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Home » NewsFloating lanterns: Tsunami memorial at sea
Just as candles are lit at gravesides, floating lanterns were placed on the Galle sea where thousands were drowned 11 years ago when the tsunami catastrophe hit Sri Lanka on December 26, 2006. This ceremony was organised by the Japan Peace Pagoda’s chief prelate with the cooperation of the security forces. Pic by Gamini Mahadura.
New oil price formula soon; revision every three months
Despite tumbling world oil prices and a tax of Rs. 65 a litre on petrol, the Government has decided not to reduce the local selling price of petrol. Instead, plans are afoot to bring in a new fuel pricing formula where prices will adjust in line with world market trends. The new pricing mechanism is expected [...]
Unpredictable weather but hi-tech radar in cold storage
The Meteorology (Met) Department’s 200 million rupee Doppler radar installed in 2011 has not been used and parts of it are now being sent back to the US manufacturer for repairs. The matter has been raised by the Auditor General’s Department which points out that, even though the Met Department is constantly criticised over the inaccuracy [...]
Trade unions still on the war path
Ten trade union fronts in the banking, administrative and health sectors have issued an ultimatum to the government to heed their demands before mid-January or face a strike. Joint trade union front spokesperson Saman Ratnapriya told the Sunday Times they hoped circulars would be issued to implement the revised budget proposals within the next three weeks. [...]
Special website to know your views on reconciliation
The Government will next month start gathering public opinion through a dedicated website on issues related to reconciliation and “mechanisms” to be set up in this regard. It will be the first phase of the new administration’s promised truth, justice, reconciliation and reparations effort. “Anybody will have the freedom to write in,” said Foreign Ministry [...]
Grameen style microfinance NGOs for small businesses
Non-governmental organisations will be allowed to start microfinance businesses under provisions of a Microfinance Bill to be introduced in Parliament. NGOs registered under the Voluntary Social Service Organisations (Registration and Supervision) Act will be eligible to apply for a certificate of registration as microfinance NGOs. The Microfinance Bill provides for the licensing, regulation and supervision of [...]
Minister’s signature forged in massive housing racket
A mini-kachcheri racket where flats from state constructed housing projects were offered for sale on Housing Ministry documents carrying the forged signature of Minister Sajith Premadasa has been busted by the Colombo Fraud Bureau (CFB). At least 68 complaints have been made to the Bureau by families who fell for this racket because they wished [...]
Young journalist Kavinda wins Kadirgamar scholarship
The Lakshman Kadirgamar Journalism scholarship of this year was awarded to Kavinda Christopher Thomas, who came first in the 2014-2015 batch of the Sri Lanka College of Journalism. He will be attending the advanced media studies course at the prestigious MASCOM Academy in Kottayam, Kerala, India. The academy is managed by the Malayala Manorama Group [...]
Christmas carol services held islandwide
Celebrations were held in various parts of the country to mark Christmas in addition to midnight masses and services on Christmas day. Carol services too were held as part of the celebrations. The photographs show the Choir of St.Xavier’s Church Nuwara Eliya (above) taking part in a carols event organised by the Nuwara Eliya Municipality [...]
Flood control system to be set up in Colombo
A flood and drainage management system aimed at preventing flooding in the Colombo city and its outskirts costing more than Rs. 21 billion will get off the ground early next year, a senior official said. The design for the project which is already prepared following an extensive study on the flooding situation in the city [...]
UNP, SLFP distance themselves from Hirunika
The two main ruling parties yesterday disowned Hirunika Premachandra, the Colombo District parliamentarian at the center of an alleged abduction scandal. “She is not a member of the United National Party (UNP),” their General Secretary Kabir Hasheem told the Sunday Times. He claimed she was from the United National Front for Good Governance (UNFGG) and [...]
Government shopping for ideas on how to utilise Mattala profitably
Director General of Civil Aviation H.M.C. Nimalsiri, said said last week, government was looking abroad for ideas on how best use could be made of the Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport (MRIA). “We are going to call for expressions of interest to find to what kind of proposals people have in mind and see how it [...]
Ranil on a private visit to Ireland
Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe is currently spending a holiday in Ireland where Sri Lanka has no diplomatic representation at present. Though the Sri Lankan High Commissioner to the UK is concurrently accredited to the Irish republic, the last high commissioner who presented credentials in Dublin was Kshenuka Senewiratne, nearly 10 years ago. Since then there [...]
PUC pulls the plug on CEB’s power generation plan
Hard on the heels of COP21, an international conference of world leaders who met to try and stem the disastrous effects of global warming, the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) of Sri Lanka has rejected the Ceylon Electricity Board’s (CEB) new Long-term Generation Expansion Plan and directed the utility to submit a revised version that will [...]
Mega holes in multi-billion rupee highway accounts
Auditor General’s report unearths irregularities, questionable deals and colossal waste in major road projects National Procurement Guidelines flouted in awarding contracts; contractors paid billions more than the usual cost RDA funds used for activities extraneous to the rehabilitation of roads; no Cabinet or Treasury approval obtained Over Rs. 400 million passed for road maintenance, but no work [...]
‘Hero’ and ‘villains’ as Enrique storms stage after many glitches
By 10 p.m. at the CR&FC Grounds last Sunday (20 December), a mutinous crowd-reportedly some 8,000 plus strong-has begun to cheer every stage hand that walks on to the stage. Backstage, there’s an atmosphere of complete exhaustion fuelled by anticipation – many of these people have been up for the last 48 hours, running a [...]
CMC to file criminal charges against the organisers
The Colombo Municipal Council (CMC) is to file criminal charges against the organisers of the concert, after they went ahead with the concert ignoring the ban imposed by the council, a senior official said. CMC treasurer K.D. Chitrapala told the Sunday Times that he had issued a directive to the council’s legal team to prepare [...]
Port city shouldn’t be built on half-baked reports: Experts
A narrow focus on the Colombo Port City’s recently released Supplementary Environmental Impact Assessment (SEIA) risks distracting the public’s attention from other related consequences of the proposed development, engineers who studied the report said this week. Meanwhile, transport experts warned that the developers of the Port City Project must do a Traffic Impact Assessment (TIA) [...]
New Year fun and frolics don’t come cheap
As the Christmas season passes and 2016 approaches elaborate arrangements are in train to celebrate the New Year – but there can be a hefty price tag. While the dawn of the New Year will be welcomed with solemn rejoicing in religious ceremonies, big-name hotels are going all out with dinners, dances and shows reaching [...]
Prevent recidivism with work chances, pleads prisons chief
The prisons chief wants the government to enact policy that would encourage state and corporate bodies to provide job opportunities for rehabilitated prisoners in a bid to reduce the high rate of recidivism. The call comes in the wake of news that 48 per cent of prisoners have served prior sentences. The newly-appointed Commissioner-General of [...]
Poaching crisis continues: Two Lankans escape death
With the Indo-Sri Lanka poaching crisis still in stormy waters, two Sri Lankan fishermen had a narrow escape when Indian trawlers tried to sink their boat after the Navy gave chase to the poachers. The two fishermen, affiliated to the Ambal Fisheries Cooperative in Karainagar, had gone to sea as usual on Wednesday night. Around [...]
Legal action against 277 residents after dengue programme
During a three-day dengue eradication programme in the Western province this week, over one thousand four hundred notices were issued and cases filed for legal action against 277 metropolitan residents. The awareness programme which was organized by the Ministry of Health on Monday saw at least 38,980 places being inspected throughout the province. The Ministry [...]
Dream of tsunami museum not fulfilled
Eleven years after the boxing day tsunami in Telwatta, in Galle, the dream to build a museum in memory of those who died on that fateful day has not materialised yet, even after a pensioner donated his land for this purpose. Ariyaratne Maduwage, a 79 years old pensioner donated a plot of land in 2005 [...]
Everything old is ‘new’ again in killer kottu
Kottu, one of the most popular fast foods, also tops the list of unhygienic meals. A string of raids by Colombo Municipal Council (CMC) health officials has uncovered evidence that many food outlets prepare kottu with old rotis and curries. At least 50 restaurants were hauled into court last month alone and similar cases were [...]
Decision on plantation companies only after January reports, says top official
A solution to the crisis besetting Sri Lanka’s plantations sector could come only after the three committees which are studying the problems in detail submit their reports, Plantation Ministry Secretary Upali Marasinghe said. He said there was no easy way to solve the problem of the ailing plantations sector but the Government was determined to [...]
22 rabies death cause for alarm: Health Ministry
Alarmed by the deaths of 22 people due to rabies this year, the Health Ministry has intensified the battle against the deadly disease — with dog owners being urged to get their pets vaccinated immediately. Last year 19 persons died of rabies, while annually around 3,600 people sought treatment for rabies in public hospitals countrywide, [...]
Airport-to-Colombo monorail can cause floods, wipe out wildlife
Environmentalists have come out in opposition to the proposed monorail project from the Bandaranaike International Airport to Colombo city via the Muthurajawela marshlands, saying it would wipe out many species of wildlife there. So far, no Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report has been carried out on the project despite an agreement having been signed between [...]
IDPs trapped in ‘model village’ fear permanent exile
Three years after Thiruchelvan Ketheeswaran arrived in Keppapilavu village in Mullaitivu to start a new life for his family, his hopes are crumbling. Ketheeswaran was among the thousands of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) resettled in a brand-new village as the final phase of the government’s resettlement process concluded. He could not return to his own [...]
Car entry levy planned as Colombo chokes on traffic
The Colombo Municipal Council (CMC) is considering whether to levy a fee on vehicles entering Colombo city to minimise traffic congestion. CMC Traffic Department Director Nihal Wickramaratne said a levy would push people into taking public transport instead of using private vehicles to travel to the city. The move comes as latest statistics reveal some [...]
Rise in rat fever after heavy rain
A rise in rat fever cases countrywide has prompted the Health Ministry to put its regional directors on alert to take measures to bring the situation under control. Declaring the crisis as a priority health issue, the ministry has directed regional directors of health services to conduct awareness programmes and take preventive measures, in addition [...]
I had to swallow nails, says housemaid
Subhashini, one of thousands of Sri Lankans working as housemaids in the Middle East, who was repeatedly forced to swallow nails by her abusive Saudi employer has spoken about the torture she suffered. The day it all came to a head she had been in severe pain from internal injuries caused by the nails she [...]
New Year resolution: Work more and earn more
It seems our country is going from bad to worse with respect to development programmes, agriculture and in many other fields. Most of our food items are not nutritious enough. Many people are not ready to commit to their duties and responsibilities. We even outsource our laundry. As a result, it is not a surprise that [...]
Human elephant conflict: Bunds and trenches could form a viable solution
Much has been discussed about the sad plight of people inhabiting villages bordering national parks (wild life sanctuaries) and wild elephants which stray into human habitations from these sanctuaries. Although electrified fences have been installed to prevent elephants from straying into human habitations, this method has become less effective as elephants have found ways of [...]