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Amid a major drought and fears of water cuts, these people of Induruwa staged a protest, demanding drinking water. One of the protesters carried an empty pot with a slogan saying, “We have no water, you won’t get our vote’. Pic by Sarath Siriwardene.
Urgent moves to avert power-cuts
Fears of a breakdown in electricity generation and resultant power cuts have prompted the Government to appoint a ministerial team to come up on a “high priority” basis with proposals to avert a crisis. The committee, chaired by Senior Minister (Scientific Affairs) Tissa Vitharana, includes Senior Minister (Food Security) P. Dayaratne, Environment and Renewable Energy Minister [...]
High-powered delegation to Geneva
External Affairs Minister G.L. Peiris will lead Sri Lanka’s delegation and address the UN Human Rights Council main segment on March 5, just two days after the sessions begin, a senior official said yesterday.The External Affairs Ministry official said other members of the delegation were yet to be named. It is expected to include Presidential [...]
Action plan for disabled people
The Cabinet of Ministers has given approval for the formulation of a national action plan for disabled people. The decision comes on a recommendation made by Social Services Minister Felix Perera. Ministers noted that nearly Rs. 65 billion had been allocated in the Medium Term Budgetary Framework 2014-2016 for the implementation of Government policies on differently [...]
Gamani Corea leaves estate exceeding Rs. 1.5 billion
The late Dr. Gamani Corea, one of Sri Lanka’s best known economists of yesteryear and one time Secretary General of UNCTAD (United Nations Conference on Trade and Development) has left an estate exceeding Rs. 1.5 billion (Rs 1,500 million) in his last will and testament.Dr. Corea passed away on November 3, last year, the day [...]
New move to settle land disputes in North, East
Sri Lankans domiciled overseas will be provided assistance to reclaim their land encroached by squatters or provided with alternative land under a new scheme drawn up by the Government. The scheme will mainly apply to the Northern and Eastern provinces from where a staggering 140,000 complaints of land disputes have been reported to the Lands Ministry [...]
Narada won’t go despite concerns
Narada Dissanayake, elder son of Higher Education Minister S. B. Dissanayake, is to continue to hold the post as the secretary of the Quality Assurance and Accreditation Committee established by the Higher Education Ministry. The appointment has caused concern in many quarters after the Sunday Times exposed it last week. However, Higher Education Ministry Secretary Sunil [...]
Vehicle buyers taken for a ride on doctored registration papers
During a routine check recently, an officer of the Registrar of Motor Vehicles (RMV) office, detected a case of a vehicle with two different registration books and two different owners. Further inquiries revealed that the data and the rubber stamps used on the books were identical but one of the signatures was forged. It finally transpired [...]
Garment factory employee, 19, ‘steamed’ to death at workplace
A 19-year-old garment factory employee died of burns after being exposed to a steam machine at his workplace in Dabagahawatte, Minuvangoda, on Wednesday, a corner’s inquiry was told. The victim, M.P.R. Dileepana was a machine operator in a garment factory in Minuwangoda. Lasantha De Silva, another machine operator at the factory, who witnessed the incident, at [...]
The need to develop local dairy farming
The recent increase in prices of milk food has adversely affected low income earners, with many families finding it hard to purchase milk. The increased prices of imported milk food have prompted a number of persons in the local dairy industry to make improvements to their farms and the distribution net work. A couple employed in a [...]
Lalith W: Accountability and reconciliation are two parallel tracks that won’t meet
The Government is touting its latest Presidential Commission of Inquiry into Missing Persons as “a first step” towards answering international calls for a domestic investigation into war crimes allegations. “I think the Commission of Inquiry into Missing Persons is the first step,” Lalith Weeratunga, Secretary to the President, told editors and senior journalists on Wednesday. [...]
Wallapatta agarwood the new illegal million-rupee racket
An attempt to smuggle out wallapatta agarwood worth Rs. 12 million was prevented by vigilant Customs officers last week. The offender had 16.8kg of the substance concealed in his baggage, Samantha Gunasekara of the Customs Biodiversity Protection Unit said. It had been cleaned and considered to be grade 1 quality. The offender was at Bandaranaike [...]
Arbitrary, ad hoc Law College decisions enrage students
Candidates who claim they were deprived of admission to the Law College due to a reduction in the intake this week vow to continue their protest campaigns until they are given a solution. The General Secretary of the union that launched the protest, the Neethi Adyapanaya Surakeme Sishya Ekamuthuwa (Front for Safeguarding Legal Education), Daminda [...]
Mixed signals on recruitment of female domestics for overseas jobs
Authorities yesterday distanced themselves from remarks made by a Sri Lankan envoy in West Asia, that Colombo was planning to outlaw overseas job placements of female domestic workers, a senior official said yesterday. Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment (SLFEB) Additional General Manager Mangala Randeniya said there were no such moves as yet. However adding [...]
Higher Education Ministry seeks wider powers despite President cancelling related gazette notification
A fresh move to introduce a Bill in Parliament to give wider powers to the Ministry of Higher Education on deciding on subjects of issuing accreditation to Degree-awarding institutions, quality assurance and higher education qualifications framework and taking over some of the functions of the University Grants Commission (UGC) is under way. The move comes [...]
Road terror: The wheels of death claim 6 lives a day
More than 2,300 people were killed in road accidents last year averaging six deaths a day, latest statistics reveal. About 20 road deaths in the first two weeks of this month alone indicated no letup in the trend. Earlier this week, five people, including two women and two children, died when their van hit the [...]
More than 20 additives to food items to be banned from July 1
In a bid to control the use of flavouring substances and flavour enhancers in food items, the Health Ministry will implement the Food (Flavouring Substances and Flavour Enhancers) Regulations 2013 with effect from July 1, this year. The flavouring substances that will be prohibited to be used in food are Aloin, Berbine, Beta-Azarone and cinnamyl [...]
Ruling party leading offenders in poll violence and violations
With nominations closing last week for the upcoming Western and Southern Provincial Council elections, polls related violence and violations of election laws are on the rise as candidates of all hues step up their campaigns, police and polls monitoring groups said. Poster campaigns, pocket meetings where candidates promised financial and other material benefits to voters [...]
‘White-vanned’ man released after protest
Hundreds of residents from Wanathamulla, Borella took to the streets yesterday, causing heavy traffic on the Baseline Road, after one of their neighbours was reportedly abducted by an unknown group in a van. As the protest continued throughout the day and gathered momentum, the man, identified as 54-year-old Sunil Samadeera, appeared in Peliyagoda around 5 [...]
Taxes go up in flames as SLAF copter help costs Rs.260,000 an hour
Travellers, drinkers, hunters and land-grabbers are causing fires in the Central Hills by carelessly throwing down cigarette butts, leaving without dousing campfires, cooking in fire-prone areas, and lighting fires for fun or to trap wild animals or claim land, say forest and disaster management officials. This year saw about 20 such fires- among them several [...]
Raids find food workers unaware of safety regulations
Workers at a garment factory in Dharga Town, Aluthgama reported for duty and set to work as usual one day last week. During the lunch break they were served rice, chicken curry and vegetables. Shortly after lunch most of them began exhibiting signs of illness. Some vomited, some had headaches and diarrhoea. They were rushed [...]
Police quiz NSSP leader over bogus names in nomination list
Left Front leader Dr. Wickramabahu Karunaratne was yesterday questioned by the Police for two hours over the allegation of submitting a list containing fraudulent names for nomination to the Gampaha District for the upcoming provincial council elections. A senior police officer said they had recorded the statement of Dr Karunaratne and would be carrying out [...]
Engine drivers’ strike to continue with retired personnel poised to operate trains
Striking locomotive drivers are set to continue their trade union action into the new week if their key demand is not met, but authorities yesterday refused to budge from their position, and instead sought the services of retired personnel to operate a skeleton service. Senior railway officials said the strikers had indicated that their trade [...]
Nobody is talking about regime change in Sri Lanka: British High Commissioner
The United Kingdom strongly hinted this week that the resolution on Sri Lanka that it will co-sponsor at the UN Human Rights Council next month will include a call for a credible, domestic investigation into allegations of war crimes. “I think, first of all, the resolution will be updated to reflect the current situation and [...]
Colombo schools threatened with action over dengue
The Colombo Municipal Council (CMC)’s Health Department is to take strict action against schools that have mosquito breeding spots on grounds that put students’ lives at risk. Half the schools in Colombo have mosquito breeding places, a Health Ministry study has found. Chief Medical Officer of CMC, Dr. Pradeep Kariyawasam said most of the 475 [...]
Morning has broken…
Morning dew, a rare and beautiful sight, is normally witnessed in Nuwara Eliya and its suburbs. However, during the past week frost, rather than dew, covered several parts of the district. Turning large swathes of land into sheets of white, as temperatures dropped to below five degrees Celsius. The Sunday Times saw pieces of frost larger [...]
Facebook fiasco: Principals not taught lessons
Teacher trade unions have criticised the conduct and style of governance adopted by the Principal of Sir John Kotalawela Maha Vidyalaya that led to the untimely death of a 15-year-old student of the school.The school had failed to establish a child protection committee as instructed by the National Child Protection Authority (NCPA) and the Principal [...]
A few precautionary steps could keep robbers at bay
Almost every day more than 20 robberies are reported to police stations island-wide, with some of the cases involving the loss of millions of rupees worth of jewellery and other valuable items or cash. Police believe that break-ins could be reduced if householders took some precautionary steps. “The public can play an important role in preventing [...]
Fugitive murderer arrested 17 years after jail break
A convicted murderer who escaped from jail some 17 years ago was re-arrested in Polonnaruwa on Friday evening, police said. They said the man was convicted for a murder he committed in 1987 and handed over a four-year prison sentence by a Court in Anuradhapura in September 1996. However, he broke out of the Welikada jail [...]
It’s time for the colourful Navam Perehera
Hundreds of dancers representing the Up-Country, Low-Country and Sabaragamuwa dancing traditions along with caparisoned elephants were part of the annual Gangarama Temple Navam Perahera that ended last night. Pix by Indika Handuwala
Anoja Wijesekera to be our woman in Indonesia
Anoja Wijesekera, a former UN aid worker in Afghanistan, is to be appointed Sri Lanka’s Ambassador in Indonesia. Ms Wijeyesekera worked with the U.N. children’s agency UNICEF, following her posting in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan in 1997. Last year she released a book titled, “Facing the Taliban”. She is a past pupil of Visakha Vidyalaya, Colombo. The post in Indonesia [...]
3 nabbed for alleged theft of injections, medicine valves from Cancer Hospital
Three people were taken into custody yesterday, for the alleged pilferage of injections and medicine valves from the Cancer Hospital in Maharagama, police said. They said the suspects were taken in from a safe house in Talangama, following a tip-off. According to police, the suspects were minor employees at the hospital and had been contracted [...]
Alleged people smuggler with past record refused bail
A man believed to be involved in smuggling people to Australia by boat from the south of Sri Lanka, now in custody has been found to be having similar charges of trafficking, Court was told this week. The disclosure was made when a bail application was filed on behalf of the suspect at the Galle Provincial [...]
SL agent of Lankan domestic fleeing Kuwaiti employer accused of repeatedly raping her
The Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment Bureau (SLFEB) has initiated legal action against a Lankan recruiting agent based in Kuwait City, for the allegedly repeated rape of a Lankan female domestic who had fled harassment from her Arab employer and sought refuge at the suspect’s home, said SLFEB Additional General Manager Mangala Randeniya yesterday. [...]
Why the US is keen to support women in Sri Lanka
I am currently on my first-ever visit to South Asia as the United States Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s issues. By the time my trip concludes, I will have visited with government officials, NGO-leaders, and inspiring citizens in India, Nepal and Pakistan. I had tried very hard to include Sri Lanka on this trip as well. [...]
