News

The case over the disappearance of 11 youth being heard before the Magistrate’s Court is to be concluded in the following weeks, with the case likely to be transferred to the High Court and indictments expected to be filed.

The Counsel for the aggrieved party has strongly urged that investigations be fully concluded prior to the transfer of the case to the High Court and resultant filing of indictments by the Attorney General’s (AG) Department.

“The parents of the 11 youth strongly feel that the inquiry hasn’t been fully concluded. The case has been going on for 10 years; what is the hurry in filing indictments at this juncture? If more details had been revealed in the former Sri Lanka Navy Commander Admiral Wasantha Karannagoda’s statement, the Police Criminal Investigation Department (CID) should conduct further inquiries without trying to conclude the case,” Attorney-at-Law of the aggrieved party Achala Senevirathna has told The Sunday Morning.

She had brought to the notice of the Court last week the parents’ concerns that there was a major lacuna in the investigations so far.

Meanwhile, the CID recorded fresh statements from Admiral of the Fleet Karannagoda recently over the abduction and disappearance of the 11 youth in 2008-2009.

Karannagoda’s statements recorded recently were in addition to his statements recorded by the CID on 11, 13, and 19 March as well as on 2 and 4 April this year.

SLPP presidential candidate Gotabaya Rajapaksa returned to Colombo on Friday night after a visit to Singapore for medical reasons.

He is now continuing his campaign for the  presidency which has been buoyed by the announcement of Ceylon Workers’ Congress (CWC) support for SLPP.

Presidential candidate Sajith Premadasa and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe framed the contest for the Presidency between the social democratic forces of their side arrayed against a feudal, nepotistic formation represented by the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna.

However, the support of  Rauff Hakeem’s Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) and the upcountry estate vote of  Palani Digambaran’s and Mano Ganesan’s Tamil Progressive Alliance (TPA) is crucial to win the presidential race as Thondaman’s CWC vote base has dwindled to a great extent at present, political analysts said.

The Tamil population in the country is over 3.2 million. Nearly 50% out of this population, that is about 1.5 million, live outside the Northern and Eastern Provinces, namely the Central, Western, Sabaragamuwa, Uva, Southern and North-Western Provinces.

They live mainly in the Districts of Nuwara-Eliya, Kandy, Matale, Colombo, Kalutara, Gampaha, Ratnapura, Kegalle, Badulla, Moneragala, Galle and Puttalam.

The majority of the Tamil voters in those areas are supporters of Palani Digambaran’s and Mano Ganesan’s Tamil Progressive Alliance (TPA).

In this context, Gotabaya has nothing to rejoice following the CWC’s decision to support his campaign as Thondaman’s party has already become a zeroed party among the Tamil community, political analysts claimed.

Joining hands with the CWC will be a bad omen for Gotabaya who has so far failed to impress the masses during his ineffective political speeches and lack luster public appeal, election intelligent reports revealed.      

For Sajith Premadasa, the New Democratic Front (NDF) candidate, the challenge no doubt, is going beyond mustering crowds for public rallies. He must go for the votes and that will be most decisive for him.

The campaigns are now heating up. As such, he has to sustain the moral boost he received from the massive show of public support at the Galle Face rally and shoulf focus on being more rationale and practical with regard to his statements in public platforms, they advised.

The Development Lotteries Board (DLB) is enhancing the positive impact of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) on the underprivileged and the people with special needs including agents and  lottery sellers.

Apart from that it has already laid the tracks to build the 21st century digital infrastructure to sell lottery tickets via mobile app - just like the way it has revolutionised the trade for the first time by introducing the instant lottery to Sri Lanka in 1983.

To start with, DLB has launched the 'DLB Sweep App' providing an opportunity to instantly check winning numbers of any development lottery draw. Through the app, one could also verify if the ticket purchased has any winnings and the details of prize money by simply scanning the ticket's QR code through a mobile phone.    

DLB has incorporated CSR initiatives more strategically towards improving the living standards of lottery sellers while helping the needy and uplifting people  from poverty, Chairman of the Board S.A.P. Suriyapperuma revealed.

The DLB also encourage their stakeholders to take necessary actions to align with the bigger and broader picture of society’s long-term interests.

DLB is an important contributor to the President’s Fund, which provides medical assistance for people with financial difficulties.
Furthermore, DLB also provides financial assistance for the treatment of serious non-communicable diseases such as heart surgeries and kidney transplants, he said.

50 percent of the contribution made to the President's Fund is credited to the Mahapola Scholarship Trust Fund established in 1981, with the objective of providing financial assistance for higher studies of students engaged in universities and institutes of technological studies.

DLB has contributed a sum of Rs.1,767 million to the President's Fund up to August this year compared to Rs 2,132 million in 2018 and Rs 437 million in 2017.

The main aim of the DLB is to become the foremost lottery organisation in the country that works towards enriching  the lives of Sri Lanka.

Soft Heart Foundation which is the CSR arm of DLB was established with the support of staff and donors to assist the needy with a view to improving their living standards even in a small way, Mr. Suriyapperuma said.

He added that several houses were built and handed over to needy sweep sellers without shelter facilities.

With a view to promote self-employment opportunities, DLB provides new sales outlets to agents on recovery of 50 percent of its cost of Rs. 43000 from them, he said.

India called on Sri Lankan scholars to make use of opportunities in the Indian field of Science and Technology (S&T).

This request was made by Indian High Commissioner Taranjit Singh Sandhu when he participated in the inaugural ceremony of RESCON2019 - the annual Research Congress of the Post Graduate Institute of Sciences (PGIS) in University of Peradeniya as Chief Guest today .

In his address, High Commissioner Sandhu underlined both India's and Sri Lanka’s rich scientific tradition. He also highlighted recent advances that India has made in the field of Science and Technology (S&T) and pointed out opportunities available for Sri Lankan scholars for collaboration with their Indian counterparts in the S&T sector.

The High Commissioner emphasized that India continued to stand with Sri Lanka and noted that following Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s solidarity visit to Sri Lanka in June 2019, the number of Indian tourist arrivals to Sri Lanka became around thrice the number from second highest source market.

More than two hundred researchers, faculty and members of the academia were present at the event. Last evening High Commissioner Sandhu was received and blessed by the Most Venerable Mahanayake Theros of Asgiriya and Malwathu Chapters.  High Commissioner also paid respects at Sri Dalada Maligawa (Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic).

Meanwhile, a group of senior SLFP organizers have held a discussion at Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera’s residence on Thursday (10). Close to 40 organizers of the SLFP had attended this meeting, it is learnt.

During the discussion, the organizers have vehemently objected to the SLFP decision to support the candidacy of the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) presidential candidate Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

Welgama joins to protect SLFP

Meanwhile, UPFA MP Kumara Welgama told Neth News that he objected to the SLFP’s decision to support the SLPP candidate.

He has further noted that he has decided to remain silent during the upcoming presidential election without extending his support to any of the candidates.

Welgama has added that he would commence a programme to safeguard the SLFP shortly.

Rajapaksa said, “We will give free fertiliser for all farmers and write off the loans they have obtained. On the very next day of becoming president, we will exonerate all military men who had been sent to jail after having been charged with false accusations. We will also create a pension fund for all civil defence force personnel who had served over 20 years.”

He said he was often accused of being a ‘military karaya’ or ‘hamuda karaya’ by his political opponents. “We ended the era where military men were called hamuda karaya. At the same time, I would like to remind that it was this militaray karaya who helped spearhead the war against the LTTE and defeat it. This militaray karaya brought peace to the country,” he said.

While thanking the SLFP for pledging their support to him, Rajapaksa said the SLFP had never turned their back on the Rajapaksas.

“With all of your support, we will win the election. We aspire to create a safe, disciplined, worry-free and a prosperous nation,” he said.

Meanwhile, it has been noted by several civil society activists that most of the military personnel currently custody are facing criminal charges.

Military personnel have been implicated in cases of abductions, assaults, disappearances as well as murders of persons during the previous Rajapaksa regime.

The European Union (EU) has provided funding amounting to Euro 40 million to Sri Lanka for the implementation of Strengthening Transformation, Reconciliation and Inclusive Democratic Engagement (STRIDE) Project.

The agreement was signed between Finance Ministry Secretary Dr. R. H. S. Samaratunge and Ambassador to Sri Lanka and the Maldives for the Delegation of the European Union Tung Lai Margue.  

The Finance Ministry said in a statement that the project will be implemented in the Northern, Eastern, North Central and Uva provinces with the indirect management of the World Bank (WB), UNDP, and the British Council.

“In partnering with the World Bank (WB), the EU will allocate Euro 22.5 million from its grant funds of the STRIDE Project to the ‘Performance Grant Scheme’ of the “Local Development Support Project” which is financed by the World Bank (USD 70 million). Local Development Support Project aims to support development in war-affected and lagging provinces, improve coordination in local service delivery and promote economic opportunities, inclusiveness and social cohesion,” the statement said.

A national security strategy based on a sound national security policy (NSS/NSP) will be crafted to deal with specific security challenges, a senior defense ministry official said.

With the objective of providing continued and secured alternative communication network similar to the modern communication system existed between the tri forces, the Strategic Defence Communications Network consisting of 37 microwave links connecting 22 terminal points in the island wide had been planned to complete under the mid-term expenditure framework implemented during the period from 2014 to 2016 .

However, the term of the project had been extended up to 2018. Further, the initial estimated cost of Rs 1,192 million had been revised as Rs 1,854 million without obtaining the approval from relevant parties.

It was observed that 22 electricity generators including generators procured and installed at a cost of Rs.15.7 million in 2016 and other 12 generators procured at a cost of Rs 10.8 million in 2017 had remained idle at the premises without being utilized for intended purposes with the guarantee periods also expiring, an audit inspection revealed.