India can consider immediate relief by air if Lanka requests it, says India's HC to Sri Lanka

India can consider a request for immediate relief through an airlift if Colombo requests it, India’s High Commissioner in

Sri Lanka

,

Gopal Baglay

tells Padma Rao Sundarji in an exclusive chat for Times Online. Hours later, the Sri Lanka government imposed an emergency in the island nation to quell angry protests against the crippling economic crisis.

Q 1: There were terrible protests in Colombo and across Sri Lanka last evening. Sri Lankans are fed up of 10-hour power cuts, lack of gas, fuel, medicine and food items. India has extended nearly 2.4 billion dollars of credit already. But that aid takes time to arrive in Sri Lanka. What immediate relief can you provide?


A: The point you raise is important. What can India do to provide immediate relief? The fuel Line of Credit (LOC) which is $500 million, is already under implementation, and Sri Lankans have received some supplies. Three consignments have already been delivered, the 4th is arriving in Colombo on Saturday. Then, the total volume will be 150000 T of aviation fuel, diesel and petrol put together. The food LOC was signed some weeks ago. Orders have been placed - firstly for rice – by the Sri Lankan importer in question. We expect the consignment to be on its way in a few days. A Sri Lankan public sector company has prepared a list of essential medicines worth more than $100 million. That, too, is being tendered by the importer. Once they place the order, it will be underway too.


Q 2: Why is everything being sent by ship, when the crisis is so huge and there’s an urgency?


A: Right now, the consignments are of large inflammable materials. There are various safety criteria and other considerations. They have to dock, be unloaded and stored in a certain way, there’s a network of pipelines, bowsers, etc. These are technical matters I am not qualified to comment on. But overall, the fuel supply from India is working perfectly.


Q 3: But food supplies are urgently needed. Sri Lanka’s overall requirement may be so huge that shipping is unavoidable. But why can’t India back up the ships by sending small quantities of immediate relief by air?


A: In the past whenever such a request has been made it has been considered. At the moment and maybe for the reasons I mention above, we do not have such a request. But in the past whenever there has been a requirement for humanitarian relief coming to Sri Lanka through an airlift, we have considered it positively.


Q 4: Some Sri Lankan media reports claim that Indian ships laden with goods arrived at Colombo port, but refused to offload them unless they were paid in US Dollars. Sri Lanka has no foreign exchange left. Can you comment on these reports?


A: I can’t comment because I don’t know under what scheme or arrangement those ships were. They were certainly not under India’s Line of Credit.


Q 5: The news of postponing exams due to a paper shortage is distressing. Can India help in this, and other equally urgent matters, like reviving tourism to Sri Lanka? Or is travel to Lanka not possible at the moment, because high-end travelers would expect many luxuries which Sri Lanka cannot currently provide, due to the crisis?


A: We have always responded to requests by, and the requirements of our friendly neighbouring countries. That’s the record we also have in Sri Lanka. As a government, we generally prefer to work with other governments, because that’s the best way to help. Another important bridge is the arrival of Indian tourists. Consistently and for several months now, India has been the largest country source for international arrivals in Sri Lanka. For the first time since the pandemic, Sri Lankan statistics recorded the arrival of more than 1 lakh tourists. Indians constituted 45-46% of that number. So that’s good news. Indians are looking to travel abroad and also within India and Sri Lanka offers good destination for them. So far, we haven’t seen any decrease in arrivals from India. And of course, when people travel, they have to consider various factors and make their own decisions.


Q 6: What advise could India give Colombo on how to tide over this debilitating economic crisis?


A: We have rendered support in whatever way possible and in record time. You may have noticed

EAM S Jaishankar

’s remarks before his departure from Sri

Lanka

, that India has worked ‘overtime’ to bring fuel, food and supplies to Sri Lanka under the LOCs. We will continue to respond to their requirements for the immediate term, and we will be supportive of the government of Sri Lanka’s efforts to address the task, in the medium and long term. We believe that the long-term solution lies in bringing more investment into Sri Lanka, and creating capacity in various sectors of the economy such as infrastructure, ports, renewable energy, power, and manufacturing. And those are exactly the areas you have been seeing Indian investment come into Sri Lanka over the past year. You may have also heard of global Indian companies setting up a large IT development center in Sri Lanka. We are very happy that cooperation is forthcoming now, and that Sri Lankan businesses and Sri Lankan people have also realized, that there is great value in such cooperation. It’s a win-win situation for both countries, and the benefits of Indian investment ultimately accrue for Sri Lankans too.