Mr. Cooray said President Chandrika Kumaratunga had expressed serious concern over the crisis when the chief ministers took up the matter with her. He said the chief ministers had sought a meeting with the Prime Minister but still no appointment had been given.

North Central Province Chief Minister Bertie Premalal Dissanayake claimed that 657 million rupees had been slashed from the development budget of the province.

He said he believed that the cuts in funds were part of a government plan to buckle the administration in PA-run provincial councils.

Mr. Dissanayake said that his administration was under pressure from Treasury officials to cut down staff in institutions coming under the councils.

He said the zero budget concept introduced by the Finance Ministry to minimize wastage and avoid duplication of work either by the provincial council or the Central government was not logical. "The setting up of regional development ministries whose functions overlapped those of the provincial councils belied this concept."

Uva Chief Minister A. M. Buddhadasa said 60 percent of the budgetary allocations to the council had been slashed and he feared there would not be adequate funds to pay salaries of the staff by next month. He said he believed that the money was being diverted to rehabilitate the war-torn Northeastern Province.

Mr. Buddhadasa said the financial crisis had prompted the council to stop recruiting new staff and this had badly affected the health sector.

"The Moneragala Hospital's intensive care unit, the children's ward and the Bhikku ward had to be closed because the council was not in a position to recruit nurses to fill the vacancies," he said.

Mr. Buddhadasa also charged that many of the council's development projects had been taken over by the Regional Development Ministry, thus undermining of the whole system of devolution of power under the 13th amendment.

Southern Province Chief Minister H.G. Sirisena said that if the government continued to throttle the PA-controlled provincial councils, very soon there would not be any functioning provincial councils.

Minister calls for probe on rails
Transport Minister Tilak Marapana has directed the General Manager of Railways to investigate the railway guards and crew members allegedly accumulating overtime and batta payments said to be costing the country millions of rupees.

"If this is happening the Department should take responsibility," Minister Marapana is reported to have said at the Station Masters Union AGM on Tuesday.

The Transport Minister calling for this investigation cited a report published in The Sunday Times last week, which stated that Railway guards and crew members are earning thousands on overtime payments each year, while the Railway Department is losing millions.

It further stated that these guards and crew members were working 500 to 600 hours of over time per month in addition to batta and other allowances under cover of outdated regulations and misinterpreting their content.

Don't withdraw troops, says Sinhala MPs' group
By Shelani Perera
Sinhala parliamentarians have called on the President and the Prime Minister not to withdraw troops from the so-called Sinhala border village.

Their call comes amidst protests from the Sinhalese living in the border villages against troop withdrawal in terms of the government's ceasefire agreement with the LTTE.
In Panama on Friday, villagers blocked roads and prevented troops from vacating schools and places of worship.

The Sinhala MPs' Front, which was formed to protect the rights of the Sinhala people living in the North and East, in a letter to President Chandrika Kumaratunga and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe says that the villagers will become vulnerable to LTTE attacks if the troops were withdrawn.

Parliamentarian Dinesh Gunewardene told The Sunday Times that the Front would use all force to stop the withdrawal of troops from Sinhala villages in the east and urge the Government to continue to provide security to people living in the border villages.
Meanwhile the Front is formulating a list of LTTE human rights violations in the past few months to be handed over to a visiting Amnesty International team.

Tinted glass back again
The Government will soon lift the restrictions on the use of tinted glasses on vehicles, the Commissioner of Registration of Motor Vehicles said yesterday.

Commissioner E. Jinadasa said a gazette notification in this connection would be issued shortly after the legal draftsman gave approval for the new regulations.

At present tinted vehicles are not permitted on the roads and those who violate the rule are fined.

"With the peace process, we feel that we could introduce a normal tint," he said.
Mr. Jinadasa said there were practical problems faced by vehicle owners due to the existing law, as most often the vehicles arrive with tinted glasses. "There is a delay to register vehicles as the owners have to change the glasses," he said.

TNA leaders to meet Ranil
Tamil National Alliance leaders will meet Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe next week to finalise the composition of a committee that will monitor troop withdrawals from places of worship and schools in the north and the east.

At the TNA leaders' last meeting with the Prime Minister, a decision was taken to set up a committee comprising TNA representatives from each district and officials from the Defence Ministry and the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission.

Although it was agreed at that meeting that the committee would go into operation within the next two weeks, the committee is yet to be set up.

TULF Parliamentarian V. Anandasangaree told The Sunday Times the Tamil parties had sent the names to the Defence Ministry last week, but the Defence Ministry had still not appointed the other members of the committee.

He said the committee should be set up without delay as the dispute over troop withdrawal was one of the thorniest issues in the ceasefire agreement.

Mr. Anandasangaree also said the TNA delegation would also take up the current tension in the Northeast at their meeting with the Prime Minister.

Esala Perahera from July 14
All arrangements are being made to successfully conduct this year's Esala Perahera in Kandy from July 14 to 24, organisers said.

They said the Kumbal Perahera would be held from July 14 to 18, while the Randoli Perahera would begin on June 19 and end on June 23. The festival will end with the day Perahera on June 24.

A police force of 6,000 and Army personnel would be deployed to provide security and control the large crowd, the organisers said.

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