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Home » NewsDummy traffic cops to curb speeding
With road accident casualty figures rising to their highest levels, Police are using novel methods to curb the trend. On the Colombo-Puttalam Road, life-size dummies resembling traffic police officers with speed guns in hand have been placed at various points. Even the dummy faces resemble traffic police officers serving in the area. But don’t take [...]
New York Times exposé on Rajapaksa: FCID seeks Police Chief’s advice
The Financial Crimes Investigation Division (FCID) will seek a directive from Police Chief Pujith Jayasundara over this week’s New York Times report that alleged former President Mahinda Rajapaksa received funds from China for his January 2015 election campaign. This follows a complaint the FCID received from UNP Parliamentarian Ranjan Ramanayake over the contents of the [...]
Fuel supplies will be cut : CPC warns SriLankan
The country’s national carrier SriLankan Airlines will lose its fuel supplies from Wednesday if it does not pay up a billion rupees before the deadline, the state owned Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) has warned. The amount, from an outstanding Rs 14 billion, is needed by the CPC which is locked in another payment controversy with [...]
Burton-Taylor yacht seized in Colombo
‘M.Y. Kalizma’, the yacht gifted by actor Richard Burton to his wife and actress Elizabeth Taylor in 1967, has been seized in the Colombo Port by an insurance company that spent nearly US$ 100,000 to pay the crew who had been abandoned by the vessel owner since September last year. Action was filed by the [...]
Govt to rescue hundreds of families from micro-finance debt trap
The Government has decided to write off more than Rs. 1 billion worth of micro-credit loans given by state and private financial institutions in the Northern, Eastern and North Central Provinces. State Finance Minister Eran Wickramaratne told the Sunday Times the Government intervention was to ease the hardships caused to families which had been severely [...]
Big rise in air accident compensation
Compensation for accidents involving international flights will rise significantly once Parliament passes a new bill paving the way for Sri Lanka to accede to the Montreal Convention of 1999. The ‘Carriage by Air’ Bill, once passed, will give effect to the Convention for the Unification of Certain Rules for International Carriage by Air, otherwise known [...]
Kerawalapitiya power plant project delayed by blatant tender manipulations
For 18 months, haggling by powerful parties backed by political interests has held up an urgent electricity project that should have been up and running by January next year. The well-publicised showdown over the 300mw Kerawalapitiya power plant offers an insight into how tender processes in Sri Lanka, even when they are open competitive bids, [...]
Protests in north over sexual abuse and killing of six-year-old
Police have arrested three suspects this week over the murder and sexual abuse of a six-year-old girl in Kaatupulam, a remote village in Chulipuram, Jaffna. The victim Sivaneswaran Rejina was found dead in a domestic well close to her home on Monday. Mallakam magistrate A. Aanatharajah remanded all three suspects, whose ages range from 17 [...]
Rosy says no to proposed new meeting hall for CMC members
The Colombo Municipal Council has turned down a proposal to build a new meeting hall for members. Mayor Rosy Senanayake at last week’s meeting said that the proposal to build a new meeting hall for the 119 councillors had been opposed by many members. “Spending Rs 220 million on a new meeting hall is too [...]
Silumina editor passes away
Chamara Lakshan Kumara, editor of Lake House group publications Silumina and Resa, passed away last evening. He was 39. Mr. Kumara fell ill while on an outstation assignment. His funeral arrangements will be notified later.
Sunday Times photojournalist makes final journey
Sunday Times photojournalist Athula Devapriya passed away on Tuesday following a brief lllness. He was 54. Mr. Devapriya served the Sunday Times for more than 20 years covering news, features and sports events. His funeral took place on Wednesday at Wethara, Polgasowita.
New Bill recognises right to reparations and to commemorate the dead
The newly gazetted Office for Reparations Bill will provide for “individual reparations” as well as “collective reparations”, which will include monetary payment or material benefits to aggrieved persons, while recognising means of remembrance of deceased persons, including memorials. The Bill to replace the Rehabilitation of Persons, Properties & Industries Authority Act 1987 has been approved [...]
2015 patient’s death: DGHS yet to receive second probe report
The Health Services Director General (DGHS) is yet to receive the report of the second investigation into the death of a patient three years ago at a private hospital in Colombo. A fresh, impartial and transparent probe was called by the Attorney General’s Department, following concerns over the previous investigation. DGHS Dr. Anil Jaasinghe told [...]
New Village Development Authority for plantation region
The Government will establish a New Village Development Authority for the plantation region, with the objective of ensuring inclusion of the plantation community in the designated areas, into the social mainstream through social, economic, cultural and infrastructure development, as well as empower them socially and economically to enable them to contribute to the national development [...]
New whetting procedure for Samurdhi beneficiaries to prevent political bias
New applications for the Samurdhi subsidy programme will be evaluated by a team under the respective Divisional Secretaries in order to minimise allegations of political bias, the Department of Samurdhi Development states. Jinasiri Dadallage, the Department’s Director General, said the move would ensure that a local Samurdhi officer would not be able to arbitrarily chose [...]
Widowed mother (36) of 2 receives house
Keys of the first house built under the ‘Hisata Sevanak’ Programme, initiated by the Udangawa Village Development Society (UVDS) in the Katana Divisional Secretatriat, were handed over to 36-year-old widowed mother of 2 schoolchildren, Shanthi Pradeepika, by Western Provincial Counsillor Lalith Wanigaratne, at a simple ceremony last week. Pic by K.L. Richard Walter Perera
Mahabodhi India delegation on Poson tour to Sri Lanka
A delegation of Buddhists from the Maha Bodhi Society of India (MBSI) visited Sri Lanka during the recent Poson season at the invitation of the Anagarika Dharmapala Trust. The delegation of more than fifty governing body members and their families was led by MBSI President Passang Dorji, a former Speaker of the Bhutan Parliament and [...]
After months of haggling, National Audit Bill debate on Thursday
The National Audit Bill will be taken up for debate in Parliament on Thursday, following months of haggling. The debate over the Bill, presented in Parliament in April and scheduled for debate in May, was postponed over continued disagreement between Sri Lanka Administrative Service (SLAS) officials and the Auditor General (AG), with the former arguing [...]
200 gang murders and counting, cops seek public help
Law enforcement officers are asking people not to give shelter to suspected criminals, and to watch out for unfamiliar faces in their localities. People fearful of an increase in organised crime feel that the State, the guardian of the rights of individuals, is failing to ensure peace, order, and security. Police have begun to seek [...]
Commercialisation making life unbearable for Colombo residents
The rapid change in Colombo’s skyline and proliferation of restaurants, offices and other commercial buildings in residential areas in the city, have become a nuisance to long-term residents in the country’s commercial capital. Noise and dust pollution, parking issues, blocked sewers and increased traffic on byroads are some of the problems that residents in the [...]
Micro-finance wolves strike again with two more debtor suicides
In the Alayadivembu area, 22km from Ampara town, two members of young families committed suicide this month; they were in debt over small loans obtained from the micro finance credit companies operating in the Eastern Province. One victim, a 21-year-old mother of two, ended her life on Monday as she could no longer bear her [...]
Mail services back to normal, but postal unions deliver fresh warning
Although the postal unions’16-day island-wide strike has temporarily come to an end, issues faced by the Postal Department are far from resolved, with unions threatening to resume the strike after July 7 if the authorities fail to meet their demands. The unions say they are awaiting a positive outcome from the ongoing talks between the [...]
Local retailers under threat by foreign invasion
Sri Lanka’s retail traders are voicing their anger over foreigners setting up retail shops here, as they see the space once exclusively available to them is being increasingly occupied by whom they call ‘invaders’. The National Business Front (NBF), an incipient group with around ten big time local retail traders, said that allowing foreigners to [...]
Destruction visits Mahaweli flood plains park
Large scale destruction is happening in the Mahaweli Flood Plains National Park that stretches from Trincomalee to Polonnaruwa. It is a feeding ground of elephants and also a haven for migratory birds, which are seen in the marshes. There are dozens of villus in the park that retain the Mahaweli flood water. Endemic freshwater fish [...]
The adventures of Bom, Chippy, Snooky and co.
With interest in books high this week with the Big Bad Wolf book sale reaching Sri Lanka, a second time, it seems fitting that names for six tiny spiders newly discovered in this country come from the books of the famous children’s writer, Enid Blyton. These goblin spiders, minute six-eyed creatures living in leaf litter, [...]
No sites, no drivers, no will to reform – the garbage problem mounts
Piles of garbage left uncollected for days on the roadside, smoky fumes from burning rubbish, vehicles being forced to drive over the roadside dumps – these are common sights in Colombo and its outskirts. Waste disposal has been plagued by a string of problems including collection, eventual disposal, lack of equipment, shortage of staff and [...]
Colonel Ratnapriya Bandu and the lessons of reconciliation
The story of Colonel Ratnapriya Bandu of the Civil Security Dept and his work with the rehabilitated LTTE cadres in Vishvamadu, has not received adequate attention of the media and of the Government. What is most important is how much exposure the Sinhala and Tamil media gave the farewell accorded to this Officer so that, [...]
Pick of the Pix
Pix by M.A.Pushpa Kumara, Indika Handuwala, Amila Gamage, Shelton Hettiarachchi, and Jayarathna Wickramarachchi
Traditional mat weavers in the lurch
Traditional weavers of reed mats (pan peduru) and handicrafts in Rambawewa, Nawagaththegama, despite having been engaged in the cottage industry for generations, are facing difficulties in continuing their occupation. The problem, they say, is a lack of regular buyers. Despite having been engaged in reed mat weaving for generations, they do not have regular buyers [...]
Abandoned buildings disfiguring the city
Despite Colombo being overcrowded with hardly any room for new construction, the city has many buildings which lie disused, neglected and dilapidated which dot the city landscape, many in the heart of the city itself. Some of these buildings, date back to over a century, as for example the old Colombo Kachcheri building. Destroyed by [...]
Bad weather blamed for poor harvest, high prices of upcountry veggies
The prices of upcountry vegetables produced in Nuwara Eliya and surrounding areas have skyrocketed. Carrots, leeks, beets, cabbage, broccoli and radish are being sold at high prices not just in Nuwara Eliya town, but also in Kandy and Colombo. In Nuwara Eliya town, carrots and leaks are being sold at Rs.350. The supply of cabbage, [...]