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The Ministry issued a gazette on Friday outlining several health guidelines that must be adhered with regard to the parliamentary election. However, the PHI Union said the gazette has not vested them with any powers to monitor the implementation of these guidelines.

The PHI Union stepped away from all COVID-19 control duties with effect from Friday (July 17), as a mark of protest over a statement made by Health Minister Pavithra Wanniarachchi.

 The Sri Lanka Public Health Inspectors Union points out that its officers have no legal protection when performing their duties if they are not vested with the authority to implement the health guidelines

“We cannot implement the law without being vested with powers,” Chairman of the PHI Union Upul Rohana said.

He further noted that with the strike action, containment measures of communicable diseases have also been hampered.

Mahela Jayawardena played for the SSC in 1997 as a schoolboy cricketer and was selected to represent the national team the same year. In 2006, Jayawardene was named as the best international captain in 2006 and was nominated in 2007 as the best Test cricket player of the year by ICC. Jayawardene was a key member of the team that won the 2014 ICC T2- World Cup and was part of the team that made it to the final of 2007/2011 Cricket World Cup, 2009/2012 ICC World T-20.

The delay in the clearance of ethanol tankers imported by local manufacturers placing orders and opening LC’s before the government’s ban on rectified spirit on January 01 will hit mainly the local liquor manufactures as well as the personal care industry, paints, coatings, printing inks, fragrance and flavour industries.

The government will also be deprived of much needed tax revenue due to the enforcement of this ban as the liquor industry would cut their production, which would result in a significant loss of revenue to the state coffers.

According to the Ministry of Finance, the excise revenue target was Rs. 130 billion, out of which Rs. 68 billion was expected from the taxation of ethanol imports.

During the financial year 2018/2019, Distilleries Company of Sri Lanka (DCSL) paid Rs. 58 billion in taxes, and Rs. 64 billion in taxes a year ago.

At least 22 licensed importers have been affected by the ban on ethanol imports and a very few of their containers (1 or 2) including 41 tankers imported by Distilleries Company of Sri Lanka  (DCSL) had been cleared by Customs following strict procedure of the department, several importers said.

They pointed out that the directive of the President to allow clearance of the quantity of ethanol shipments arranged before the ban will fulfill the local requirement temporarily but a shortage of ethanol based products and the loss of tax revenue will be resulted in the long run.

The local liquor manufacturers are to be hit badly as the local production of ethanol is inadequate to meet the requirement, Excise Department data revealed.

According to these official data, production capacity of five local ethanol producers is only 42 percent of the local requirement and the estimated maximum production of Pelwatte,Sevanagala, Royal cask, Hingurana and Galoya plantations is in the region of 12 million liters per annum.

He added that this transformation is required to improve the living conditions of the estate sector workers.

Premadasa was speaking at an election meeting in Hatton.

He reminded that it was his father late R Premadasa who granted citizenship to  more than 1.2 million estate workers.

“That endeavour will be complete when each and every estate family gets the ownership of a land and a house,” he added. He said that he would establish a Development Task Force under the purview of the Prime Minister to alleviate poverty among the plantation community.

"We must understand that human lives are more valuable than elections. According to the prevailing situation the lives of the public and election officials should not be put at risk due to the election campaign,” Dissanayake said.

Dissanayake said this while addressing a rally held in Yosorapura, Additiya on Friday.

The JVP Leader also said that Sri Lanka has become a playground for countries like India, China and America. “The national resources of our country have been already sold to these countries. There were 14 islands in our country and two of them have been already sold to foreign companies,” he said.

Under President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, a former army lieutenant colonel credited with helping end Sri Lanka's long civil war in 2009 with a brutal military campaign against separatists, the Indian Ocean island nation has used the armed forces to combat the virus.

When Rajapaksa was elected president last year, a health unit was created in the intelligence service that sprang into action when COVID-19 first appeared, according to State Intelligence Service Assistant Director Parakrama de Silva.

Intelligence officers, health workers, police officers and military troops have worked together to identify infected people, trace their contacts and send them to military-run quarantine centres.

After Dinesh, 33, tested positive for the virus in April, navy sailors raided his village, forcing his contacts into quarantine. But authorities have blamed a melee that ensued not on the military, but on Dinesh - and said the rumpus ended up leading to at least 1,100 additional virus infections. These cases, they publicly declared, were all linked to a single patient.

“"I can't accept that I am responsible for infecting so many, including the navy sailors,"” Dinesh told The Associated Press, after he had returned home following his release from a month-long stay at a hospital.

Before the pandemic reached Sri Lanka, resulting in an island-wide lockdown, Dinesh worked as an auto rickshaw driver. But now he's unable to find work. "No one gives a job when they realize that I am Patient 206,"” he said.

Likening him to South Korea's “Patient 31,” whom media in that country labelled a “super spreader” because she was the first person to test positive in a secretive church community where the virus was later found endemic, police spokesman Ajith Rohana said Dinesh had undermined Sri Lanka's fight against COVID-19. "“He is the turning point and has done huge damage to our country,”" Rohana said.

Authorities say that on April 5, Dinesh was caught by village residents for a robbery and handed over to police. At the station, Dinesh had a fever as well as a leg injury sustained during the robbery, so authorities admitted him to a nearby hospital, where he tested positive for the coronavirus and stayed for 31 days.

After he tested positive, the police who made the arrest, Dinesh's friends and more than 100 people in his neighbourhood were ordered to quarantine at home. But not everyone complied. Afraid that the virus would spread quickly in the congested area, Sri Lanka's navy sent in a team of sailors to help health workers. As the sailors approached, some of Dinesh's associates panicked. Of the 28 people seized from the community and quarantined, 16 tested positive.

Two weeks later, some sailors involved in the operation did, too. The first infected sailor, who was on leave in the town of Polonnaruwa, about 225 km northeast of Colombo, was reported April 22, prompting provincial health officials to isolate 12 nearby villages.

The next day, 30 other sailors tested positive. With the virus spreading to different parts of the country where sailors were on leave, authorities ordered troops from all arms of the military to report back to their camps.

Some 4,000 navy sailors were quarantined inside a single camp, while more than 200 relatives were taken to navy-run quarantine centres. At least 15 villages were isolated in different parts of Sri Lanka for about two weeks, and about 1,300 other people underwent self-quarantine.

Ultimately, about 900 navy sailors tested positive, with around 50 other infected people also part of that cluster.

Two other clusters also blamed on Dinesh had at least 150 coronavirus cases, according to authorities. Sri Lanka has confirmed at least 2,665 cases in all, including 11 deaths, meaning nearly half of its caseload has been blamed on one man - Dinesh.

“"What to do? It is our fault for using drugs?" he said, referring to his heroin habit.

Dinesh said he had been using heroin since 2002, but that he never became “a severe addict. During the coronavirus lockdown, however, he used the drug more regularly, and joined three other users in the robbery to raise money to buy more heroin.

Former Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena launched an expansive crackdown on illegal drugs, calling users “a social catastrophe,” and his successor, Rajapaksa, also has taken a tough stance.

Authorities have used the fallout from the raid on Dinesh's village to increase anti-drug crackdowns in slums and urban apartments. Officials say some 300,000 people - around 1.5% of all Sri Lankans - are addicted to drugs.

Dinesh, however, said he was no longer part of that stigmatised population. One positive of being infected with the coronavirus, he said, was that his hospitalisation helped him to kick his heroin habit. (PTI)

Earlier, the Department of Examination said applications to re-scrutinise the GCE Ordinary Level Examination 2019 results should be sent to the Department of Examinations on or before 17 July.

Students are urged to send in their applications for re-scrutiny via registered post to reach the Commissioner General of Examinations, National Evaluation & Testing Service, Department of Examinations - Sri Lanka, P. O. Box 1503, Colombo on or before the deadline.

Further information can be obtained from the official website of the Examinations Department at www.doenets.lk

Accordingly, staff members at the Kandakadu Treatment and Rehabilitation Centre along with their family members and other close associa have been self-quarantined, the Union’s Secretary, Mahendra Balasuriya said.

Speaking to NewsFirst, Balasuriya said that the districts of Gampaha, Polonnaruwa, Galle, Colombo, Ratnapura, Kurunegala, Kalutara, Kandy, Anuradhapura, Jaffna, Kegalle, Monaragala, Hambantota, Puttalam, Matara and Matale have been identified as the affected areas.

The PHI Union’s Secretary requested the general public residing in the above-mentioned 16 districts to act in compliance with the health guidelines issued by the Ministry of Health, as further spread of COVID-19 among the community will severely impact the economic and social conditions of the country.

High quality river sand is widely sought by the construction industry.

A two-judge bench ruled that the government had no powers to remove tight controls established under a 1992 law to protect the environment and eco systems along rivers across the island.

Court of Appeal president A. H. M. D. Nawaz ordered police to enforce controls over the transportation of sand and other construction aggregates despite the government waiving the strict licensing for sand mining and transport.

“The court instructed the police chief to implement the law as the government had not changed the law despite verbal instructions not to prosecute offenders,” a court official said.

The activist Centre for Environmental Justice (CEJ) petitioned the court to stop the free transport of construction material arguing that it had led to widespread mining and caused serious damage to rivers and other water bodies.

“This is a victory for the environment,” CEJ spokesman Ravindranath Dabare told AFP. “We hope the police will carry out the court order and implement the existing laws to protect our environment.”

The law provided for fines up to two million rupees ($10,000) and six months in prison for those transporting sand without permits which are usually issued under strict environmental considerations.

Rajapaksa, who won a landslide at November elections, lifted the permit requirement, bowing to the demands of the construction industry.

The latest court action came three weeks ahead of the August 5 parliamentary elections at which Rajapaksa’s party is hoping to consolidate their hold on power with a two-thirds majority. (AFP)

That’s why Sri Lanka’s Water Supply and Sanitation Improvement Project (WaSSIP) works to extend access to safe drinking water and sanitation, and improved hygiene behavior for nearly 700,000 people in urban, rural and estate areas in seven districts in Sri Lanka. It aims to reach those in danger of being left out of the progress made in recent years and potentially being left even further behind by the pandemic’s devastating impacts.

WaSSIP is Sri Lanka’s third project financed by the World Bank since 1998 to provide drinking water and sanitation. It finances new water supply systems, rehabilitation of existing water supply systems, toilets for households and schools, and septage treatment plants.

Community Based Organizations (CBOs) play a key role in delivering this project. In Sri Lanka, the World Bank has worked with CBOs for decades and this experience has shown that when given access to information, and appropriate technical and financial support, CBOs can effectively deliver basic services.

To ensure sustainability, local CBOs are trained to operate and maintain the water supply systems. Each household agrees to pay a tariff that ensures that operation, maintenance and replacement costs can be covered. This allows repairs to be made as soon as something goes wrong.

A database is being developed that shows all the rural water supply systems in the country. This database allows the Department of National Community Water Supply to track the performance of CBOs and provide CBOs with the information and support that they need. A 24-hour call center has been established, where anyone can call or text for advice or to lodge a complaint for CBO-managed water supply systems.

As a trusted part of the social fabric, CBOs are well-equipped to help respond to the COVID-19 pandemic even in remote areas. The residents of Rideepana – a small village located in a highland area – were under curfew with limited ability to travel. It was a tough situation - “financially and practically, with no water to consume on certain days,” as one resident put it. However, due to the collaborative work between CBOs, the authorities and a nearby water plant, these villagers can now access clean water with which to wash their hands.

Elsewhere in Sri Lanka, a CBO that oversees a water plant funded through WaSSIP is providing water to households with motors in the areas of Polgahapitiya and Raththandeniya. This was initiated at the request of the District Secretariat for these areas to help minimize the gathering of crowds. Not only has it helped to flatten the potential curve, it has also instilled good sanitary practices amongst the community.

Changing behaviors to encourage improved hygiene practices is a key element of this project. Around 900 hygiene awareness trainings been conducted so far. Over 100,000 people have attended - 64% of them female in rural areas and 80% of them female in estate areas. Messages have been specifically developed and targeted to encourage different types of behaviors. Resources have been provided in local languages to ensure their relevance and effectiveness. And hygiene programs have been rolled out in schools so young people can share what they learned with their friends and families.

Eight schools have also been provided with improved sanitation facilities, including menstrual hygiene facilities – the first from a World Bank-funded project in Sri Lanka. Being able to manage their menstruation safely, hygienically, and with confidence and dignity is critical not just for girls’ health and education, but also for economic development and overall gender equality.

As of June 2020, WaSSIP has:

•     Completed 42 new rural water supply schemes benefiting 13,538 households (with another 51 under construction)
•     Completed seven plantation water supply schemes connecting 2493 households (with another seven under construction)
•     Completed 93 system rehabilitations
•     Completed 13,362 individual toilets (with another 10,119 under construction)

From its inception in 2015 to its closing, WaSSIP will ultimately benefit nearly three-quarters of a million people across the seven districts, including Menaka from Nartakande in the Central Province of Sri Lanka. Menaka is from a family of five, all of whom have suffered from lack of access to clean water. The basic washing and cleaning necessities of her family previously meant an arduous 500-meter walk to collect water. However, thanks to a new water plant – funded by the World Bank and operated through a CBO - Menaka and her family now have access to clean water to drink, bathe and keep their household clean. 

The project demonstrates a successful model of service delivery that can be continued to deliver universal access to water supply and sanitation for Sri Lanka and showcases the importance of partnerships with community organizations.

The shocking information based on complaints to police in 2019 was made public by Director of Crime and Organized Crime Division Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Priyantha Jayakody.

5292 child abuses and 1642 rapes were recorded last year. DIG Jayakody warns that the actual number could be higher as many abuses go unreported to police.

He said that the women and child bureau has established a unit in each of the 44 police divisions and that any complaint can be lodged locally or dialing the 1929 hotline.

The national child protection authority has received 8500 complaints last year according to its chairman Muditha Vidanapathirana.

He added that the authority has received 3500 complaints by mid-June this year.

The COVID-19 virus is prone to spread among groups until adequate and satisfactory containment. Kandakadu Rehabilitation Center is an unfortunate example. Therefore the President emphasizes the necessity of continuing easily accessible tests related to clusters of people immediately.

The President made these remarks during a discussion with the Presidential Task Force to curb COVID-19 at the Presidential Secretariat yesterday (14). It was reported that the Task Force had not met for more than a month prior to yesterday's discussion.

Although day to day life has returned to normalcy, precautionary measures should not be relaxed as the risk of COVID-19 spread remains high.