Minister of Construction, Engineering Services, Housing and Common Amenities Wimal Weerawansa speaking at a function to commemorate World Habitat Day said, that the changes brought on by climatic change were having a dramatic impact on Sri Lanka with the country experiencing more natural disasters during the past ten years.
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| Marking World Habitat Day on October 3 |
He added however, more research was needed to verify the claims.
The Minister charged the United Nations (UN) was expected to play a key role in giving leadership to combating climatic change.
Unfortunately he said, the UN had confined itself to celebrating World Habitat Day annually via workshops and conferences while deliberately ignoring its role of pressurizing developed countries whose harmful development policies caused irreparable damage to the earth’s environment.
He charged, the UNs actions were limited to paper without any practical application. He requested the organisation to take leadership to formulate a policy where no country in the world would be allowed to contribute to cause adverse weather conditions.
He said the Maldives was faced with the prospect of their country sinking.
In these circumstances he said, the celebration of World Habitat day with much pomp and pageantry served no purpose
According to Mr. Weerawansa, “ten years ago natural disasters were limited to certain provinces of Sri Lanka such as Kandy and Sabragamuwa due to their topography.
However today, natural disasters are no longer limited to these areas. The entire country and its populace had to face the problems brought on by climate change he said.The Minister blamed toxic emissions of developed countries for these adverse climatic changes. He claimed the emissions were caused by the production process adopted by these countries.
Rising sea levels was a result of climate change he said, and countries like Sri Lanka would have to fight for their very survival. He added islands like Java and Sumatra in Indonesia and even large cities like New York and countries like the Philippines, China and Japan were affected as well.
The Minister claimed climatologists were finding it difficult to understand changing climate patterns and were therefore unable to accurately forecast the repercussions of these changes.
He said it was important to formulate eco-friendly industrial and economic policies and “we in Sri Lanka could be happy and proud as the our Defence Secretary Mr. Gotabhaya Rajapakse who spoke earlier emphasised Sri Lanka was moving forward seeking development through eco-friendly policies and strategies.”
He claimed the incumbent government had adopted a development model which would enhance progress while preserving world heritage-type tropical forests such as the Sinharaja as well as other environmental resources.
“However by ourselves we may not succeed in efforts to protect the environment. What is needed is collective action and practical steps taken by all stakeholders. “It is imperative therefore we stop talking shop and work towards a joint strategy to implement a concrete work plan to fight the impending disaster.
New COL Index unit value before year end
By Bandula Sirimanna
Sri Lanka is to announce a new unit value for the Cost of Living (COL) index before the end of this year, which would be higher than the current Rs 65 per unit, but lower than the Rs 280 per unit worked out by the Census & Statistics Department, Finance Ministry officials said.
The Treasury is in the process of finaliszing a unit value, considering representations made by the Labour Ministry, accommodating the views of all stakeholders including workers and employers.
In July this year, the Census & Statistics Department said the latest calculation of the COL index, with 2006/2007 as the base year, found the value of each index point to be Rs 280.
The new index value will be gazetted after finalising the ongoing computing process, the officials said, declining to state at what point (between Rs 65 and Rs 280) the new unit will be fixed.
Trade unions have complained about the delay in issuing the new gazette. Labour Minister Gamini Lokuge, when asked, said the unit value of the COL index has only been gazetted twice since Independence - once when the COL Index point was valued at Rs 2, and later at Rs 65.
He added that, when the Rs 65 unit value was announced, it was accepted by all stakeholders, when the real amount (as declared by the Census Department at that time) was Rs 180.
Likewise, no trade union or political party has the right to blame the government on the delay in announcing the latest unit value of the COL Index. “We should think of the private sector employers also when taking (such) decisions,” he said, adding that private sector companies would not be able to operate, if they are expected to pay Rs 280 for each increasing unit of the index, to every employee.
CID busts sex racket involving teenagers from NE
20 already smuggled out of country; plans were underway to send 30 more
By Damith Wickremasekara
An international sex racket involving the trafficking of teenage girls from the north east was busted by the Criminal Investigations Department (CID).
Around 20 teenagers had already been smuggled out to countries in Europe and West Asia and plans were afoot to send another 30 when the racket came to light, a senior CID officer told the Sunday Times.
The breakthrough came after parents complained that their 16-year-old daughter from Trincomalee who was brought to Colombo on the promise of being sent to West Asia for employment had gone missing.
The CID said the girl was initially held in Dehiwala and later transferred to a location in Maligawatte where she had been sexually abused.
The CID had raided the hideout at Maligawatte and detected the passports of about 30 teenage girls with their ages altered to make them eligible to work abroad.
The CID said four people involved in the racket had been taken into custody, adding that parents particularly in the north east should be alert to such rackets where underage children are offered employment overseas.
Remote school in Badulla gets a helping hand from Ananda College, Colombo
Students from a school in Colombo reached out to a remote school in the Badulla district recently, but the Sunday Times learns that much more needs to be done.
Ananda College Colombo picked Thalawegama Vidyalaya off Padiyathalawa and helped to construct a new building supplied a much needed water pump and distributed items including school books, uniforms and sports gear.
Like many schools in remote areas this school too faces a dearth of teachers with no one to teach English.
Drinking water facilities are not available with the wells gone dry. The nearest water source is far away and surrounded by jungle areas.
The parents of most of the students are farmers and during harvesting the students opt to stay at home and help rather than attend school
In spite of the hard conditions and lack of facilities students from the school were ranked 2nd 3rd 6th and 7th at the grade 5 scholarship exam in the Badulla district. One student also gained admission to university.
A Sinhala language teacher said farming interfered with the childrens’ studies. She said although they were keen on learning the fact that they came from farmer-families hampered their attendance.
She said the level of English was very low with students showing little interest to learn the subject. |
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