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Addressing a meeting held in Nawagaththegama recently, State Minister of Disaster Management Palitha Range Bandara announced that he is ready to quit politics in the year 2020. According to him the public often votes against politicians no matter how much of a service they had done for them.

Explaining the rationale behind the disbandment of the Prison Intelligence Unit, Minister of Justice and Prison Reforms, Thalatha Athukorala said the unit has been a failure.

“What is the point of such a unit if all these corrupt things such as use of mobile phones by prisoners and drug dealing is happening within the prison” she said. 

According to the Minister she has received a large number of complaints regarding such malpractices. “Even today people known to me have received calls originating from within the prison” she revealed. The Minister said no final decision has been taken about the unit however yet.

She also said that it is clear that no action has been taken by Department officials even when the intel unit has provided them with information.

High Commissioner of India, Taranjit Singh Sandhu visited and reviewed the progress of the construction of National Tri Lingual School in Polonnaruwa which is being built under Indian grant assistance of Rs. 300 million. 

The School is one of the key projects prioritized in close consultation with President Maithripala Sirisena under the “Pibidemu Polonnaruwa” (Awakening of Polonnaruwa) district development program. The Project is expected to be completed by January 2019.

The Water Board has announced that a nine-hour water cut will be imposed in several parts of Colombo District from 9.00pm today to 6.00am tomorrow (29).

The water supply to the following areas will be suspended during that time period:

Wellawatta, Dehiwala, Mount Lavinia, Ratmalana, Kalubowila, several parts of Nugegoda including Nedimala, Rajagiriya Royal Park, Lake Garden, Bandaranayakepura, Pelawatta and Mulleriyawa.

Meanwhile the water supply to Colombo 05 will be at low pressure, the water board said.

For many travellers, it seemed like a scene straight out of their wildest dreams: A sleek, new international airport where you didn’t have to queue. At all. Ever.However, that was because just a single airline operated out of Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport in Sri Lanka, and as a result only a handful of people passed through its terminals per day at the peak of its popularity.

Great for a seamless passenger experience, but not for the airport’s bottom line.

Last year, it was estimated the airport received just seven passengers per 24 hour period. It quickly earned the title of the world’s “loneliest” airport and was labelled the nation’s biggest white elephant.

Ever since it opened in March 2013 — intending to accommodate one million passengers a year — the airport has been running up heavy losses. The area where it’s located — Mattala — is close to Hambantona, a small rural area that was meant to become the country’s new commercial and transportation hub.

But the dream has not yet come to life. In 2016, the airport handled just 4700 passengers, and that was actually an increase from the pervious year’s figure of 2739.

Unfortunately the problems at the $282 million airport have continued to get worse. In June, the last flight took off from the airport when Flydubai said bye-bye, abandoning it due to a lack of passengers and expensive bird strikes.

Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport. Picture: Amila TennakoonSource:Flickr 

The airport, named after former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, was funded with high-interest loans from China. It’s been reported the country has been struggling to repay them. 

The world’s loneliest runway. Picture: Amila Tennakoon Source:Flickr 

Now, in a desperate last-minute bid to save the airport, India has announced it will operate it as part of a joint venture.

“We need to revive this dying airport which caused a massive loss of LKR 20 billion

(AUD170 million),” Sri Lanka’s Civil Aviation Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva said.


Plenty of seats. Picture: Amila Tennakoon Source:Flickr 

But no details have been revealed about the deal yet, and is it too little too late, anyway? 

(Kate Schneider)

The Court of Appeal yesterday (25) extended the Interim Order preventing the FCID from arresting former Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa.

The Court re-fixed to mention the appeal filed by Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, seeking an Order to prevent Financial Crime Investigation Division (FCID) from arresting him, on 28 September.

The Court reinforced the Interim Order by making it an Inter Parte Interim Order, preventing the Financial Crime Investigation Division (FCID) from acting on the Certificate (B Report), under the offences against the Public Property Act, in the Magistrate’s Court against former Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa.

Rajapaksa contends the construction of the D. A. Rajapakse memorial and museum is a civil matter, and that there is no criminal breach of trust and he has not misappropriated money.

The Department of Wildlife Conservation (DWC) has submitted the progress of the report of the action plan in protecting Yala National Park  to the Prime Minister's Policy Development Office .

Yala, as an internationally-renowned wildlife park, has attracted a large number of international and national visitors annually. The majestic leopard endemic to Sri Lanka is one of the main tourist attractions of this wild life park. While this interest in wildlife is remarkable and certainly positive for revenue collection, the increasing effects of over-visitation is posing a great threat of damage to the park and to its wildlife. 

Numerically, visitation has increased from 43,368 visitors in 2008 to 545,007visitors in 2015. This is an increase of over 1,000% in seven years. This has resulted in an average of 250 vehicles entering Yala Block 1 per day with increased numbers during holiday seasons, often exceeding 700 vehicles per day.

To curb this over visitation, the Yala Sub-committee of the Prime Minister’s Office is formulated to create a path towards a more sustainable management of the Yala National Park. 

The DWC and the Tourist Board are the main stakeholders of this sub-committee while the Policy Development Office (PDO) of the Prime Minister’s Office act as the monitoring organisation of this Sub- committee. 

According to the PM's Policy Development Office, the action plan is divided into three sections namely, short-term, medium- term and long-term actions and covers the period from January to June 2018. 

Short-term actions: Patrolling of at least two DWC vehicles in the park between 6 a.m. and 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. and 6 p.m. daily; DWC to permit entry and exit times to be decided on dawn and dusk timing; introducing rotational closure of Yala Block 1, 3, 4 and 5 for three months periods beginning with Yala block 1.

Medium-term actions: Yet to be implemented.

Long-term actions: Introducing a phased program to gradually limit the number of vehicles entering Yala Block 1 in conjunction with the improvement of wildlife sightings in Yala Blocks 3, 4, 5 and other developments in adjacent national parks.

Co-cabinet spokesperson, Health Minister Rajitha Senaratne said the Government would forge ahead with the death penalty directive given by President Maithripala Sirisena even if it leads to the loss of GSP Plus.

He was responding to criticism levelled by the European Union and other countries over the Government’s decision to enforce the death penalty for drug traffickers.

Speaking at the Cabinet press conference yesterday, the Minister clarified that the death penalty would be implemented on those who were already convicted on drug related offences and who continue to trade drugs while being behind bars.

“A list 19 such individuals drafted by the intelligence services have been forwarded to the Justice Ministry so that the government can carry out the death sentence,” he said.

The Minister stated that the President’s directive is to mainly address the issues Sri Lanka is having with previously convicted drug traffickers who continue to engage in the trade.

Investigations by Police Narcotics Bureau revealed some suspects arrested for the possession of heroin had been acting on the orders of an inmate at Welikada who is already serving a life sentence for drug related offences. A concurrent investigation by the PNB over the arrest of another individual with 103 kg of heroin revealed that the suspect had been in touch with eight prison officials. Referring to this incident, the Minister said these prison officers will be severely dealt with under the law for aiding drug traffickers.

Source : Daily News

The Director General of the Bribery Commission President’s Counsel Sarath Jayamanne says the commission has not received the adequate facilities to fulfil the objectives expected from the country’s anti-graft commission.

According to him the Bribery Commission still does not possess the authority to file cases based on the evidence coming from the Presidential Commission of Inquiry and that it can only summon the witnesses once again and record their statements. He also questioned as to how bribery and corruption can be eradicated in the country without increasing the wages of the officials of the Bribery Commission.

Jayamanne further added that a section of the commission’s old building has broken down and that a portion of the officials are at a different location and also that a new building will be needed if new officials are recruited. Although permission has been granted for a new building, the Urban Development Authority (UDA) has blocked the move, he revealed. 
Source : Derana

In a bid to enhance Sri Lanka’s efforts to strengthen and modernise the general education system in the country via the General Education Modernisation Project (GEM) , the Sri Lankan government signed a USD 100 million credit agreement with the World Bank today.

The General Education Modernization Project will modernise and diversify the curriculum of general education in keeping with the transformation taking place in Sri Lanka’s society and economy. Greater emphasis will be accorded to strategic subjects that are key for economic development such as English and mathematics. 

The project will also help broaden the choices available at the GCE A-level grades so that students have the flexibility in selecting subjects from arts, management, science and technology to vocational streams.  Learning material for English language and mathematics will be developed digitally and the focus will be on children from schools located in more disadvantaged regions.

“Sri Lanka has made impressive progress in expanding access to education. However, to reach the status of an Upper Middle-Income Country, it needs to further improve the overall learning outcomes. Sri Lanka’s education policy makers recognise that a high-quality general education system will enable students to meet the demands of 21st century jobs,” Idah Z. Pswarayi-Riddihough, World Bank Country Director for Sri Lanka and the Maldives said. 

The project will benefit school students both at the primary (grades 1-5) and at the secondary (grades 6-13) levels. Technical education and vocational training institutes, academic and managerial staff of the schools will also benefit from this project.

The case filed regarding two attempts to assassinate Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Parliamentarian, M.A. Sumanthiran will be taken up tomorrow, July 30 at the Colombo High Court to serve indictments on the suspects.

In January 2017, Terrorist Investigation Department (TID) reported to the Kilinochchi Magistrate’s court that they had apprehended five suspects in connection with plotting the assassination of the Member of Parliament from the Jaffna District. The suspects, Karalasingham Kulendran, Gnanasekaralingam Rasmadan, Murugaiya Thawendran, Welayudan Wijeyakumar and Lewis Mariyanagam Ajanthan were apprehended by the TID in 2017.

The suspects were initially arrested under the normal law and granted bail, unlike in the case of arrests made under the PTA where suspects can be held in detention during the course of investigation and trial.

TID has however decided to indict the suspects under PTA regulations for several reasons, including the fact that some witnesses had refused to testify if the trial was conducted in the Northern Province fearing reprisals.

Ordinary law also only allows people to be indicted on charges of conspiracy to murder, whereas suspects could be indicted on charges of attempted murder under the PTA. Due to the nature of the case, the suspects were indicted in the Colombo High Court, which has sole jurisdiction in PTA cases.

The B report filed before the Kilinochchi Magistrate’s Court in 2017, reads that the suspects “on the advice and guidance from several persons keeping contact with them, have kept in their possession high impact claymore bombs, locally manufactured detonators and other weapons to be used at several assassination attempts made against the parliamentarian within the Jaffna Peninsula”. 
Source : Sunday Observer

The ‘Aqua Culture Battle’ was launched by the Fisheries Ministry in line with the government's 'Gamperaliya' and 'Grama Shakthi' development programmes to promote a rural economic revolution through the fishing industry, Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Development and Rural Economy State Minister Dilip Wedaarachchi said.

Under this programme, inland fisheries are being promoted to launch fishing-based industries to earn foreign exchange through value addition. The State Minister was addressing the gathering at Diyawara Aruna attitudinal development programme at the Pelawatte Aqua Culture Development Authority auditorium in Battaramulla, organised by the Jathika Dheewara Maha Sammelanaya on July 23.

He said this was aimed at transforming fishermen into entrepreneurs. Under the programme, new technology would also be introduced to the fishing industry to enable local fishermen to compete with their counterparts abroad.

Steps would be taken to further develop the inland fishing industry by setting up tank based fishermen's unions. He had also directed the Aqua Culture Development Authority to formulate a five-year programme to develop the inland fishing industry.

Already, 12 new varieties of fish had been introduced. Prawn and crab culture development programmes are promoted with a pilot project in the Hambantota district. Under this programme, the crab production industry was launched on 42 acres in Rekawa. It is also hoped to increase this industry to another 200 areas.