waduge, a UK national born in Kalutara – who is based in Bengaluru and works as a leadership manager for an MNC – feels sorry that the country will have to celebrate the Sinhalese New Year (April 14) in darkness. “The Sinhalese and the Tamil New Year is very auspicious for us. This time we will have a festival covered in darkness. We are blessed that my family members who are in Bentota and Colombo are not in a situation where they have to forego a meal. However, they are shelling out more money to buy essentials than before. With long power cuts, my brother tells me that he wakes up in darkness and goes to sleep in darkness,” says Waduge.
Similarly, Mohamed Reza’s cousin, who runs a blockchain startup in Colombo, is planning to shift base to Singapore owing to the current situation. “My cousin is unable to run his startup due to the 10-13 hour power cuts. My family is frustrated at how life is panning out in SL with each passing day,” says Reza, a marketing professional in a city-based tech startup.
Perera, who runs an event management company here, says, “Even well-off people in SL are facing the same plight as the poor. My son and his wife who are staying in Colombo are living a strange life, with a shortage of sugar, milk powder, and other daily requirements.”
How did Sri Lanka get here?
President Gotabaya Rajapaksa carried out populist tax cuts in 2019, reducing revenues months before the pandemic devastated the economy. This led to a downfall in the foreign-exchange reserve, making it difficult for SL to pay external debts. Rajapaksa also imposed a ban on chemical fertilizers, thus reducing the yield of many essential crops which skyrocketed the prices of many essential consumables like rice, sugar, tea among others. Things got out of hand when the government saw mass resignations of ministers leading to political instability. Many Lankans even took to streets, protesting against long power cuts due to the energy crisis and demanding the ouster of the Rajapaksa government.
On the backburner
Vinutha Kiran, who runs travel agency Travel Lounge finds that SL is losing out on tourism heavily due to the turmoil. “We have seen 80% of travellers cancelling their trips, while the rest have postponed it. I had created two groups for a trip this month, but received a poor response. Many backed out after looking at the developments,” says Kiran.