Highways Minister Johnston Fernando said that Opposition MPs are engaged in protests in Colombo about supposed environmental destruction without even visiting Sinharaja Rainforest. Speaking at an event held to rehabilitate the Amunukola Tank at Galgamauwa recently, the Minister also stated that there were talks about Sinharaja for a year since the day measures were taken to improve the facilities at Lankagama. "Not a single MP from the Opposition visited Sinharaja. I said in Parliament that I will arrange vehicles to visit the rainforest. Still no one went, and instead they engaged in protests in Colombo," he said. He further stated that Sri Lanka has now become a disciplined and a clean country. "The country was polluted with garbage when we took over. When we were in power previously, we were able to make Colombo one of the fastest growing cities in the world," he said. He also stated that President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has given instructions to remove garbage piled up in Colombo. Additionally, the minister also said that 67,000 employment opportunities were given to graduates and 35,000 members from low-income families have been recruited to create an unskilled labour pool.