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23rd December 2001

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Counting the costs after the polls

By Faraza Farook
State institutions which released vehicles for election work on the instructions of politicians have begun the task of assessing the damage caused to them and tracing lost vehicles.

Damage caused to vehicles released for election work is now being assessed by the institutions concerned, with some having already been sent for repairs while some others have still to be returned or traced.

The Ceylon Petroleum Corporation which released 32 vehicles for election work, got back six of them in a damaged condition while two others had been detained by the Police and two more had been reported missing.

CPC Chairman Daham Wimalasena said two vehicles had been detained by the Teldeniya Police, the damaged vehicles were being repaired while the two missing vehicles were being looked for.

The vehicles released by the CPC are said to be 13 Land Rover Defender vehicles, ten double cabs, three vans, two jeeps, two Mercedes Benz cars and two Tata cars.

The Education Ministry had also released vehicles of which a few had still to be returned. Additional Secretary Mrs. Hema Jayaweera said the Police have been informed to recover vehicles that have not been returned. She also said Police Headquarters will be informed of the missing vehicles. Secretary of the Fisheries Ministry S. Amarasekera said the release of vehicles for election work had been reported to the relevant authorities. 

He said the vehicles were taken by the Minister's personal staff and he had no authority to stop them. Mr. Amarasekera denied being aware that these vehicles were being misused except in one case, which was reported to the Elections Commissioner.

Though there were reports of misuse of Health Ministry vehicles, Senior Assistant Secretary Mrs. Seetha Vithanarachchi said vehicles were released only for 'Suwa Udana' programmes and they were returned promptly. 

Damaged vehicles were found in many police stations with no one coming to claim them. 

Two vehicles in the custody of the Wattegama police had no claimants while two other vehicles were seized from the premises of a prominent politician in the district.

The Institute of Human Rights (IHR) which investigated the misuse of public property said in its final report that vehicles belonging to state institutions were the most misused of the public resources. 

The IHR had received information relating to 433 state vehicles used by the PA for election activities. Though information was available only in respect of 433 vehicles the number was much higher, the IHR reported.

The key institutions named by the IHR whose vehicles had been misused were the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation, Lotteries Board, Police, Agriculture Department, SLPA, CWE, Samurdhi, Mahaweli Authority and the Ministries of Co-operative Development, Labour, Health, Education, Post, Youth Affairs, Justice, Finance, Irrigation, Fisheries and Transport.

The IHR said the misuse of vehicles brought to the notice of the IGP had been to no avail. The report said a large number of vehicles had been seen without number plates while some carried false number plates and still others had garage numbers.

It also pointed out that the State emblem on some vehicles had been covered by posters. The IHR said false entries had been made in releasing some of the vehicles. 

The IHR reported that 16 vehicles belonging to the Mahaweli Authority had carried persons with weapons intimidating political opponents in the Dimbulagala area. 


The name of the game: foul says PA, walkover says UNP

By Chris Kamalendran
The stadium in Moratuwa was plunged into a major battle yesterday — not over a cricket match but over a political match amidst charges of coups and crossover politics.

The Moratuwa Municipal council at a controversial meeting on Friday to a quickfire decision to rename the De Soysa Stadium as Tyronne Fernando Stadium — but PA members who still form a majority in the council said some one had played foul.

The name game began when Municipal Councillor Anthony Fernando who recently crossed over to the UNP from the PA moved a resolution to change the name of 'De Soysa Stadium to Tyronne Fernando Stadium after the new foreign minister.

But PA member Milton de Mel told The Sunday Times last night the opposition members had suddenly moved this resolution which were not included in the agenda.

He said 11 UNP members and two PA members including Moratuwa's Mayor Ananda Kusumsiri who has pledged his support to the UNP were present when the resolution was passed, but none of the PA members was there.

The composition of the council is 15 PA members, two MEP members and one JVP member on the ruling side while the UNP has 11 members. However with the two members including the mayor supporting the UNP, the opposition strength has gone up to 13.

Mr. De Mel said the PA still had a majority in the council and would complain to the Municipal Commissioner and Local Government Commissioner about the sudden passing of the resolution. He said they also planned to take legal action.

But, Municipal Commissioner A.J. Karunaratne rejected Mr. de Mel's claim, saying it was the fault of the PA members that the resolution was passed in their absence.

He said there was no need to list the item on the agenda as there was provision allowing members to move a resolution with the consent of the majority.

Mr. Karunaratne, however, said he would also be seeking the Local Government commissioner's advice on the matter.

The stadium built in mid-1980's in the precincts of the De Soysa park was re-named as Tyronne Fernando stadium, after current Foreign Minister who held the post of President of the Board of Control of Cricket in Sri Lanka (BCCSL). But in 1997 the name was re-named as De Soysa Stadium. 

Mr. Fernando was responsible for upgrading the stadium as an international venue for cricket matches.


Tax to enter Colombo city

By M. Ismeth
About 250,000 vehicles enter Colombo city daily and the Municipal Council is drawing up plans to raise Rs. 150 million annually by levying a road tax on all those vehicles, Mayor Omar Kamil said.

Presenting his budget, he said the money raised from the road tax could be used to build multi-storeyed vehicle parks thus easing parking problems and traffic congestion.

Vehicle owners say they pay licence and insurance fees, but the CMC says it gets nothing from that for maintenance and repair of roads.


Misuse of public property not corruption, says Bribery commission

Reports of misuse of public property during the recently concluded Parliamentary elections compiled by an organisation committed to protecting public resources, which had been sent to the Bribery Commission to investigate have been rejected.

The Programme for the Protection of Public Property of the Institution of Human Rights (PPP/IHR) said the Commission had refused to investigate its reports citing that it does not come under corruption. In a letter to PPP/IHR the Commission had stated, "the material submitted in your reports do not come within the purview of the Act on Bribery or Corruption".

Project Director for PPP/IHR J.C. Weliamuna rejected the Commission's claim and said the matter will be taken to courts. 

"The Act clearly defines what corruption is and if the abuse of public property does not amount to corruption, then what is corruption?" he asked.

The PPP/IHR called for independent investigations into all allegations in its reports.



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