News

Former Western Province Governor Azath Salley who is under CID detention, admitted to the National Hospital in Colombo yesterday.

Hospital sources said that he was admitted following a heart attack.

However, his condition is not critical and currently receiving treatment at Ward 49.

Azath Salley was arrested in March this year in connection with alleged involvement to the Easter Sunday attack

Minister of Sports and Youth Affairs Namal Rajapaksa said that Basil Rajapaksa has no illness that warranted medical treatment.

The Court of Appeal on Monday (17) issued an order on the Superintendent of the Boossa Prison preventing him from escorting notorious drug trafficker ‘Wele Suda’ alias Gampola Vithanage Samantha Kumara, outside of the prison premises. The order will be in effect until the 24th of May 2021.

The Court of Appeal made the order after considering a writ application filed by R. D. Malini (Wele Suda’s Mother) which highlighted that there is a plan to assassinate her son and therefore, requested an order be made preventing him from being placed in police custody.

Wele Suda is on death row after he was convicted by the court for trafficking heroin.

The application was called up in the presence of Court of Appeal President Arjuna Obeysekera and Justice Ruwan Fernando.

The application will be called up again on the 24th of May and the petitioner was ordered to issue notice on the respondents.

The respondents are the Commissioner General of Prisons, The Superintendent of the Boossa Prison, The Inspector General of Police, and the Attorney General.

The apparel sector is allowed to operate as usual during the travel restrictions period, says Army Commander General Shavendra Silva.

The Head of the National Operation Centre for Prevention of COVID-19 Outbreak (NOCPCO) stated that despite imposing of travel restriction to control the spread of COVID-19, the apparel industry is permitted to carry out operations under health guidelines.

Apparel sector activities such as manufacturing, distribution, import and export can be carried out by following the ‘bubble’ concept, he added.

A female Development Officer was assaulted by a member of the Ukuwela Pradeshiya Sabha while distributing relief packages yesterday (16). The Pradeshiya Sabha Member had assaulted the Development Officer in-charge of the Delthara (West) Grama Niladhari Division for not recommending the Rs. 5000 relief packages to her grandparents.

However, the grandparents are said to be residing at the Pradeshiya Sabha Member's house, it is learnt.

Both the parents of the SLPP Pradeshiya Sabha Member known as 'Nimali' are government servants. Her mother is attached to the security division at a state hospital while her father is a Samurdhi Officer.

The Development Officer has been admitted to the Jambugahapitiya hospital where she is currently receiving treatment.

All Development Officers in Matale have abstained from duties yesterday and have warned that they will continue the strike if relevant authorities fail to take action against the Pradeshiya Sabha Member.

An islandwide travel restriction will be imposed from 11.00 pm tomorrow (13th) to 4.00 am monday (17th). Transport of essentials & food items will be allowed during this period stated the Army Commander.

He further added that the vaccination rollout will not be affected by the travel restrictions imposed.

Travelling to the airport and transporting sick persons to hospitals will not be affected with traval restrictions, stated the Police Media Spokesperson.

Menawhile, those who leave houses for non - essential activities from tomorrow (13) until May 31 should leave according to the last digit of the National ID, driving licence or passport.

Accordingly, on odd dates of the calendar one person from the same family with the National ID number, driving licence or passport ending with 1,3,5,7,9 can leave their homes while those with the numbers 0,2,4,6,8 can leave their homes on even dates.

As the government's vaccination drive continued today, residents of the Moratuwa Municipal Council area who came to get vaccinated were in for a rude shock as those who carried a certain 'chit' from the Moratuwa Mayor Samanlal Fernando were given preferential treatment. 

The vaccination programme is carried out by the respective Medical Officer of Health (MOH) of each area. Accordingly, the Moratuwa Municipal Council area includes two MOH Divisions i.e. Moratuwa South and Egoda Uyana.

Once it was announced by the MOH Office that residents in the area will be vaccinated, the Mayor had issued 'chits' with his official seal to loyalists of the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) last night.

A tense situation had erupted once the SLPP loyalists armed with the Mayor's chits had arrived at the site and sought to skip the line. However, the residents who had waited in line from 4 am had vehemently objected.

As the situation exacerbated, the health officers who were on duty had stepped out and stopped the vaccination programme. At that time, the Mayor had exerted pressure on the Regional Director of Health Services to immediately resume the vaccination programme.

The Regional Director of Health Services had then advised the relevant officers to resume the vaccination programme according to the Mayor's instructions.

As such, a lot of residents who have no affiliation to the SLPP have missed out on their first jab.

The Influential Ontario Legislative Assembly has resolved that Sri Lanka subjected the Tamil community to genocideduring the armed conflict.

With support from the United States, the Attorney General’s Department inaugurated a state-of-the-art training center and launched an electronic system to track cases and legal files.

The Sri Lanka government has taken prompt action to prohibit Indian travellers visiting West Asian countries or Singapore to use the island nation as a transit hub despite the Tourism Authority ruling to allow such visits.      

The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) announced that travellers from India will not be allowed to disembark in Sri Lanka making the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) regulation null and void.

The decision to ban Indian travellers to make use of  Sri Lanka as a transit hub  for  visiting other destinations like West Asia or Singapore subject to  the need of  14 days in quarantine in the island with immediate effect has been taken as the coronavirus continues to spread rapidly in India.

Several countries have banned travellers from India as well as Sri Lanka and other South Asian countries. Restrictions were imposed last week on Indian tourists arriving in Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) has issued a new set of regulations on April 24 for international arrivals for the purpose of 14-day quarantine enroute to other countries.

SLTDA has stated that  “Some countries accept quarantine in Sri Lanka as an entry requirement to their country, where direct arrival for the origin country is not permitted. This is a reflection of Sri Lanka’s health and safety regulations,”

These regulations have now been reversed following the government’s usual practice of changing rules and regulations imposed by ministries and authorities frequently.    

Soon after announcement of these regulations to allow Indian travellers to use Sri Lanka as a transit hub hundreds of Indians have rushed in to make use of this facility.

Travel agents were also t promoting this type of travel to Sri Lanka with a view of tackling  the  decline  of tourists following  the tourism industry shut-down for nearly 10 months last year

Tourism Minister Prasanna Ranatunga had said that Indian tourists visit Sri Lanka in a travel bubble.He said that since the coronavirus crisis in New Delhi the number of Indians visiting Sri Lanka had been reduced.

The Minister also said that the Indians were placed in separate hotels and had no contact with other tourists. Ranatunga also said that any decision on closing the airports or reducing the overall number of arrivals to Sri Lanka will be taken if the health authorities make such a request

He however said that the airport cannot be closed immediately as that will affect Sri Lankans returning to the country.The Minister said that President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has issued instructions to allow Sri Lankan migrant workers to return to the country.

Ravipriya Bandara, a 30-year-old marketing strategist and corporate trainer from Sri Lanka, had his work hours reduced amid nationwide lockdowns during the first wave of COVID-19.

Energy Minister Udaya Gammanpila said that no proposal has been submitted to the Cabinet to increase the prices of LP gas. Responding to a question raised by a journalist regarding the increase in gas prices at the Cabinet press briefing on Tuesday (04), the Minister stressed that although the price of gas in the world market is increasing, so far no Cabinet decision has been made to revise the price of gas in Sri Lanka.

Meanwhile, it is reported that Laugfs Gas PLC, one of the largest providers of LP gas in Sri Lanka, is facing a serious financial crisis.

It has been observed in many stores that there is a shortage of Laugfs gas cylinders in the market.

Company sources said that they are exploring the possibility of stopping the importation of LP gas if there is no increase in domestic prices.

A final decision in this regard will be taken after discussions with government officials.

The company has repeatedly requested the government to increase the price of gas in the local market in line with global market prices.

Laugfs Gas PLC accounts for about 30% of the domestic LP gas market.

According to projected global market prices for the months of April and May coupled with the rising USD/LKR rate, the company expects a price hike of at least LKR 520.

Meanwhile, it also reported that Litro Gas is faced with a similar predicament.

Both companies are currently incurring heavy losses and are hoping for a price hike from the government soon, it is learnt.