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Home » NewsWindy Wednesday: 13 killed, 100,000 affected
At least 13 people were killed, more than 60 injured and about 100,000 people affected when one of the heaviest rains and gusty winds hit Sri Lanka from Wednesday, the Disaster Management Centre said yesterday. DMC Deputy Director Pradeep Kodippili told the Sunday Times that upto yesterday about 25,811 houses had been damaged, with 694 [...]
Rs. 3.5 billion for local polls, heavy cost for training
Local polls in February next year, for the first time under a new mixed electoral system, will cost Rs 3.5 billion, a senior elections official said yesterday. Additional Commissioner M.M. Mohamed told the Sunday Times the costs would cover programmes to educate voters on the new system. Sixty percent of the members would be elected [...]
NHSL heart operations stopped, theatre conditions dangerous
All heart operations at the National Hospital of Sri Lanka, except some emergency cases, came to a halt on Friday, December 1. The NHSL’s five cardiothoracic surgeons put down their scalpels as the conditions in the cardiothoracic operating theatres (OTs) are deemed to be unsuitable for open heart surgery, with fears of patients acquiring infections [...]
Green port city, with solar and wind power
With the aim of building a green port city with solar and wind power, the Ministry of Megapolis and Western Development has commissioned a special Social Environment Impact Assessment Report, an official said. The decision was made after a team of officials from the Ministry and other government institutions linked to the Port City project [...]
Excise Dept. in high spirits: Hard liquor production soars
Hard liquor production in Sri Lanka rose last year by 7.1 percent, with the Excise Department recording an increase of 28.2 percent in revenue collection on hard liquor, a new report shows. By contrast, beer production dropped by 58 percent, causing a decrease of 37.7 percent in excise income from that sector, states the 2016 [...]
Aloysius calls: Ajith Perera’s complaint referred to Privileges Committee
The privilege issue raised by Power and Energy Deputy Minister Ajith Perera following reports that he had telephone conversations with businessmen Arjun Aloysius has been referred to the Privileges Committee of Parliament. The motion to refer the matter to the Privileges Committee was moved by House Leader Lakshman Kiriella on Monday. The motion was based [...]
458 employees shut out of Hambantota port; Labour Minister slams port company
The Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) has obtained a court order to prevent workers of the Hambantota Port from entering its premises without prior approval, blocking the access road and impeding the work of the port. The petition was filed in the Hambantota District Court against the Magampura Port Workers’ Union (MPWU), the union Secretary [...]
SLNavy nets 20 Indian fishermen, 2 trawlers poaching in SL waters
Twenty Indian fishermen poaching in Sri Lanka’s territorial waters, along with 2 fishing trawlers, were apprehended by the Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) on Friday night (1). “The arrests were made north of Kovilan Point and Point Pedro by 2 SLN Fast Attack Craft attached to Northern Naval Command,” the SLN stated. One of the seized [...]
Umbrellas to the rescue
With heavy rains being experienced throughout the country from Wednesday, umbrellas have become important items on office workers’ check lists, as this picture taken at the overhead bridge at Fort yesterday shows. Pic by Amila Gamage
SL Army got only half the promised sum for scrap metal of Farah III
A local bidder who won a contract to dismantle Farah III–the Jordanian-registered vessel captured by the LTTE in 2006–for scrap metal paid the Sri Lanka Army just half the promised fee before abandoning the job, the 2016 Annual Report of the Auditor General says. The rusting vessel was anchored off the Mullaitivu coast since the [...]
CEA-Police raids on polyethylene factories to ensure compliance
The Central Environment Authority (CEA) will start raids on the polythene industry to ensure compliance on its manufacture, as per government specifications, this week. Initially, the raids will be on large scale manufacturers of polythene, to implement the gazette notification of September 2017. The directive was for all polythene manufacturers to produce Low Density Polyethylene [...]
Lack of education faculties means poor quality teachers
Lack of Faculties of Education (FoE) in State Universities for Degree level training of Teachers has resulted in poor quality Teachers recruited into State schools, reveals a study by the Institute of Policy Studies (IPS). The study titled “School level bottlenecks in improving GCE Ordinary Level (O/L) performance rates in Sri Lanka”, by researchers Ashani [...]
Examination centres to be fumigated before O/ Levels begin on Dec. 12
The Health Ministry will be fumigating over 5116 examination centres in schools in view of the Ordinary Level Examinations starting on December 12. National Dengue Control Unit Consultant community Physician Dr. Preshila Samaraweera said the decision was taken in view of the prevailing rains which can increase the number of mosquito breeding sites that could [...]
One depression gone, but another on the way
Met Dept. says its course being tracked and public will be duly warned Terms such as storm, cyclone should not be used loosely to describe what hit the country on Wednesday, they say Disaster Management Minister, Dept. Officials assert that adequate warnings were given of changing weather patterns from Tuesday onwards This week’s deep atmospheric [...]
‘Treetise’ to prevent Colombo’s shade from casting a shadow
The winds that buffeted the Western Province this week, not only brought down hoardings, walls and roofs, but also felled trees which added to the damage. Some trees were uprooted while others snapped. Was this a disaster waiting to happen, and will it occur again? The Colombo Municipal Council’s (CMC) Tree Maintenance Dept (TMD) tasked [...]
Nobody can predict a natural disaster, asserts world-famous Oceanographer
Nobody, simply nobody, can predict any natural disaster including a tsunami or an earthquake! But there is ample time to be prepared as there are effective warning systems in place. This is the categorical assertion of world-famous Oceanographer, Prof. Charitha Pattiaratchi, in reaction to fear and terror spread by a prediction originating in India that [...]
Fishermen caught between livelihood needs and the angry sea
Why didn’t the Dodanduwa fisheries harbour receive a weather warning from the Meteorological Department or the Department of Fisheries before strong winds battered the country on Wednesday night? The bodies of eight fishermen, who went out in their mechanized “vallams” that fateful evening, have washed ashore after the disaster. Four were from Dodanduwa and four [...]
President’s Korea visit takes ties to next level
Both, Sri Lankan and South Korean flags fluttered on the way to the ‘Blue House’, also known as ‘Cheong Wa Dae’ — literally, the pavilion of blue tiles — in Seoul on Wednesday, as President Maithripala Sirisena’s motorcade was escorted through the streets last Wednesday. A visiting media team after going through tight security procedures [...]
The ignoble end of an iconic tusker
It took days of searching by Wildlife Department officials to locate the carcass of the much loved tusker ‘Galgamuwe Dalaputtuwa’ or ‘Loku Atha’ whose decomposed body was found on Wednesday. The tusker had two bullet wounds, one on its head and another in the stomach, when it was found near Horowewa at Kahalla Palle-Kalle sanctuary. [...]
Another tusker killed
The police last Wednesday, produced a suspect at the Puttalam Magistrate Court over an incident where a tusker was found dead near the Thabowe tank in Karuwelagaswewa area. A post mortem performed on the cadaver by the Puttalam Wild Life Veterinary Surgeon, Dr. Chandana Jayasinghe said a bullet had pierced the elephant’s liver causing internal [...]
Probe centres on illegal elephant trade after Kataragama detection
The recent detection of a captive baby elephant in Kataragama has raised fears that the illegal trading in elephants is raising its ugly head again after a lull of several months. According to Kataragama Police, the three-month-old calf was found in a private property on the Situlpawwa Road at Demala Thotupala, close to the Yala [...]
Dedicated teachers in village school offer night classes for O/L students
Determined that their students sitting this month’s GCE Ordinary Level examination should pass with flying colours, the principal and teachers in a Matale village school are conducting daily night classes. A teacher said the night classes were started a few years ago to assist O/L students and now it had become a tradition. About 160 [...]
Prison bars no barrier for true love
Shamila Bueque is getting ready for her wedding fixed for Thursday (December 7). She plans to drape a white sari in Kandyan style along with a necklace of agate stones. Like any bride to be she is excited and anxious about the day but in her case, there is a lot more anxiety than what [...]
Tamil Nadu by-poll crucial for AIADMK
CHENNAI: The by-poll on Dec.21 at the RK Nagar assembly constituency, a Chennai suburb, is being watched with keen interest by leaders of all political parties in the country. The poll was necessitated by the Dec.5, 2016, demise of former Chief Minister (CM) and AIADMK General Secretary J. Jayalalithaa who represented this constituency in the [...]
Urgent Government action needed to arrest hate speech
One of the biggest failures of the previous Government was its inability to convert the opportunity created by the end of the armed conflict to rebuild the trust between the Sinhala and Tamil communities. What was worse since around 2012 a new front was opened up with the Muslim community being targeted by groups like [...]
Pick of the Pix
Pix by Amila Gamage, M.A.Pushpa Kumara, Sameera Weerasekera, Priyantha Wickramarachchi and Thusitha K de Silva
Weather, carelessness and accidents
In addition to the adverse weather conditions which has wreaked havoc in the country’s south, we also witnessed several major accidents including a vehicle pile-up not usual in the country. At Welgama in the Matara district a van ran off the road on Wednesday causing a pile-up of four 3-wheelers, six motor cycles crashing into [...]
Relatives remember war dead in North at Maveerar Naal events
Commemoration ceremonies to remember those who died in the 30-year separatist war were held in the North on November 27, the day on which the defeated Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) marked its annual Maveerar Naal or Mahaviru Day, but police said the events passed without any major incidents. In the North, thousands of [...]
Solve burning issues before enacting Constitution: Malwatte Anunayake
The Malwatta Chapter Anunayake Thera, the Venerable Dimilkumbure Vimalbuddhi, has questioned the government’s efforts to bring in constitutional reforms when it has failed to enact the amendments to the Buddhist Temporalities Act. Speaking at the Keppettipola Commemoration ceremony held this week, he said there were many burning issues which needed to be sorted out before [...]
Kandy residents say shopping complex will add to congestion
Plans to construct a six storey shopping complex at the Katukelle junction close to Kandy town has raised concern among residents that it will add to the congestion in the area. They say the project has been undertaken without a proper feasibility study on how such a big structure would impact the Kandy town which [...]