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Pindapatha for historic Tripitaka event

Pindapatha for historic Tripitaka event

With the government taking measures for the sacred Theravada Buddhist text, the Tripitaka, to be declared as a World Heritage by the UNESCO, week-long ceremonies began yesterday to mark this historic event. On March 23, the main ceremony will be held at the Mahamaluwa of Sri Dalada Maligawa with the participation of the Mahanayake Theras [...]

China bank approves $ 1b loan for expressway

After nearly four years of negotiations, Sri Lanka has obtained a US$ one billion (Rs 178 billion) loan from China Exim Bank for the construction of first stage of the Central Expressway project. The delay in completing negotiations for the loan is estimated to cost an additional Rs 12 billion, which includes escalation of the [...]

Rs. 2.3b to maintain CIABOC, but only one case involving more than Rs. 10m filed in court

In the last decade, the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC) has filed only one case in court where the alleged inducement was in excess of Rs 10 million. But the cost of maintaining the Commission over the same period has been more than Rs 2.3 billion, data obtained through a Right [...]

No valid work visa: Jail terms for 14 Chinese workers

Fourteen Chinese construction workers without a valid working visa were sentenced to a one-year jail term and fined Rs 50,000 each by Galle’s Magistrate Harshana Kekunawela on Friday. The workers who had arrived on one-month tourist visas were arrested after their tourist visas had lapsed and they were found to be working on a hotel [...]

1,500 illegal coastal buildings being demolished

The Coast Conservation Department (CCD) has begun the demolition of more than 1,500 illegally constructed buildings, including hotels, restaurants and houses, on the coastline throughout the country, a senior official said. The demolition began this week at Unawatuna in Galle, Bambalapitiya and Mt Lavinia. CCD Director General B.K. Prabath Chandrakeerthi told the Sunday Times the [...]

PM to meet PSC amid controversy over national school principal appointments

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe is to meet the Public Service Commission on Monday to discuss outstanding issues, among which is the alleged discrepancies in a new marking system for appointments of national school principals. The move came after the old boys and past pupils associations of several national schools in a letter complained to the [...]

Teacher unions demand less admin work, salary equity

Providing more quality time for teaching instead of overburdening teachers with unnecessary paper work was among the demands made by unions during this week’s token strike that crippled classrooms. Ceylon Teachers’ Union General Secraetary Joseph Stalin told the Sunday Times that education authorities demand reports on matters not related to teaching and that creates more [...]

Move to get 1,000 kilos of narcotic drugs destroyed

The presidential task force on prevention of drugs has sought the assistance of the Attorney General’s Department to expedite the process of releasing drugs held for prolonged periods in courts so that they could be destroyed. The task force has already reduced the time taken for the Government Analyst’s report to three months in contrast [...]

Over 7,000 devotees at Katchchathivu feast

Over 7,000 devotees at Katchchathivu feast

More than 7,000 Catholic devotees on both sides of the Palk Strait gathered at the Katchchathivu islet yesterday to celebrate the annul feast of St Anthony, considered by the faithful to be the guardian of fisherfolk communities on the oceans. The Feast High Mass was conducted in Tamil by by Rev Fr Joshep Lurduraj of [...]

Local contractors agitate against Chinese dominance

Sri Lanka’s contractors have expressed concern over Chinese dominance in construction projects here, and Government efforts to preclude the local trade from participating even in basic tenders. One example they pointed to was an initiative to rehabilitate high priority roads and bridges in the Northern and Eastern Provinces, advertised in January last year by the [...]

Traffic OIC’s death: Suspect to be produced for identification parade tomorrow

The suspect driver of the defender vehicle involved in the hit-and-run accident that led top the death of  Borella Traffic OIC Ananda Sagara Sarathchandra, will be produced in the Colombo Fort Magistrate’s Court tomorrow for an identification parade. Bambalapitiya Traffic OIC, Sub Inspector (SI) R.S.K. Ranatunga, told the Sunday Times that several witnesses to the [...]

Tremor felt in areas of Badulla district

A minor tremor was felt in some areas of Badulla district yesterday, the Geological Survey and Mines Bureau Seismic Data and Tsunami Alert Centre said. The tremor had occurred at 8.17 a.m. Senior Director of (Geology) Udaya de Silva told the Sunday Times that Sri Lanka experiences small tremors that go unnoticed. He said yesterday’s [...]

IGP orders probe on alleged police harassment

The Inspector General of Police (IGP) has ordered an investigation into a motorist’s complaint regarding the alleged police harassment that occurred recently near the Police Hospital in Narahenpita. Accordingly, Officer-in-Charge (OIC) of the Colombo South Division, Roshan Dias has been directed to conduct an inquiry and take appropriate action. A police team appointed by the [...]

Ports Ministry in move to cancel ECT bidding process; India-Japan deal under consideration

The Ports and Shipping Ministry this week sought Cabinet permission to rescind a 2016 bidding process for the deep water East Container Terminal (ECT) after squandering months on what started out as an effort to seal a public private partnership for the facility’s management. Ports Minister Sagala Ratnayake presented the paper to the Cabinet this [...]

Colombo-Malabe Light Rail Transit from 2024

The Light Rail Transit (LRT) system between Colombo and Malabe will be built utilising a soft loan of Yen 30 billion from Japan (about Rs 48 billion). The loan agreement between the Government and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) was signed on Monday (11). The total length of the light railway is 16 km [...]

Week-long programmes to mark start of process to declare Theravada Tripitaka as a World Heritage

Week-long programmes to mark start of process to declare Theravada Tripitaka as a World Heritage

‘Tripitakabhivandana’ Week, to mark the occasion of initiating the process to declare the Theravada Tripitaka as a World Heritage, began yesterday. The programme that was launched yesterday will be on till March 23. The national ceremony to announce the proposal made by Sri Lanka to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to [...]

‘Mali needs us’

‘Mali needs us’

Corporal S. Kumarasinghe who survived the attack on the Sri Lankan blue helmets in Mali on  January 25 and is recovering at the Army Hospital in Colombo, talks to Asiri Fernando   Corporal S. Kumarasinghe keeps a matchbox-sized piece shrapnel in an empty jam jar in his bag. It was the shard that lodged in [...]

National Action Plan to combat Bribery, Corruption to be launched tomorrow

The National Action Plan (NAP) for Combatting Bribery and Corruption in Sri Lanka will be ceremonially launched tomorrow (18) in Colombo, under the patronage of President Maithripala Sirisena. The Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC) was entrusted with the task of formulating this NAP. The CIABOC, along with the Presidential Secretariat and [...]

Experts slam Govt.’s new policy on people displaced by projects

Specialists have slammed the Government’s new policy for resettling those displaced by development projects. It is disturbing that the policy—produced by the National Agency for Public Private Partnership (NAPPP) under the Finance Ministry—makes the Valuation Department the final arbiter for deciding compensation payments, say Ruwani Jayawardene and Sam Pillai, resettlement experts who helped draft the [...]

One rat and seeni sambol bun, please

One rat and seeni sambol bun, please

Inside a bakery in Deans Road, Maradana, health officials of the Colombo Municipal Council were jolted when a rat darted towards them. It had been hiding inside stacked metal trays used to bake bread. The floor of the baking areas had layers of dust. The table on which the dough was kneaded had dust too [...]

Mannar mass grave: US report a small piece in complex puzzle

Mannar mass grave: US report a small piece in complex puzzle

While a US carbon dating report into six human skeleton samples taken from Sri Lanka’s largest mass grave revealed they belong to the 15th century, the Mannar Magistrates’ Court is yet to rule on the next step in the exhumation. The court is to hear the case on March 22. Two weeks ago, the radiocarbon [...]

Local contractors agitate against Chinese dominance

Sri Lanka’s contractors have expressed concern over Chinese dominance in construction projects here, and Government efforts to preclude the local trade from participating even in basic tenders. One example they pointed to was an initiative to rehabilitate high priority roads and bridges in the Northern and Eastern Provinces, advertised in January last year by the [...]

Get your act together to cut road toll, ministries urged

Get your act together to cut road toll, ministries urged

A meeting of all ministerial stakeholders has been called next week in a bid to end years of uncoordinated road safety planning, as police investigate the crash of a bus full of young trainee teachers in which one person died and 40 others were injured. The bus, carrying students and teachers from the National College [...]

Australia-Sri Lanka in military exercise to strengthen Defence ties

Australia-Sri Lanka in military exercise to strengthen Defence ties

A joint task-force led by the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) flagship, two frigates, a replenishment oiler and nearly 1,000 Australian Defence Forces (ADF) personnel will arrive in Sri Lanka later this month to partake in ‘Indo-Pacific Endeavour-19′ (IPE-19), a multilateral defence cooperation exercise. The Australian defence initiative will see ADF personnel and their Sri Lankan [...]

Serious consequences feared from rising heat

Serious consequences feared from rising heat

The worsening hot weather is impacting the health of people, depleting drinking water supplies and has reduced hydropower generation. It is also set to badly affect agricultural production, including vegetables. Kurunegala is among the areas which reported the highest temperatures last Friday. The Meteorology Department issued an ‘extreme caution’ warning for most parts of the [...]

Impact of modern communications should be taken into account: Justice Karunarathna

Impact of modern communications should be taken into account: Justice Karunarathna

Newly appointed Court of Appeal Judge Nishshanka Bandula Karunarathna on Friday, said, the impact of advances of modern communications and social media, on peoples’ lives should be taken into account. “It’s now regarded as a potent instrument of change. At the same time, these improvements in technology have enabled the judiciary to communicate speedily, providing [...]

Contrasting styles of the President and the PM

Contrasting styles of the President and the PM

One of the main reasons for the Yahapalana Government struggling to govern in the second half of its term in office is that, there are no Rules of Engagement (RoE) that govern the relationship between the President and the UNP. Having been at loggerheads over the years, the differences between the SLFP and the UNP [...]

Malwathu Chapter’s highest layperson honour to Speaker Karu Jayasuriya

On Tuesday, March 19, the Siam Nikaaya’s Malwatte Chapter will bestow on Speaker Deshabandhu Karu Jayasuriya (78) the “Sasana Keerthi Shri Deshabhimani” award — the highest honour it awards to a layperson for services to the Buddha Sasana and, more broadly, to the nation as a patriot. Mr. Jayasuriya, who is the lay president of [...]

Politicians ran SriLankan airlines, while employees simply followed orders: Witness

Politicians ran SriLankan airlines, while employees simply followed orders: Witness

SriLankan Airlines is an autonomous company that has the right to take independent decisions in the airline’s best interests, but a senior employee claimed they simply followed orders issued by politicians through the board of directors. These orders inflicted damage on the airline, choking it to this day. Appearing before the Commission of Inquiry (CoI) [...]

Pick of the Pix

Pick of the Pix

  Pix by Ishanka Sunimal, Shelton Hettiarachchi and M. Munaf

Millions poured into jungle to save elephants, and still they die

Millions poured into jungle to save elephants, and still they die

The wildlife department spends a colossal Rs. 300 million a year on electric fences to save elephant and human lives but constant political interference and poor siting of fences are thwarting the strategy, former Wildlife Department director-general Sumith Pilapitiya said. Dr. Pilapitiya, who himself had been involved in human-elephant conflict solutions during his tenure, said [...]

Unauthorised beach constructions torn down

Unauthorised beach constructions torn down

Subsequent to a study by the Coast Conservation Authority (CAA), which showed large-scale encroachment of beaches, the government commenced a programme of demolishing unauthorized constructions around the country’s coast-line. The measures together with a beach clean-up programme are part of a programme to safeguard the country’s beaches. A decision to act was taken after the [...]

Replanting the damaged Coral Gardens of Hikkaduwa

Replanting the damaged Coral Gardens of Hikkaduwa

Rainer Nedwed a German national and a teacher by profession, has long been captivated by the beauty of the Coral Gardens at Hikkaduwa. Being a teacher he knew the environmental value of the corals, and has endevoured to play a role in protecting corals. He was in Hikkaduwa when the tsunami hit the country on [...]

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