Will the vehicle permits of Doctors and University Professors revoked under a National People’s Power government?

දිනපතා සත්‍ය කරුණු දැන ගැනීමට අපගේ WhatsApp චැනලයටමෙතනින් එකතුවන්න.

Below is an investigation we carried out to determine the accuracy of a post circulating on social media platforms stating that the National People’s Power will revoke the license to import vehicles duty-free for doctors and university professors.

Social Media Claims:

Claim 1:

Here is a post claiming that a decision has been taken to revoke the vehicle licenses of not only MPs but also doctors and university professors.

Facebook | Archived Link

Here is the news that was circulated.

Archived Link

Many users have also commented on the post.

Claim 2:

A statement made by Mr. Sunil Handunneththi under the same theme has been published on the official Facebook page of Sirasa News.

“Doctors have taken the license more than the MPs. Under an NPP government, the vehicle licenses of not only MPs but also doctors and government executives will be canceled”.

Facebook | Archived Link

Fact Check:

We checked whether the party’s presidential candidate, Mr. Anura Kumara Dissanayake, had made such a statement on a political platform, in any other meeting, or in any other program.

Also, such news was not published in mainstream media.

As indicated in the above website, it was also not possible to see any news or report stating that Mr. Anura Kumara Dissanayake was requested to immediately cancel the licenses of doctors, university professors, and other claimants and collect taxes properly.

Although it was stated in the article that the National People’s Power will completely abolish this Duty Concession Permit scheme through the first budget that will be presented after the victory, such a statement was not published in any other media report.

A fact that was not stated in the Policy Statement.

However, such a statement was not mentioned in the presidential policy statement 2024 issued by the National People’s Power.

It only stated that the duty-free vehicle permit system for the MPs would be removed. It is mentioned on page 194 of the policy statement.

Mr. Sunil Handunneththi

Even though we checked through the post that was published on the official Facebook page of Sirasa News, claiming that Mr. Sunil Handunneththi has announced such a statement it was reported that no such news was reported.

We inquired about this from one of the news managers of Sirasa News, and he mentioned that no such news was published and that it was a fake post.

The statement made by Mr. Handunneththi at the ‘Satana’ TV program.

On the ‘Satana’ TV program aired on the 27^th of August, Mr. Handunneththi was questioned about this circulated statement.

On this occasion, Mr. Handunneththi said that some people are trying to create fear in society by circulating fake news and that their party expects to remove the opportunity for politicians to get vehicles duty-free.

You can watch that video here.

However, during our inspection, it was confirmed that the specific category can obtain vehicle licenses only 2 times during the service period. You can refer to the existing circular to get more information.

Here, is an instance where Mr. Handunneththi interfered in the Parliament regarding the resolution of the problem of obtaining duty-free vehicles for parliament officials.

It is not related to government officials or doctors.

Speaking in this regard at a program on ‘Hari TV’, Mr. Sunil Handunneththi stated that the duty-free vehicle license system of the President, Ministers, and MPs should be revoked as politicians are voluntary workers and that this is not related to government officials and doctors.

Furthermore, the circulated post was claimed as fake, on the official Facebook page of Mr. Sunil Handunneththi.

Facebook | Archived Link

Media Department of NPP

The NPP media department also stated that under no circumstances that the opportunity of doctors and government officials to get vehicles duty-free will not be revoked and that it is not included in the policy statement as well.

Also due to the deprivation of privileges of the doctors, there has been a brain drain because most of them have left the country. NPP media department stated that attention has been paid to raising their standard of living and making a stop to the brain drain.

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Conclusion (අවසාන නිගමනය) :

Our investigation shows that the post that was circulated claiming that the National People’s Power has decided to cancel the vehicle licenses of Doctors and University professors under its government is false.

It will be removed only from the MPs and our check confirms that it is not related to the above-mentioned officials.