By P.K.Balachandran

Indian official sources clarified on Saturday, that there is no scope for an influx of Indian personnel into Sri Lanka through the India-aided Emergency Ambulance Service which is to be introduced in two Lankan provinces shortly.

The Mahinda Rajapaksa-led Joint Opposition Group (JOG) had alleged that the service, to be run by the Hyderabad-based GVK Emergency Management and Research Institute (GVK EMRI) with a grant of US$ 7.6 million from the Indian government, will be employing only Indians, and not Lankans.

Rebutting this, Indian officials said that except for two or three Indian planners, all the paramedical personnel and supporting staff will be Lankans. To be rendered in the Western and Southern provinces to begin with, the service will be using 88 ambulances and employing over 600 Lankans. They will be employees of the local subsidiary of GVK-EMRI.

Indian officials also denied the charge that users of the ambulance service will have to pay for it. The service is funded entirely by an Indian government grant and is to be offered free for a year, after which the Lankan government can review the arrangement.

The idea of starting an emergency ambulance service with Indian help was mooted not by India, but by Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe when his Indian counterpart, Narendra Modi, visited Lanka in March 2015. Letters on it were exchanged when Wickremesinghe visited New Delhi in September.

The executing company, GVK –EMRI, was also chosen by the Lankan government. GVK EMRI’s emergency medical services are available in 15 Indian states and two Union Territories. It has 10,000 ambulances and over 41,000 employees in India. It is part of the gigantic GVK group which has an investment of US$ 4.3 billion. Another USD 6.6 billion worth of projects are in the pipeline India.

Rajapaksa Warns

Former Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa warned on Friday that if the Economic and Technical Cooperation Agreement (ETCA) with India is signed, Lanka will become “another state of India.” According to the JOG, the ETCA is nothing but another name for the rejected Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) with India. The ETCA will provide the “framework for future agreements with India,” it said, and urged Lankans to oppose the “foreignization” of the Lankan economy.

Courtesy:New Indian Express