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LTTE court further remands soldier By Chris
Kamalendran The soldier
identified as Wimal Kumara moved for bail on Thursday, through lawyer
T.S. Senthilvelar , but the application was turned down by the LTTE
court and he was re-remanded until February 13. The case was
taken up at the LTTE 'District Courts' before its 'judge', C. Maniarasan. LTTE police
said they were not agreeable for bail as investigations were continuing,
but the lawyer for the soldier said the application should be considered
as there was no evidence to suggest that the soldier had committed
a criminal offence. The soldier's
family members and members of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission were
present in courts. The family members had sought the services of
the lawyer by paying Rs. 300 for the appearance. Earlier the
Army had refused to retain a lawyer in the LTTE-controlled area
on the grounds that they had not recognized the LTTE's judicial
system. The family members had urged the SLMM to intervene and secure the release of the soldier, but the LTTE's political wing had reportedly informed them that they would not be able to 'interfere' with the 'legal system'. PM instructs CoL be brought down Prime Minister
Ranil Wickremesinghe has instructed both the Finance Minister and
Economic Reforms Minister to inquire as to why the consumer continues
to suffer despite the Government introducing several concessions
to bring down the cost of living. The Prime Minister
on Friday held discussions with Ministers K N Choksy and Milinda
Moragoda to discuss the issue of the rising cost of living. With a view to rectifying matters Minister Ckoksy yesterday told The Sunday Times that they will ascertain as to why concessions had not reached the consumer. "The government
had made several concessions including the bringing down of customs
duty from the previous 40% to 20% and for transportation purposes
petrol and diesel prices too have been reduced, but we feel that
its only the trader and not the consumer who has benefited. We will find
out the reason for this as the concessions were made to bring down
the CoL and ease the burdens on the consumer. Once we find out the
reason we will bring in measures to rectify this situation"
said Minister Choksy. The mounting CoL living is a burning issue bugging the UNF government with several of its Ministers coming out strongly against rising prices. By Tania
Fernando A spokesman
for Shell Gas said that though they have not made any decision on
price increases just yet, the possibility of gas prices being raised
is more certain now due to the rapid increase of prices in the world
market. He said that
according to the agreement Shell Gas has with the Government, it
was possible for them to increase the price of gas every two months,
as such there next revision would come up in February. Shell Gas increased
their prices in December last year by Rs. 35. "According to our formula we could have gone upto Rs. 666 per cylinder, but we increased it only to Rs. 598," the spokesman for Shell said. Meanwhile, Chairman of LAUGFS Gas, W K H Wegapitiya said that prices are steadly going up in the world market and a price revision would become necessary by February 1. Pay rise in June,Choksy tells state sector By Shelani
Perera The Finance
Ministry this week issued a circular increasing the allowances of
Chairman and Executive Directors of state Commercial Corporations,
Statutory Boards and Government owned Companies by a minimum of
Rs. 5,000. Accordingly
a Chairman's allowance has been increased to Rs. 40,000 - an increase
of Rs. 7,000. Under the new
scheme a chairman is entitled to monthly allowances ranging from
between Rs. 30,000 to Rs. 40,000. The allowance
of an Executive Director has been increased by a minimum of Rs.
13,750, to Rs. 20,000 while an Execuctive Director defined as 'A'
grade will receive Rs. 30,000. A Finance Ministry
spokesman said that since a chairman or an Executive Director in
these institutions is not entitled to a salary, the allowances have
been increased in a bid to prevent some of the efficient officials
leaving. The move came
as Finance Minister K.N.Choksy this week declared that a salary
revision for state sector employees will be considered only after
June. 'We will monitor
the economic growth rate and take a decision after June, should
the economic situation improve. There has been a economic growth
rate reported in the second half of last year and we will review
the situation and decide after June.', he said. Meanwhile the
Public Service Trade Union which has been agitating for a salary
hike has decided to launch a strike next month calling on the Government
to increase salaries. The President
of the Public Service Trade Union W H Piyadasa told The Sunday Times
that they don't believe the Government will increase the salary
in June. "When the UNP was in the opposition they called on the government to increase the salaries, they even promised to give an increment of 2000 rupees, but it never happened. Now we are asked to wait until June. If the economy is sound as the government says it is, why is the delay' he asked. Be efficient public officials, says Aluvihare By Nalaka
Nonis. This decision was taken following the many complaints received by Minister Alick Aluwihare that some officers are not at their posts during the hours of duty. Officials of
the Special Investigation Unit of the Ministry will visit the district
offices to check on the performances of public officers and if found
wanting then necessary disciplinary action would be taken against
them. Minister Alick
Aluwihare said the purpose of this exercise is to improve the efficiency
and performance of the public service and to provide a better service
to the general public. The Minister requests the public to appraise him of any corruption or delay taking place in the departments that are under the control of the Ministry of Home Affairs, Provincial Councils and Local Government. |
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