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The country’s largest prison complex will be established in Millewa in Horana.

This will pave the way for a mixed development project on the 42 acres that the Welikade prison is now located.

The move follows a joint recommendation to the Cabinet of Ministers by Prime MinisterMahinda Rajapaksa and Justice MinisterAli Sabry. The Premier is also Minister  of Urban Development and Housing.

The project was approved by ministers early this month. The Welikada prison that was established in 1869 during the British colonial period has 7,000 inmates and a staff of 1200. The Treasury will provide the funding of Rs 30.6 billion initially. It is to be repaid after the existing land on which the prison is in Welikade is leased out.

Among the reasons given by Premier Rajapaksa and Minister Sabry for the new prisons are:

• The existing capacity at Welikade has been exceeded due to the rise in crime by over 355per cent. There are no basic facilities.

• The density of population around the prisons consists of state- and privately-owned building of low-income groups. Hence, it is not possible to extend the areas.
• A study has been carried out by the Archaeological Department. They have recommended the retention of some buildings for conservation purposes.
• The Justice Ministry and the Urban Development Authority have drawn up plans to shift the prisons to Millewa and to re-locate the Prisons Department Headquarters to Battaramulla.
• The Urban Development Authority will provide 200 acres of land from the rubber estate at Millewato the Prisons Department on a freehold basis. They will also transfer one acre of land from Battaramulla for the Prisons Department headquarters.
• A further ten acres of land in Millewa will be released for a rehabilitation centre for minor offencers.

The Cabinet of Ministers have decided to pay compensation to the workers of Millewa estate and build 70 housing units for them.

Level 4 travel ban advisory: Strictly COVID, says US Embassy

The US State Department has updated their travel advisory banning all their nationals from visiting Sri Lanka.

The warning earlier stood at Level 3 where travellers were asked to re-consider. Now they have raised it to Level 4 which is a ban on travel to Sri Lanka.

“It is solely due to the COVID – 19 situation in Sri Lanka,” the US Embassy said in a tweet.

US educational institute projects deadly picture for SL

The Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation of the Washington University, which is among the US educational institutions monitoring the COVID-19 pandemic worldwide, has projected 14,331 deaths in Sri Lanka by September 1, this year.

They said this is based on their current projection scenario last updated on May 21, this year.

Keep your princess, Mangala tells China, we are a democracy

One time Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera has hit out at China over a reported Chinese national, described as a “Sri Lankan princess” attending Vesak celebrations at the Sri Lanka Embassy in Beijing.

He said in a tweet: “What’s this nonsense? Keep your princess to yourselves as Sri Lanka is a democracy and a republic; I thought China too ended its dynasties with the revolution in 1949. Is she tipped to be the Viceroy of the new Port City?”

The reaction was a response to another tweet from Beijing which claimed “Xu Shi Yin’e, the Lanka Princess attended the Vesak celebrations 2021 at the Embassy in Beijing on 26th May 2021. She is a 19th generation descendent of a prince from the court of King Parakramabahu VI of Kotte.”

Talks to get their own house in order first

Party insiders and well wishers of Ilankai Thamil Arasu Katchi (ITAK) are holding talks among themselves on how to ensure accountability within the party ranks firstly, as they are lately in the forefront of demanding wartime accountability.

There was much talk about how the party leader, who failed to get himself elected to Parliament during the last election, is now requesting funds from the Tamil diaspora to rebuild the party office on Martin road, Jaffna.

More importantly, the current party office is functioning from the personal residence of another party stalwart who had no knowledge of the fact that the paty leader was asking for funds to repair his own house.

Apparently, some party well wishers in Canada had already collected a decent amount and had transferred the amount. Now some senior party stalwarts are waiting for the next party meeting to discuss the matter before taking it up with the leader.

Now Sinhala omitted by Indians: Joke or unseen Indo-China turf war in SL

Not to permit the Chinese to have any one upmanship in creating faux pas’ in Sri Lanka, the Indians seem to have done one themselves.

If the Chinese were associated with putting up name boards and plaques in Mandarin, their official language, and omitting an official language of Sri Lanka, viz., Tamil in the process, the Indians have seemingly done a tit-for-tat by erecting their name board in Jaffna – omitting Sinhala.

And this is the official name board of its Consulate in Jaffna. One can partly understand if the name board was in Hindi, the official language of the Republic of India. The Indian Government is entitled to use that language. But it is only in English and Tamil, which is just one of the state languages in India.

Is this some sort of joke, or an Indo-China turf war going on in Sri Lanka, asked  a native from Jaffnapatnam. And then came his punch-line — a punch that hurts. “Is it Government policy that what it refuses to see, is not happening”.

Fan mail:  ‘If Lincoln and Obama can, why can’t I’

Social media platforms were all agog after former Northern Governor and sitting SLPP National List Parliamentarian Dr Suren Raghavan was accused of flirting with a female social media influencer by writing a letter to her on Parliament letterhead which is strictly used for official affairs.

The learned PhD Parliamentarian who comes from academic background had sent a letter to social media influencer Lochana Jayakodi this week through a mutual friend praising  her performance in a latest TV episode.

“I used to watch some of your YouTube work and suspected that you understand the daily struggles of average people in this country but never realised that you had carried a bigger pain inside. I am like you too, a long journey of pain and struggles. But I am happy where I am today.  So I am fully able to relate to you,” Dr Raghavan said while pleading with her not to hesitate to reach out and ask for any help.

After the letter was leaked on social media platforms and became a hot topic, the learned academic tried to justify it while drawing examples of world renowned leaders including former US Presidents Abraham Lincoln, Barack Obama writing such personal letters.
One reader remarked ‘’ it is too much for you to compare yourself with such leaders”.

Black-masked women corps riders roar into Jaffna

It’s not an uncommon sight to see the Army’s rider patrolling teams on the roads of Jaffna town and its suburbs. But this time it was different. This time they were women corps riders with faces masked with black cloth and armed with weapons going around the city monitoring the travel restrictions.

According to the Army, this was the first ever Quick Reaction Special Rider Team from the 7th Battalion of Women’s Corps that was established by the Security Forces in Jaffna.

They were seen warning violators of travel restrictions. A three wheeler driver was apparently taken aback when a woman rider stopped him and asked for his identity documents in the local language.

However, northern civil society activists criticised the move as a ‘show-off’ gesture by authorities and another step towards further militarisation of the region.