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With some 1.8 million people in 14 districts suffering from one of Sri Lanka’s worst ever drought, bottles of drinking water and barrels to fill water distributed by bowser being given to the affected people in the Polonnaruwa district. The relief operation was organised by the Sambodhi Viharaya at Wijerama Road in Colombo 7 this [...]
Questions over huge coal deal
Ministers this week deferred a Cabinet paper to procure coal for the Lakvijaya plant at Norochcholai after questions were raised about the manner in which a Singapore-based company was chosen for the tender. “No decision was taken by the Cabinet,” Power and Energy Ministry Secretary M.M.C. Ferdinando said. “The decision was postponed for next week.” [...]
Estate workers told: Eat rice flour items, not roti
A Government Minister wants to change the food habits of the plantation worker whose daily staple diet is roti made from wheat flour. Agriculture Minister Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena says they should be given rice flour at a subsidised rate for this purpose. He has proposed that a kilogram of rice flour be sold to workers in the [...]
Wide powers for new National Transport Commission
The Government will introduce laws to regulate school, office and other transport services. These laws will give teeth to a new National Transport Commission (NTC) which is to be the sole authority to issue permits for vehicles to carry passengers. For this purpose, Private Transport Services Minister C.B. Rathnayake will move amendments in Parliament to the [...]
Fishing crisis: Talks on August 29, but conflicting claims on release of boats
As poaching in the Palk Strait by Tamil Nadu fishermen continued unabated, Fisheries Minister Rajitha Senaratne said yesterday official talks on this issue between the two countries would begin in New Delhi on August 29. A three-member delegation headed by Fisheries Director General Nimal Hettiarachchi will represent Sri Lanka. The other members are Fisheries Ministry advisor [...]
Heaven’s scorching eye ignores prayers for rain
Thousands of villagers pray for rain as the ancient giant tanks and irrigation systems continue to dry up in 14 districts mostly in the North, East and North-Central provinces, with experts forecasting a continued need for trucked-in drinking water. The famous 12th-century Parakrama Samudraya now has only one-fifteenth of the water it was built to [...]
CMC targets cinemas for proper ventilation and cleanliness
The Colombo Municipal Council (CMC) intends inspecting all cinema halls in Colombo during the course of the week, CMC Chief Medical Officer Dr Ruwan Wijayamuni said. “There is a possibility of diseases spreading if these halls aren’t properly ventilated. We also intend checking all the washrooms and the food stalls in these buildings for hygienic [...]
Strident call for stringent control of medical clinics
Tough action against medical clinics going beyond their mandate and doctors posing off as specialists, was the strident call from health circles as Colombo was in shock over the death of a woman doctor on Tuesday in a clinic dispensing cosmetic surgery.While an urgent clamour went out for the establishment of a Specialist Register with [...]
Private buses run riot on the road
Private buses pay little heed to road rules, leading to many accidents, charge state officials, while private bus operators blame state-run transport bodies for the lack of discipline in the service. Twenty two year-old Sadini’s dream of a happy wedded life was cut short last week when just three months into her marriage, a speeding [...]
Veddas’ votes are hunted, but they want to hunt too
Roads to the veddah village of Dambana are under construction. Sand piles and tar barrels line the way, and there are newly-planted electricity poles – but without wires. Posters in red, green and blue stand out among the poles and tar barrels. With the Uva Provincial Council elections around the corner, the people of this [...]
Freebies galore as candidates cosy up to voters
Distribution of water containers, sewing machines, plastic chairs and water pumps has become a regular sight in drought-hit Monragala, one of the two districts preparing for the next month’s provincial elections. Almost all items distributed contained stickers of named candidates making it clear that they were expecting votes in return of the goods distributed. The [...]
Potato farmers mashed by imports
A special commodity levy imposed on potato imports has failed to help local farmers due to the increasing cost of cultivation, farmers claim. Potato cultivators in the Uva province fear losing their livelihood as they could not compete with the prices offered by big-time potato importers. The Ministry of Finance and Planning recently imposed a [...]
50 northern undergrads’ Jaffna-Colombo ‘cyclathon’ raises funds for heart surgery
Flagged off after seeking blessings from the Nallur Kovil in Jaffna, around 50 undergrads of Jaffna University who set off Friday on their cycles for a worthy cause to raise funds for those needing heart surgery in the north, are on their last lap today. They will arrive in Colombo this afternoon, and joined by [...]
IBAHRI expresses grave concern to MR over BASL president’s reported surveillance
The International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute (IBAHRI) has written to President Mahinda Rajapaksa expressing their grave concern over the reported surveillance of Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) President, Upul Jayasuriya. In a letter to the President, the institute has urged the government to undertake swift and effective investigations into all reported incidents of [...]
No apparent owners for baby jumbo rescued at Matale
The Police claim the baby elephant rescued from Matale last week was transported from a house belonging to the Kandy Mayor Thushantha Mahendra Ratwatte. “According to testimonies of the apprehended driver and the mahout, the baby elephant was being transported from the household of the Mayor of Kandy,” Matale Police OIC Wimal Shantha told the [...]
Killer disease Ebola: Porous defence at BIA raises combat questions
As the World Health Organisation sends out an SOS saying that “extraordinary measures” are needed to contain the killer disease Ebola, in Sri Lanka the steps the authorities have taken so far appear neither effective nor adequate. A Sunday Times investigation has found only passport holders from the affected countries – mainly Liberia, Guinea, Nigeria [...]
Pavithra and Sudarshini taken ill on the Uva campaign trail
Minister Pavithra Wanniarachchi and Member of Parliament Sudarshini Fernandopulle yesterday were briefly admitted to hospitals in Bandarawela and Badulla respectively after they suddenly fell ill while on a membership drive of the Sri Lanka Freedom party (SLFP). Ms. Wanniarachchi was on her way to address a meeting in Badulla when she fell ill, and was [...]
Profit-making CEB ‘should drop fuel tax’
A consumer rights group is demanding that the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) reduce the fuel surcharge introduced more than 18 months ago given the steady rise in board revenue. The demand follows a disclosure by CEB Chairman W. B. Ganegala to this paper that the board had been able to pay off arrears due to [...]
Regular heroin detections point to spiralling problem
The drug menace appears to be fast spreading its tentacles across the country with more than 35 kg of heroin being detected by police and Customs on a monthly basis for this year, the Sunday Times learns. On Wednesday a 19 year old student from Galle doing his Advanced Level examination was arrested for possessing [...]
Raging seas and broken promises
Over the past few weeks, sea erosion at Ratmalana displaced several hundred families in the area.They were earlier victims of the 2004 tsunami. This week area residents who lost their houses to sea erosion, launched a protest demanding alternative dwellings to replace their homes destroyed by erosion. They said, they and their children had been [...]
Fancy petting a python? Snuggling up to a sand boa?
Visitors to the National Zoological Gardens in Dehiwela will be able to handle selected reptiles and take photographs with them following the success of a pilot project aimed at educating people to conquer their fear and disgust of the creatures. “I thought the snake would get me but he did nothing,” said Senuka, a four-year-old [...]
Magistrate orders closure of jaggery factory
Kayts Magistrate S. Leninkumar this week ordered the closure of the Kayts jaggery factory after it was revealed that the factory used an agricultural chemical fertiliser harmful for human consumption. The Court learned that the fertiliser has been issued under the Divineguma Scheme to the factory that comes under the Kayts Farmers’ Development Society. Kayts [...]
Asgiri Mahanayake takes lead in providing drinking water to drought-hit areas
The drinking water distribution programme organised by Ven Daranagama Kusaladhamma Thera of Sambodhi Viharaya in Bauddhaloka Mawatha, took place in Madirigiriya, Polonnaruwa, on August 13. Chief Guest, Ven. Udugama Sri Buddharakkitha Thera of the Asgiri Chapter, said the whole world was affected by natural disasters such as droughts, floods and famine, but these kinds of [...]
Army provides relief to drought-hit Jaffna
Army troops serving in different areas of the Jaffna peninsula have started a programme to provide drinking water to the people affected by the severe drought. Plastic water tanks have been placed in public places. In addition water bowsers have also been sent to rural areas. As in many parts of the country, the prevailing [...]
Immigration chief awaits stay order on asylum seekers deportation
A decision on whether to suspend the deportation of Pakistani and Afghan asylum seekers from Sri Lanka will be taken next week once an official copy of the Court of Appeal order staying the deportations is received by the Controller of Immigration and Emigration. Chulananda Perera, Controller Immigration and Emigration said that he is yet [...]
BASL President says police protection not in keeping with court order
Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) President Upul Jayasuriya on Friday said that he was not satisfied with the response shown by the police in providing him with security, in keeping with a court order.“I requested that two police officers travel in my vehicle with me. However, they have not provided that and instead, deployed [...]
Ex-cop’s gang of six caught selling land acquired on forged deeds
A gang led by an ex-policeman, who were involved in forging deeds and acquiring land in Colombo belonging to persons currently living overseas, has been arrested by the Colombo Fraud Bureau, a senior police officer said. Investigations commenced when a Sri Lankan doctor living in the UK was alerted by a friend that his 17-perch [...]
Lakshman Kadirgamar Gold Medal for Peradeniya University’s Best MBBS Finalist
The Lakshman Kadirgamar Foundation together with the University of Peradeniya launched the ‘SriLankaabhimanya Lakshman Kadirgamar Gold Medal for Excellence for the highest achiever in the Final MBBS exam for Medical Degrees at a function at the University’s Medical Faculty on Friday. The event coincided with the ninth death anniversary of the former Foreign Minister who [...]
TNA deliberately misleading the Tamil people, says Anandasangaree
Veerasingham Anandasangaree is not someone who is afraid to speak his mind. At 81 and semi-retired from politics, the onetime Parliamentarian and General Secretary of the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) has made some new public disclosures, questioning the legitimacy of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) and the Illankai Tamil Arasu Kadchi (ITAK), better known [...]
Homoeopathic doctors’ body files FR case against bogus registrations
A fundamental rights petition was filed in the Supreme Court seeking the cancellation of registrations of 54 persons who were registered fraudulently as Homoeopathy Practitioners, violating the Homoeopathy Act. Janadahara Homoeopathic Doctors’ Association cited Salinda Dissananyake, Minister of Indigenous Medicine, the Indigenous Medicine Secretary, the Homoeoepathic Council (HC) Secretary Ahinsaka Perera Registrar Dr. Newton Pieris and [...]
SL Army’s 4th consecutive annual Defence Seminar this week
The fourth consecutive, annual Defence Seminar conducted since 2011, by the Sri Lanka Army, will commence this week, attended by a host of foreign participants. Among those making presentations at the three-day seminar will be senior member of India’s ruling Bharathiya Janatha Party (BJP) Dr Subramanian Swamy who will speak on India-Lanka relations. The theme [...]
UNP to expose what was not reported in COPE report
Opposition United National Party (UNP) Parliamentarians will hold a media briefing on Tuesday to expose what they called matters not reported or underreported in the COPE report released recently. The Parliamentary Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) headed by Senior Minister D.E.W. Gunasekera last month released its report seen as a ‘strong’ indictment of loss-making public institutions, [...]
‘Sanction clauses’ for Lanka’s deals with European agencies
European export credit agencies have begun imposing “sanction clauses” into draft agreements with Sri Lanka in anticipation of international economic, trade and financial sanctions or embargoes — a move the Government has vigorously opposed. This would mean that if international sanctions or embargoes are imposed on Sri Lanka, the export credit insurance cover would be [...]
