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NE Children to attend Ind. Day celebrations Special instructions
have been sent out to ensure that school children from North and
East and the estate sector take part in the Independence Day Celebrations,
which falls on February 4. Ministry of
Home Affairs, Provincial Councils and Local Government said that
for the first time after a lapse of twenty years school children
from North and East will take part in this year's Independence Day
Celebrations . Furthermore,
seats allocated for disabled soldiers will be substantially increased
this year. Forty delegates
from Belgium representing the Belgium Consular Union Umbrella Group
are expected to participate in the Independence Day Celebrations
following an invitation from the Sri Lanka Honorary Consul. On the evening
of February 4 a cultural show will be held at the Viharamahadevi
Open Air Theatre. The theme of the Independence Day celebrations 2003 is Peace. Bus transport employees plan picketing campaign By Nilika
Kasturisinghe The picketing
campaign which is scheduled to take place at 12 noon is being organised
by the Jathika Sampath ha Janatha Ayithin Suraekeeme Sanvidanaya.
As the controversy rages regarding the sale of six cluster bus company
to the IBIS company the workers are agitating against the denial
of their rights. Last Monday, the IBIS company was compelled to
abandon attempts to carry out a Management Familiarisation Programme
in the cluster bus companies as the government had failed to provide
60 percent of the more than Rs. 800 million bid bond the transfer
of ownership entailed, Transport Ministry sources said. A local spokesman
for the IBIS company who wished to remain anonymous told The Sunday
Times last week that it will pay the required sum before taking
over the management of the cluster bus companies. However, during
the Management Familiarisation Programme which was to take place
from January 20 to February 13, the latter date being the deadline
for the payment of the 60 percent bid bond, the team from IBIS had
been looking forward to working with the current administration
and being granted permission to familiarise themselves with the
administration of the cluster bus companies. The balance
40 percent is payable by March 13. Already the deadline for payment was twice extended by the government. Baby caught in tug-of-war By Sinniah
Gurunathan, The other woman
who is presently in possession of the baby claimed she obtained
it from another woman in Batticaloa who had given birth to this
child at the Kinniya government hospital, police said. At an identification
parade held in the Trincomalee Magistrate's Court last week the
mother of the 'lost' baby Nihara of Mullipottana in Kantale police
division identified a woman named Aysha Bee Bee of Aandankulam in
Trincomalee as the mystery woman who came to maternity ward of the
Trincomalee general hospital on the New Year's eve and allegedly
took away the new born baby girl claiming a medical officer wanted
the baby for medical examination. Trincomalee
Magistrate Mr.S.Thiagendran thereafter ordered the suspect to be
remanded till February 3. Meanwhile the
innocent baby in the middle of the dispute has been handed back
to the woman who claims that she obtained the baby from a Batticaloa
woman, until such time this woman is traced, police said The inquiry is being led by OIC Indika Perera of Trincomalee Harbour police under the direction of the Police Superintendent Daya Samaraweera. Dengue; keep environment clean warns PHD Dengue has reared
its ugly head again hence the Public Health Department has issued
a warning to the the public to maintain a healthy environment or
face severe penalties. The Puttalam
and Colombo districts have recorded the highest number of cases
the Head of the Epidemiological Unit, Dr. T.A. Kulatilake said.
About 200 have been afflicted by the dengue virus islandwide and
nearly half the number have been reported from Puttalam. The Chief Medical
Officer of Health, Dr. Pradeep Kariyawasam said that 27 cases were
reported from Colombo this month. Among the victims of the deadly
virus was an eight-year-old child died who had arrived in Colombo
from Batticaloa a few months ago. Wellawatte was the most affected area in Colombo with 12 victims while the rest were reported from Pamankada, Thimbirigasyaya, Narahenpita, Borella, Colpetty, Slave Island, Maligawatte, Kotahena and Modera-Mattakkuliya, he added. There were no
reports of dengue cases from Wellawatte in the past and the probable
reason for the outbreak in this area is the migration of people
from the North to the South and vice-versa with the cessation of
hostilities between the LTTE and the government security forces,
Dr. Kariyawasam said. He warned that
legal action would be instituted against Government institutions
and schools who fail to maintain a clean environment. Meanwhile, it was reported that patients in Tambiluvil in the Ampara district were reported to have been denied treatment at the Tirukovil District Hospital as the Out Patients Department is non-functional due to the scarcity of doctors. Although the hospital requires at least six doctors, only one has been serving the hospital during the past eight months. Several complaints have been made to the Health Ministry in this regard but to no avail. |
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