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| Farmers
threaten to bring burnt paddy to Parliament Farmer representatives told The Sunday Times that despite various assurances from state organisations, including the Co-operatives, the Samurdhi Authority and the Mahaweli Authority, only about two per cent of the paddy harvest had been purchased from the area. They said with the Yala harvest coming in, there was again no guarantee that their stocks would be purchased, creating a crisis situation for the farmers. If the government failed to purchase the paddy at Rs. 13.50 per kilogram, they would be forced to sell the paddy at about Rs. eight per kilogram to the private sector, they claimed. 'If the government does not purchase the paddy, we will bring ashes of the straw and paddy to Parliament', a spokesman for the organisation said. According to Agricultural Ministry statistics, a 1.2 million metric ton harvest is expected for the Yala season. During the Maha season a 1.9 million metric ton harvest was recorded, but only 37,000 metric tons had been purchased by the state. Meanwhile, Opposition Leader Mahinda Rajapakse said the government had already reduced the guaranteed price of a kilogram of paddy by 50 cents. He said it was the responsibility of the government to ensure that the paddy was purchased since most of the farmers had obtained loans for their paddy cultivation. Agriculture Minister S.B. Dissanayake, addressing the weekly Cabinet news conference said all necessary arrangements had been made to purchase the paddy at the guaranteed price. But reports from the North Central Province and other paddy cultivating areas indicate that the farmers were not happy with the arrangements made to purchase their paddy. Unions
threaten further action
' We are against this move because several employees will lose their jobs. The Government says that there will be no retrenchment of staff but we have got information that it will take place' he said. Meanwhile State Transport Minister Upali Piyasoma said on Friday that the union action was a sabotage attempt and not a strike. " The so-called strike was carried out by around 1000 employees. There was no major problem as other officers managed to carry out the operations. However, disruption of signals on the coast line was one problem" he said. Residential-cum-commercial
complex at Wellawatte Mills site Shing Kwan Group, the major shareholder of Overseas Realty (Ceylon) Ltd., which owns the twin towers signed the joint venture agreement running into millions of rupees with the Bank of Ceylon to develop the spinning mills site into a residential-cum-commercial complex. This is said to be one of the biggest BOI projects. The 14 acre land is to be developed to provide middle and high income housing which will account for 75% of the project while the remaining 25% will provide for retail, commercial and entertainment facilities. The project would comprise a shopping and cinema complex in addition to other entertainment facilities. However Senior Deputy General Manager Remaz Ghouse ruled out the construction of a cinema complex. He said decisions were yet to be made on the entertainment and commercial aspect. A statement
from Overseas Realty said that preliminary plans projected that
development at the two million sq. ft. site would cost an estimated
US $ 150 million. The Wellawatte Spinning and Weaving Mills, the largest state owned fabric trade was closed down more than fifteen years ago after its operations were affected owing to the open economic policy. The Shing Kwan Group which will manage the development of this project expects this venture to be another landmark development in Sri Lanka. Overseas Realty of Singapore's Shing Kwan Group holds and manages investments on behalf of S P Tao, his family and his investment partners. |
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