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President Maithripala Sirisena, looking glum and attending the first public function yesterday after his move to give nomination to former President Mahinda Rajapaksa for the forthcoming general elections, is seen being accosted by UNP frontliners — Ministers Mangala Samaraweera and Ravi Karunanayake. The Matara event was held to mark the laying of the foundation for [...]
President to stay neutral at polls
President Maithripala Sirisena’s decision to allow his predecessor Mahinda Rajapaksa to contest the August 17 parliamentary elections on the United People’s Freedom Alliance ticket has caused ripples within his own ‘rainbow’ coalition. Increasing tensions is Mr. Sirisena’s decision not to take part in the election campaign. UPFA General Secretary Susil Premajayantha and Sri Lanka Freedom Party [...]
Swift action and prosecution of election law violators
The Elections Department is seeking the advice of the Attorney General on how to expedite the prosecution of those violating election laws during the ongoing campaign for the general elections, Commissioner Mahinda Deshapriya said yesterday. The Commissioner who has been given new powers under the 19th Amendment will request the Attorney General to assign a [...]
TNA faces dispute over nominations
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) and its coalition partners are locked in a dispute over nominations for smaller parties in the alliance, party sources said. The dispute arose after smaller parties asked that at least two members from each smaller party be given nominations in the Northern and eastern Provinces. These parties include the Tamil Eelam [...]
Media groups slam Sirisena for bringing back Press Council
The constituent partners of the Sri Lanka Press Institute (SLPI) yesterday condemned the Executive actions of President Maithripala Sirisena this week to re-activate the Sri Lanka Press Council. The SLPI said the President was re-introducing the dormant legislation that provided for wide ranging punitive powers including that of imprisoning media personnel. A hard-hitting statement by newspaper [...]
Indo-Pak betting agents in Colombo nabbed, but no laws to prosecuteBy S.R. Pathiravithana
Sri Lanka Cricket’s Anti-Corruption Unit cracked down on an Indo-Pakistan betting operations at the P. Sara Oval in Colombo last week during the second Test. But the culprits were later released as there were no local laws to prosecute them. The unit’s head, retired Senior Police Superintendent Lakshman de Silva said they questioned two Pakistanis [...]
Come to the newly launched fair!
The Good market was re launched at its new premises on Rajakeeya Mw yesterday. The market which promotes organic produce and fair trade practices, will be on every Saturday at the venue. Pic by Indika Handuwala
Polls Chief gets tough, wants Assets Declarations along with NominationsBy Chandani Kirinde
Elections Commissioner (EC) Mahinda Deshapriya has requested prospective candidates of the forthcoming Parliamentary polls to hand in their assets declaration forms along with their nominations.An Elections Dept official said that assets declaration could be handed over within three months, but the EC has requested that presenting them along with their nominations would set a good [...]
Sarath de Abrew case: CID to file report in court
The Criminal Investigations Department (CID) on Tuesday will file a report in the Mountt Lavinia Magistrate courts on the progress of the investigations on the allegations that Supreme Court Judge Justice Sarath de Abrew assaulted a domestic at his residence, Police Media Spokesperson ASP Ruwan Gunasekara told the Sunday Times. He said that the CID [...]
Hikes in SLPA’s daily, monthly and annual entry permit fees
The Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) this week implemented a significant increase in its daily, monthly and annual entry permit fees, effective Wednesday (1). The changes included a Rs 2,250 increase in the annual Individual Pass rates and a Rs 425 increase in the monthly Individual Pass rates, while the daily fees increased by Rs 15. [...]
Steadily rising US$ hits Lanka’s consumer where it hurts
The spiraling exchange rate of the US$ for the past several months is causing much concern among Sri Lanka’s importers hard hit by its rise. Importers of food items, building materials and agricultural products said that the present trend has dampened sales as their cost has risen due to the escalating dollar. Last week, the dollar [...]
Retired postmasters wanted to clear backlog at Central Mail Exchange
The Postal Dept is recruiting retired Post Masters residing in Colombo to clear an unexpected volume of mail reaching the Central Mail Exchange (CME) daily due to public exams, university entrance and school admissions, a senior official said. Post Master General Rohana Abeyratna told the Sunday Times, “Last week we had a huge amount of [...]
Sajin Vaas can be indicted for misuse of State property: CID
The Criminal Investigations Division (CID) has reported to courts that action could be filed against former MP Sajin Vaas Gunawardena again for misuse of State property. The CID in a report filed in courts said they had recorded statements of 30 persons related to their investigation. The CID arrested Mr Gunawardena on May 11, on charges [...]
Promise unfulfilled
Despite promises that problems of the workers would be resolved soon after the presidential election earlier this year, little has been done. Hundreds of workers this week took to the streets demanding that workers hired by state institutions should be made permanent. Pic by Indika Handuwala.
Clarence Wijewardena’s widow loses case for copyrights to his compositions
In a hotly contested case over the rights of the well known musician, the late Clarence Wijewardena, the Western Province, Commercial High Court Judge, this week dismissed a case filed by his widow and daughter seeking a declaration that they are entitled to the economic and moral rights in respect of the lyrics, music composition [...]
Improper conduct of Law College 2014 final exam, claim students
A group of students from the Sri Lanka Law College alleged ‘discrepancies and irregularities’ in the conduct of the College’s final year exam in October 2014, saying the authorities failed to afford them justice. The allegations surfaced after the results of the exam in January were released, with the aggrieved students claiming that the manner in [...]
NMRA starts work, drug prices to be slashed by upto 50 percent
Some four decades after transnational drug corporations killed Prof. Senaka Bibile’s essential medicines concept, another silent revolution took place last Thursday when the members of the National Medicines Regulatory Authority (NMRA) were sworn in by Health Minister Rajitha Senaratne. The NMRA headed by Prof. Lal Jayakody – head of the Department of Pharmacology at the [...]
Drug busting: Major joint sea op reveals nothing, but success on other fronts
In a 48-hour-long mission starting June 30, 100 law enforcement officers battled the rough seas off the coast of Kerawalapitiya. Their mission: To find a suspected consignment of heroin on board a vessel carrying liquid petrolium gas (LPG) to a local distributer. Officers from the Police Narcotics Bureau (PNB), the coast guard, Sri Lanka Customs, [...]
Fisheries harbours in murky waters
Payments on a multi-million rupee consultancy for conducting feasibility studies and designing fisheries harbours in Silawathura, Gurunagar and Gandara have been suspended pending a review, officials said. The assignment was awarded last year to Power Asia Consultants which, according to its website, was incorporated in 2014. The company has estimated each harbour to cost around [...]
Helitours hit more storm clouds over insurance and military call signsBy Namini Wijedasa
Helitours, the Air Force’s domestic passenger carrier, could have been giving indemnity forms to paying customers for several reasons —including the fact that it often flew them on a Harbin Y-12 aircraft not cleared to transport civilians, well-placed aviation sources said. Another reason could be that insurance policies taken out on any of the company’s [...]
‘March 12 Movement’ grand finale tomorrow at Viharamahadevi Park
The ‘March 12 Movement’, a mission to elect clean and corruption-free politicians to Parliament, will conclude tomorrow at the Viharamahadevi Park, after its 10-day programme around the country. The Movement, to obtain 1 million signatures from the public, in a bid to encourage political parties to avoid giving nominations to corrupt individuals, was initiated by [...]
Nominations for Parliamentary polls from tomorrow, as EC assumes pole position
The Nomination period for the August 17 Parliamentary election will commence tomorrow, Monday, July 6 and end on Monday, July 13, Elections Dept officials said. Returning Officers and Assistant Returning Officers appointed to the 22 Electoral Districts were briefed by Elections Commissioner Mahinda Deshapriya this week on the procedure to be followed when accepting or rejecting [...]
Election related violence even before Nominations: Polls Monitors
Election Monitoring groups say reports of sporadic incidents of Election Related Violence (ERV) are reaching them even before nominations open for the August 17 general election.Campaign for Free and Fair Elections (CaFFE) said the incidents were reported from Anuradhapura, Kurunegala, Mahiyanganaya, Weligama and Ratnapura. The most serious incident reported so far has been the murder [...]
Monitors give voters score card
“Score cards” that voters could use to evaluate candidates are being handed out by election monitors who are emphasising the responsibility of being discerning and knowledgeable voters. “We have designed a ‘Score Card’ where a person can evaluate the candidate that they prefer to see if he or she is an apt leader. They can [...]
Where there’s youth there’s hope in politics
Parties are hunting for young candidates in a bid to attract the youth vote as well as to root out undesirable contenders. Harshana Rajakaruna, member of the Western Provincial Council (WPC) and son of former MP Sarathchandra Rajakaruna has applied to contest from the Gampaha district on the United National Party (UNP) ticket.“The upcoming election [...]
Outrage over putting votes ahead of students’ future
The decision to delay the G.C.E Advanced Level (A/L) examinations because of the parliamentary elections has drawn angry reactions from students, teachers and parents. They say the examination should have gone ahead as scheduled on August 4 and the elections delayed by a week. The exam timetable had been prepared after months of consultation in order [...]
Ramazan cutoff for pavement hawkersBy Kasun Warakapitiya
Vendors who have been given permission to carry out business activities on selected streets in Pettah, Colombo will be removed after the end of the Ramazan festival, the Colombo Municipal Commission (CMC) said. The decision by the Mayor of Colombo, M.J.M. Muzamil, to allow pavement hawkers to return to the streets sparked a row, with [...]
Motor Traffic Department applies brakes on illegal vehicle assembly points
Police are cracking down on illicit vehicle assembly points around the country after the Department of Motor Traffic received information of such assembly points, a senior official from the Department told the Sunday Times. The department has granted approval to only seven companies to assemble and distribute vehicles in the country. However the department has [...]
Many ways to fix a meter but the end could be near
Electronic meters will be mandatory for all three-wheelers shortly and steps will be taken to ensure they are maintained to the required standard given the numerous frauds being perpetrated. None of the meters currently in use have been approved by the Measurements Units Standards and Service Department (MUSSD) because there is no means of verifying [...]
Grand garbage plan creates stink in Rathgama
The carbonic fertiliser manufacturing project begun by the Central Environmental Authority (CEA) in the Monrovia Estate in Rathgama has become a blight on the area with epidemic swarms of flies and mosquitoes bringing illness and distress to local villagers. Diarrhoea and vomiting have become common in the area, and one former worker at the project [...]
Flu cases on way down
The Health Ministry said the seasonal influenza that had become an epidemic in recent months, claiming 44 lives, is subsiding and that patients reporting to hospital with the flu symptoms have decreased. The Epidemiology Unit (EU) of the Health Ministry said that although four more deaths were reported last week – and one is a [...]
SGD threatens islandwide strike if demands are not met
The Society of Government Dispensers (SGD) threatened to launch an islandwide strike on Wednesday if the Government fails to meet them, said SGD President Udeni Dassanayake. The SGD went on a four-day islandwide strike starting June 29, demanding a Rs 3,000 duty allowance, payment of overtime (OT), increase of call allowance and payment of risk [...]
CMC takes Cinnamon Grand to court for serving contaminated food
The Colombo Municipal Council (CMC) has filed legal action in the Colombo Magistrate Court, against the Cinnamon Grand Hotel for having served contaminated food at a dinner to mark Queen Elizabeth’s 87th birthday. This follows the revelation that food served on June 19 at the 5-star hotel to around 400 guests, had been contaminated with E.coli [...]
Is nothing sacred in our country?
Treasure hunting has been rampant in the recent months with even some of the well-known and historic temples not being spared. In one case reported to police this week, the famous Thotagamuwa Rajamaha Viharaya in the Meetiyagoda police area in Galle was robbed. Venerable Thotagamuwe Sri Rahula Thero -a literary giant who authored such famous literary [...]
Provincial journalist receives death threats
Provincial journalist Augustine Fernando has received death threats for exposing the activities of some individuals illegally charging parking fees on Weavers Road in Chilaw. Residents living down Weavers Road in Chilaw complain that certain persons are using the road as an illicit parking lot for visitors to the District General Hospital. They added that they [...]
Ancient tradition revived: Acts of Appointment to be presented to Mahanayake and two Anu Nayakas
The 702-year-old Asgiriya Maha Viharaya will witness an event of great significance when a Mahanayake and two Anu-Nayake’s of the same Maha Viharaya will be presented with their Acts of Appointment tomorrow by President Maithripala Sirisena. The ceremony will be held at the historic Audience Hall in Kandy. On this day another historic tradition that [...]
The folly of our citizenry
Not so long ago, the middle classes of this country considered the masses living in the villages to be, broadly speaking, uneducated and naive. This belief was bolstered by the fact that they were easily gulled by politicians who repeatedly deceived them with promises that were never fulfilled; and the masses never seemed to learn [...]
President vows to protect Jan 8 revolution
President Maithripala Sirisena yesterday declared that he would not allow family rule to prevail and reverse the achievements gained through the victory at the January 8 presidential election. He gave this assurance speaking at a public event to mark the laying of the foundation stone for the next phase of the Southern Expressway from Godagama in [...]