News

Necessary steps will be taken by the Government to revamp the Sri Lanka Air Force and strengthen it with the latest technology in line with other forces of the developed world. This will include the infusion of knowledge and technological skills. The necessary guidance and advise would be sought from developed countries for this purpose, President Maithripala Sirisena said.

The President was addressing the gathering at the President Colours Awards Ceremony held at the Diyatalawa Air Force Combat Training School last morning.

President Sirisena said he was pleased to attend the colour awards ceremony held at this school to honour and convey the nation’s gratitude to the Air Force combat school which had rendered a sterling service to the nation for a very long period.

The President said the Tri Forces of this country had performed a yeoman service to the Motherland during the past few decades. Foremost among them was the dedication made to defeat LTTE terrorism which had been a bane to the country for nearly 28 years.

“The Sri Lanka Air Force had performed its duty and responsibility in the protection of the country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and joined their counterpart Armed Forces to save the country during national disaster situations,” President Sirisena said.

Air Force Commander Air Marshal Kapila Jayampathy said the Presidential Colours Awards Ceremony marked an important cross road in the 67-year-old history of the Sri Lanka Air Force.

“President Sirisena’s decision to hold a Presidential Colours Awards Ceremony to convey the highest honour to the service rendered by the Air Force was most praiseworthy. The Sri Lanka Air Force had been a partner in the country’s development process too. Several welfare measures had already been initiated by the Air Force such as the donation of houses to War Heroes, scholarship awards to children of Air Force personnel and remedying of salary anomalies,” the Air Force Commander said.

Source : Daily News

Madura Vithanage of the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) has been elected as the Mayor of the Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte Municipal Council.

Vithanage secured a total of 23 votes.

The Office for National Unity and Reconciliation (ONUR) Chairperson former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga said while promoting communal unity and harmony, her office would launch a programme to uplift the living standard of war-affected women in the North, including war widows.

She disclosed this at a discussion held at the Jaffna Kachcheri, during a recent visit to the North. Northern Province Chief Minister C. Vigneswaran, Parliamentarian Mavai Seandhiraja, representatives of women’s organisations and a large number of war-affected women in the North attended the discussion.

On inquiry by the former President, the women’s organisations’ representatives said nearly 33,000 women had fallen destitute due to the war in the North and East. They said sexual abuse of women had increased after the war.

Following the discussion, the former President visited Keerimalai and opened a new restaurant selling Jaffna’s traditional food preparations set up under the auspices of the Agriculture Department.

The restaurant has been targeted to attract tourists visiting the Keerimalai hot springs.

She was accompanied by several TNA Parliamentarians.

Source : Daily News

A new chairman and four members of the board for SriLankan Airlines have been appointed. The new appointments come after the resignation letters of the previous board was accepted on March 29.

Ranjith Fernando was appointed as Chairman while Mano Thiththawella, Susantha Katugampola, Doctor Roshan Perera and Air Marshal Kapila Jayampathy were appointed to the board of directors.

Minister of Finance and Mass Media Mangala Samaraweera states that claims of the new income tax bill is to tax earnings of senior citizens and foreign workers is completely false.

This act, which was implemented from April 1, removed the discrepancies in the tax system in Sri Lanka and created a fair tax system, expanded the tax base, simplified existing tax structures, examined international legal concepts against tax evaders, and implemented them as appropriate Minister said.

At present, 82% of the population of Sri Lanka is subject to indirect taxes and direct taxes are paid by only 18% of the population. “However, the aim is to increase the direct tax income to 40% by the new tax bill” the Minister said.

New direct taxes are expected to generate 30 billion rupees in the second and third quarters of the year while the annual revenue is expected to be Rs. 60 billion.

Sri Lanka Ministry of Health jointly with the Ministry of Education, has declared the week from today to April 9 as a National Dengue Prevention Week to launch island wide cleaning campaigns for mosquito eradication.

The Dengue Prevention Week aims to prevent breeding of mosquitoes which increases with the arrival of South West monsoon rains.

The Presidential Task Force together with the Ministries of Education and Health launch the National Dengue Control Week across the country, especially in schools before the new term begins after the holidays.

All Provincial and Zonal Directors of Education have been given instructions to implement the Dengue Prevention Week at schools.

The education officials are instructed to implement the mosquito eradication programs in schools while educating the school community and to implement programs in schools and offices that are not continuously following the dengue eradication programs. The have been instructed to ensure the school premises are clean before the schools resume after vacation.

Since the 1st January of this year, 14,000 suspected dengue cases have been reported from all over the island to the Epidemiology Unit of the Health Ministry

Source : Colombo Page

A team of European Parliament's members will visit Sri Lanka from April 4 to 6 to evaluate the first results of Sri Lanka's accession to the GSP+ scheme. The meeting will also aim to enhance the dialogue with Sri Lanka on the remaining challenges according to the EU office in Colombo.

The delegation would comprise of members of the European Parliament's Committee on International Trade (INTA) including the Standing Rapporteur for South Asia.

Minister of Finance and Mass Media Mangala Samaraweera today met with the mothers of the disappeared and missing in Mullaitivu, who are staging a roadside protest opposite Mullaitivu District Secretariat for the past 390 days demanding to know the whereabouts of their missing children.

The mothers of the disappeared presented the facts about their missing children to the Minister and requested him to provide a quick solution.

The Minister assured them that officers from the Office on Missing persons (OMP) will be sent to meet them soon to learn about the disappearances and he personally will intervene to ensure that the mother will receive the information they seek on their loved ones.

Minister Samaraweera stressed that the activities of the OMP will not be interfered politically or militarily.

Source : Colombo Page

The Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) parliamentary group has unanimously decided to seek Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s resignation prior to the no-confidence vote this week.

The decision was taken after the SLFP MPs met with President Maithripala Sirisena last night for a discussion regarding the matter. The group has unanimously decided to request the UNP leader to resign as Prime Minister before the vote on the no-confidence motion which has been brought against him.

The debate in Parliament on the no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe is set for April 4. President Sirisena also held discussions with the Prime Minister and UNP Cabinet Ministers at the President’s official residence last evening.

Sri Lanka’s Minister of Buddha Sasana, Gamini Jayawickrama Perera, who was in India last month, had keen to visit the famous Lingaraja temple in Odisha but was prevented by the temple priests.

The temple priests had refused to allow him entry as he was not a Hindu, according to the Indian Financial Express.

Perera relayed his experience at a conference organised by the Kalinga International Foundation at Bhubaneswar, to an embarrassed audience. The foundation’s chairman, former Indian foreign secretary Lalit Mansingh, apologised profusely on behalf of his state, the news report said.

The UNP will take stern disciplinary measures against the UNP members who will vote with the No Confidence Motion (NCM) that would be moved by the Joint Opposition against the Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and the whole government on April 4, Power and Renewable Energy State Minister Ajith P. Perera yesterday said.

He made this observation during a press conference held at the UNP Party headquarters 'Siri Kotha.

He said the UNP Working Committee has reached a decision to defeat the NCM, so those who acted against the decision would have to face disciplinary action.

The State Minister further said that so far it is not reported that the SLFP and the UPFA had reached such a decision.

Source : Daily News

If the government is unable to abolish the executive Presidency, a group of Ministers are requesting that Sajith Premadasa is nominated as the next Prime Minister for the upcoming 2020 Presidential election political sources said.

If a Presidential election is to be held in 2020 Wickramasinghe has already claimed to party seniors that he will contest for the Presidency.

He is said to have stressed this when he met some Ministers yesterday when asked as to who the party will field as its 2020 Presidential candidate.

According to sources several Ministers claiming to support the NCM such as Palitha Range Bandara, Wasantha Senanayajke had been in attendance.

When questioned about this claim however a UNP senior leader said it was a merely April fools joke by the PM.