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CEB to CBK: Blackouts due to testing
The CEB is to explain to President Chandrika Kumaratunga the reason for the sudden power failures following a letter sent by the President to Power and Energy Minister Karu Jayasuriya last week concerning sudden black outs experienced during the last few months.

In a letter to Minister Jayasuriya the President directed an immediate inquiry into the continued power failures and asked him to explain measures taken to overcome the situation. CEB Chairman S Zubair told The Sunday Times that the Board is currently preparing a detailed reply explaining the reasons for the sudden breakdowns and other issues raised by the President.

"The Board has decided to send a reply explaining the reasons for the power failures. The letter, giving all technical details, will be sent next week, " he said. He added that one of the main reasons for the sudden power failures is due to two power plants running on test.

" The JEBIC plant at Kelanitissa is still in the process of being commissioned. When it is running on test and the load is too much the power goes off. This is the case with any plant when it is put through this stage" he said.

The President has also questioned the validity of and delay in implementing the combined cycle power plant at Kerwalapitiya despite the availability of cheaper fuel.
However Mr. Zubair has said that when implementing such projects the advice of the World Bank, ADB and other institutions is taken as they have the best experts.

"They have experts who have conducted studies in the relevant fields for years and then taken decisions" he said. Meanwhile Minister Jayasuriya told The Sunday Times that he had sent a reply to the President on the issue.


Not cricket girls; Indian vanishing trick in UK
Neville de Silva in London
It is certainly not cricket. Here in the very heart of the cricketing world, it is not merely the aging veterans of the MCC who must be twirling their moustaches in agitation. Britain's Home Office, proud that it has been able to reduce asylum seekers, must also have been wondering whether it has been neatly caught in the slips by some women cricketers from India.

And if the Home Office discovers that its slip is showing, applicants for visas to Britain might well have to give more than their finger prints to get here. Earlier this month five women from a team from Jalandhar in northern India on a month-long tour of Britain, disappeared from the two houses in Hounslow, West London where they were staying.

But they are not the first women cricketers to be run out, or rather run out. Sri Lanka has that distinction. Earlier this year three Sri Lankan women cricketers, including the captain of the team, passing through London on their way home from a tour in the West Indies, stole away from the Heathrow airport after they had checked in for the SriLankan Airlines flight.

Though the Sri Lanka High Commission notified the British authorities that the three women had failed to board the flight, not a whisper has reached it on what happened to the three women cricketers.

The three women cricketers of the Lankan team failed to board their flight to Colombo from Heathrow airport after they arrived from Barbados in the West Indies last March.
They were identified as Captain Sudarshini Sivanathan, Ramani Perera and Hiroshi Abeysinghe.

While one of the Sri Lankan women cricketers was seen speaking to an unidentified man at the Heathrow airport before disappearing without her baggage, an Indian cricketer went one better. She thoughtfully took her bag, apparently not wanting to let the cat out.

Even more importantly she was seen entering a car with two men, probably believing there is safety in numbers. The other four women reportedly told team mates that they were going to the next house where some of the players were staying, but were not seen thereafter. Detectives began searching for the missing women after team mates reported their disappearance.

The five women had left their passports behind and are believed to be together.
Detective Inspector Brent Lancaster who is leading the investigation reportedly said: "At this stage we believe that these women may have gone off on a pre-planned adventure-after all they are on holiday".

That seemed a strange thing to say when the women came here to play cricket. Or perhaps it is holiday cricket. "We want them to know that they haven't broken any laws......They are not in trouble; we just need to know if they are safe," the detective added judiciously.

The team which came here on August 10 played two games in Herefordshire. The person who has been really stumped-and it needed no recourse to the third umpire- is the organiser of the Cricket Week in Herefordshire, Carol Hanley.

According to her the names on the Jalandhar team sheet did not match the names of the players who turned up. Perhaps Ms. Hanley had not heard the wise words of the Bard: "What's in a name? That which we call a rose, by any other name would smell as sweet." Well, try telling that to the British High Commission.


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