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‘Gramashakthiyen – Gama Hadana Gamana’ programme intended to provide immediate solutions to the developmental problems of the villages will be launched today under the patronage of President Maithripala Sirisena.

The program will commence from the from the Puttalam district’s Mahawewa-Medagoda and will run parallel to the Grama Shakthi People’s Movement.

The public representatives covering all 16 Divisional Secretariat Divisions in the district will attend the program and will be given an opportunity to present their development-related issues to the President. 

Ministers, parliamentarians and government officials of the district will also be in attendance at the meeting presided by the President in a bid to resolve the issues faced by the people instantaneously.

The programme is implemented according to a concept of President Maithripala Sirisena and will be launched in all the districts across the country.

Two new State Ministers and five Deputy Ministers were sworn in before President Maithripala Sirisena at the Presidential Secretariat today (12). 

State Ministers: 

Ranjith Aluwihare – State Minister of Tourism Development and Christian Religious Affairs

Lucky Jayawardena – State Minister of Hill Country New Villages, Infrastructure and Community Development
 
Deputy Ministers:

Ajith Mannapperuma – Deputy Minister of Environment

Angajan Ramanathan – Deputy Minister of Agriculture 

Kader Masthan – Deputy Minister Resettlement, Rehabilitation, Northern Development & Hindu Religious Affairs

Edward Gunasekara – Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs and Wayamba Development

Nalin Bandara Jayamaha – Deputy Minister of Public Administration, Management and Law & Order

The President’s Media Division has rejected the report that was published on a newspaper on Sunday (10), claiming that the arrest and deportation of the editor of a website was requested in a meeting between President Maithripala Sirisena and British High Commissioner James Dauris.

“The said news item is incorrect and falsely reports the said meeting, and no request was made for either deportation or arrest of the editor of the claimed website or any other person,” the PMD said in a statement. 

The report had alleged that the President had requested for Britain to arrest and deport London-based LankaeNews Editor Pradeep Sandaruwan Senadheera.

Source : Ada Derana

According to the Colombo Telegraph website Austin Fernando who is currently serving as the President’s Secretary has tendered his resignation from the post yesterday. 

However, the report says the President had refused to accept the resignation letter after which Fernando had left it on the table before leaving. 

Colombo Telegraph says the reason for his decision is due to his disillusionment with the current political situation prevailing in the country.

Following the devastating floods and landslides which have struck Sri Lanka recently, the European Commission has given €160,000 (approximately LKR 29 million) in humanitarian funding to bring emergency assistance to the communities affected by the recent floods. 

Some 17,500 people in the seven most affected districts of the country will benefit from aid with priority being given to those who have been displaced, the Delegation of the European Union to Sri Lanka said today.

Flood victims will receive cash grants which will enable them to purchase essential households items. Priority will be given to access to clean water and sanitation, particularly through the cleaning of wells with contaminated water. First aid and medical services will also be provided, together with hygiene awareness sessions to avoid the spread of waterborne diseases.

In a bid to absolve his son, State Minister Palitha Range Bandara now claims the sword and club found in his son, Yashodha Range Bandara’s vehicle following the recent accident caused by him while driving drunk was left by a group that had attacked two others travelling with his son at the time. 

“No investigation in this regard is being conducted,” he says adding that they had complained of this attack to the hospital Police. 

However, the owner of the house damaged in the accident, Chanaka Lahiru speaking to Hiru News has refuted the allegations by the Minister claiming that no such incident took place. According to the homeowner, people had gathered to take the wounded to the hospital. “Police arrived in less than 30 minutes so if there was such an attack they would have witnessed it,” he says. 

The Minister now also claims that cab involved in the accident was not public property as being claimed by the Police.

State Minister Palitha Range Bandara’s son Yasodha Range Bandara, who was arrested for causing an accident, has been further remanded until June 14 by the Chilaw Magistrate’s Court. 

He was arrested by officers of the Arachchikattuwa Police on June 8, on charges of drunk driving and misuse of public property. 

The incident had occurred at around 12.50 am on June 6 while they were both admitted to the Chilaw Hospital afterwards. The house and cab were severely damaged due to the accident. A double cab belonging to the Ministry of Irrigation was involved in the accident while it was later reported that the state minister’s son had been driving the vehicle under the influence of alcohol at the time. 

Excerpts from :: Ada Derana

Investigations into several serious cases of crime committed during the Rajapaksa era including that of the killing of Senior Journalist Lasantha Wickrematunge, the disappearance of journalist Prageeth Eknaligoda, abduction of The Nation editor Keith Noyahr and the killing of Rugby player Wasim Thajudeen are set to be completed by end of the year.

The decision was made following a meeting between the President and Prime Minister recently. 

The duo is said to have met to resolve the various issues that have cropped up within the consensus government when this decision was made.

The President is said to have called the IGP at the time to convey the decision and give further instructions sources said.

The group of 16 which had announced that it intends to meet with Former Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa who is pegged to be a possible candidate for the 2020 Presidential election have been left in a lurch after he claimed he had received no such request for a meeting.

“It is quite common for various professionals, business people, academics and politicians to meet me for discussions, but so far there is no formal request for a meeting with the 16 member group,” Rajapaksa had said. 

Since leaving the government the 16 group have almost become political orphans with no party being willing to align with them.

JVP MP Dr Nalinda Jayatissa has threatened to take legal action against Maithri Gunaratne, who had stated that Jayatissa had obtained money from Perpetual Treasuries Ltd and Arjun Aloysius through Mahesh Senanayaka.

According to him in the past few days, though those who had taken money from Aloysius and have been exposed, certain individuals are attempting to mislead the public by pointing their fingers at others.

Postal services have completely been disrupted due to the strike by workers says the Postal Services Trade Unions Front. 

According to Chinthaka Bandara, convenor of the union the strike which began yesterday had gained the support of all workers in the Department. 

The workers say the strike will continue till their issues are resolved. However, the Minister of Posts, Abdul Haleem says these issues have already been addressed.

Sri Lanka last week made two significant decisions impacting on its emerging tourism market, appointing a new head to its state tourism promotion agency and removing the CEO of its loss-making national carrier.

Both institutions are key to the country’s tourism promotion with 2.5 million arrivals targeted this year.

Dehan Seneviratne, a veteran marketing and management consultant, has been appointed as chairman of Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau (SLTPB) on June 4. He replaces Udaya Nanayakkara, who was forced to quit in January 2018 after just six months in the job, due to disagreements over the long-delayed destination marketing campaign with tourism minister John Amaratunga.


Dehan Seneviratne with the Minister of Tourism and Christian Religious Affairs John Amaratunga and the Secretary to the Ministry of Tourism Esala Weerakoon.

Seneviratne’s appointment comes at a critical time as Sri Lanka’s tourism promotion campaigns finally got underway earlier this month starting with a promotion blitz through CNN.

SriLankan Airlines chairman Ranjit Fernando confirmed to TTG Asia that CEO Suren Ratwatte, who has been criticised in the past for extravagant spending, is stepping down in August. “We are interviewing a couple of local and foreign candidates for the post,” Fernando said.
Fernando stated that the 2017/2018 financial year ending March saw a loss of US$105 million but that a restructuring plan submitted by Nyras, an aviation consultancy, is underway. There are plans to turn around the loss-making airline in two to three years with “some hard decisions”.

In a circular to staff last week, Fernando said the board of directors has decided to make changes to the structure of the top management team.

“There will be a new chief for the commercial division. Our fully owned subsidiary, the catering company, is led by a part-time CEO. We have already engaged a new CFO, who will assume office shortly. There will also be some minor reallocation of responsibilities in the organisational structure,” he said.

Feizal Samath/TTG Asia