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toilet Five Advanced Level students of a leading school in Polonnaruwa were yesterday arrested by the police for ragging a batch of new students. One of the victim students who sustained severe injuries in Monday afternoon’s incident was admitted to the Polonnaruwa base hospital. He had been attacked and lost hearing as a result, hospital sources said. The hospitalised student and several others had been forced into a toilet within the school premises and ‘ordered’ to drink urine by a group of senior students, police said. The students who were ragged had gained admission to this school for higher studies. Police had arrived at the school after the incident was reported to them by the acting principal, but the raggers had escaped by then. Five suspect students were later arrested by two police teams deployed to track down those responsible, ASP Theja Thilakasiri said yesterday. According to the acting principal of the school, a batch of new students were taken into the Year 13 class on Monday. "Later a student had complained that a group of seniors had attacked them and they were forced to drink urine from the toilet pit. When it was found that the condition of one of the students was bad he was despatched to hospital. The student was bleeding and several others also complained of harassment. I later got to know that some students on study leave had entered the school premises after scaling the wall and ragged the students," the acting principal told ‘The Island’. Further police investigations are continuing. Mid-Week
Politics Political violence appears to have raised its’ ugly head once again during election time. This time too it had erupted from the Puttalam District as it happened during the last local government elections. The respective Kachcheris where nominations are received are busy these days with political parties handing over nominations. The United National Party, though uncertain whether the Provincial Councils elections would go ahead on schedule has kicked off the election campaign at electoral and district level. Violence sparked off during the last local government polls first at Anamaduwa allegedly led by a People’s Alliance Parliamentarian. This politician has fifty four cases pending against him in court on various charges since he entered Parliament. He was severely warned by President Chandrika Kumaratunga during that election. The PA Mulberry Group at that time intervened and rescued him. Last weekend the UNP organised their campaign in the Anamaduwa electorate in the Puttalam District. On Sunday when the UNPers were getting ready for the campaign, all shops in the town at Anamaduwa were ordered to be closed by a gang allegedly led by this politico. There were coffins placed on the road and tyres being burnt. According to the Anamaduwa Police, a UNP Pradeshiya Sabha member who was proceeding to the venue with his supporters had been mercilessly assaulted by a gang of PA supporters. It was also reported that a seminar organised by the UNP that evening to instruct its’ candidates on the conduct of the provincial elections too had been disturbed by PA supporters. During the last local government polls, Anamaduwa was the centre of political violence. Later such violence spread to other areas except for the Kandy and the Colombo Districts. During the election, a UNP jeep carrying Parliamentarians Reginald Perera, Joseph Michael Perera and two others miraculously escaped death when their jeep was sprayed with bullets. Following this incident, UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe apprised President Kumaratunga of the danger posed by a politico. The President then threatened to expel him from the party. The Mulberry men came to his rescue. Meanwhile, the UNP is busy finalising its’ nomination lists for the PC elections. The UNP leader was at his party headquarters till the early hours of yesterday putting the final touch to the Colombo and Kalutara districts list. The party had finalised only on two Chief Minister candidates. They are Karu Jayasuriya for the Western Province and Percy Samaraweera for the Uva Province. In the other provinces where elections would be held, the UNP leader had reserved the right to select the Chief Minister after the results are announced. Party sources said that the criteria for the selection of the Chief Ministers other than the two already decided upon would only be disclosed after the results are announced. They said that the party leader wants all candidates to work hard to get the party vote and their own preferential vote. Though the UNP appears to be going at full gear to meet the political challenge at provincial level, the SLFP oriented PA appears to be going at a slower pace for the PC elections. Earlier there were reports that some Ministers and MPs in the PA would opt to contest for the Chief Minister posts. At present only the Social Services Minister Berty Premalal Dissanayake continues to say that he would come forward for the Chief Ministership in the north central region. PA sources said that with the government yet to confirm the conduct of the elections at PC level many MPs and some Ministers who vied to be future Chief Ministers have kept their hope in suspense. Political sources disclosed that the government was likely to postpone the PC elections for May next year. Justice Minister Prof. G. L. Peiris confirmed it when he met the Mahanayakas’ in Kandy recently. He said the government was keen to go for a Presidential poll before the PC elections. Plans are underway to hold a presidential poll in February next year. The UNP says they are ready to meet any election that would be held early and demand that if the PC polls are put off, a Presidential poll should be held at least by November this year. On the contrary, the government is not prepared to give into the demand of the UNP leader to hold a Presidential poll this year. President Kumaratunga has already done a survey at electoral level on the performances of her Parliamentarians. It is learnt that she has urged her Parliamentarians in the Kandy District, Matara, Colombo Ratnapura, Moneragala, Anuradhapura, Kalutara and the Puttalam districts to start again at grassroots level if the PA was to win back these districts. This survey conducted with the assistance of some NGOs’ and selected media persons have pointed out that the performance of Ministers and PA parliamentarians in these districts were poor. It is learnt that the President has instructed the Minister of Plan Implementation Jeyaraj Fernandopulle to visit these district to examine the development programmes which were approved three years ago for implementation. Latest reports note that Minister Fernandopulle had made such visits to some districts and reported back that though funds had been allocated no work on development had begun so far in these districts. The Minister is reported to have submitted a confidential report on this subject to the President. Railway men put off strike as
Minister accedes to demands Three trade unions representing station masters, railway guards and locomotive drivers of the Department of Railways decided to call off their proposed token strike yesterday after their demand was granted following a meeting with Minister Fowzie. The Unionists earlier threatened to launch a 24 hour islandwide token strike if railway authorities failed to accede to their demand on a further clarification in a circular by the GMR. The Unions which met Minister of Transport and Highways A. H. M. Fowzie and the General Manager of Railways, W. K. Weragama, on Monday evening decided to call off their trade union action as in view of their demand was granted, Vice President of the Station Masters Union, Ananda Perera told ‘The Island’ yester-day. The unionists demanded a further clarification of a circular issued by the General Manager Railways on July 8, categorising the station master, guards and driver grades and alleged discrimination against the 3 grades in the payment of overtime. The unionists claimed that such payments which had earlier remained on the same category within the department had resulted in confusion following the release of this said circular. "Everybody enjoyed the same scheme of payments earlier. But recently the General Manager issued a circular dividing these three grades into different categories in making overtime payments. This has caused discrimination against the different categories of Class 1, Class 2, Chief guard or driver etc. This system affects seniors in the Guard and Driver grades as well. We protested against this discrimination," he explained. The meeting with the Minister and GMR was attended by President of the Station Masters Union, N. Wickrama-singhe, the President of the Guards Union, S. Wijedasa, the President of the Drivers Union, P. Gunasekera, the Vice President of the Station Masters Union, A. Perera and the Secretary of the Station Masters Union, Jayasena. Forced landing for Monara Air A domestic airline operated by Monara Air was forced to make an emergency landing at the Katunayake Airport around 5 p.m. on Monday due to bad weather. The flight bound for Ratmalana had taken off from the Palaly Airport in Jaffna at 3.50 p.m. with thirty two civilian passengers on board. It was forced to divert its course due to adverse weather conditions and land at Katunayake. Chairman of Monara Air, Rohan Wijeratna said that the pilots had anticipated "tailwind" at the Ratmalana airport and made an emergency landing at Katunayake as a safety precaution. Mr. Wijeratna said that Monara Air which operated 3 passenger flights daily didn't want to take a chance and the pilots were given clearance to land at Katunayake airport if weather conditions are not conducive for landing. He said that the plane that was forced to land at Katunayake on Monday was flown to Ratmalana yesterday morning after ground power was restored. Mr. Wijeratna said that there was a delay in getting the plane off the ground from Katunayake because the ground power unit for the aircraft had to be brought from Ratmalana. Contempt of Court case against CWC President's Counsel Romesh de Silva appearing for Minister S. Thondaman defendant in a contempt of Court action submitted that on the face of the charge sheet there was no contempt. In this case Minister S. Thondaman, secretary A. R. Thondaman and Ceylon Worker's Congress are cited as accused. Former Secretary of the CWC M. S. Sellasamy is the plaintiff. The defendants are charged with committing contempt of court by holding the annual convention of the Ceylon Workers Congress contravening on enjoining order issued by Court. On an application made by the plaintiff through his Counsel Kandiah Jeyakrishnan, court had issued an enjoining order restraining the accused from holding the said convention. Mr. Silva had raised a preliminary legal objection that the charge sheet had not been, properly served as required by law and wanted an order on it before the accused could plead. Colombo District Judge Sarath Ambepitiya reserved order for September 9, 1998. Court directed the Counsel for both parties to forward written submissions before August 28. Allegation of missing X-ray
machine component a fabrication The team of officials appointed by Minister of Health Nimal Siripala de Silva to investigate the allegation that a vital component of the MMR X-ray machine had gone missing at the Welisara Respiratory Disease Hospital (WRDH), had found that it was completely false and baseless, Health Ministry spokesman said. The GMOA and other medical sour-ces recently claimed that a vital part of the MMR X-ray machine which was removed from the Colombo Chest Clinic (CCC) to the WRDH, had been robbed by unknown persons crippling this expensive machine. Responding the news reports in this regard Minister de Silva appointed a committee consisting Dr. S. A. P. Gnanissara, the Deputy Director General Research and Training of the Health Ministry and Mr. J. L. M. K. Jayatilaka, Director of the Bio-Medical Engineering Services to look into the matter. Two of them inspected the MMR machine at WRDH along with some other officials. They met the Medical Officer In Charge of the Welisara Hospital Dr. Senthil-kandan, Chief Radiologist Dr. Mrs. Indrani Senanayaka and Mrs. W. L. M. A. Fernando who told the Ministry officials that "no part of the machine was missing and it was functioning well since June 28," the spokesman said. He said "the machine in question has been installed in Room No. 1 of the X-ray section of the hospital. Further, to check whether it was really functioning or not, the officials asked them to do a test on a patient and they waited till the X-ray film was processed thereafter. Having seen the processed film everybody realised that the machine was functioning well and the GMOA’s claim was nothing but a fabricated story," he said. According to the spokesman, there are three MMR X-ray machines in operation at the WRDH at the moment, inclusive of the one in question in addition to another normal X-ray machine. "The only trouble was that those who had brought the machine from its previous location to the Welisara Hospital had failed to make necessary arrangement to enter this machine in the hospital’s inventory. Dr. Gnanissara promised to send the relevant documents for this purpose the same day itself from the Ministry to be handed over to the Chief Radiologist," the spokesman said. "The staff of the Welisara hospital said the present inadequacy of space for OPD patients at the hospital and the Ministry officials promised to expand the premises. They also asked for another radiographer for the hospital. The Ministry is also ready to consider any suggestions made by the GMOA or any other segment to expand and uplift the facilities available at the Welisara hospital," the spokesman added. The Defence Ministry in press release said that in the early hours of yesterday South of Thoppigala in Batticaloa district, Kfir ground attack aircraft of the Air Force accurately engaged two identified terrorist locations, a command post and a well established terrorist training camp. According to monitored terrorist transmission 11 LTTE cadres were killed and more than 25 LTTE cadres wounded during this attack. Menstruating
male A surgical operation on a male patient at the Kandy General Hospital has led to the discovery of female organs in his abdomen including part of a womb, Kandy hospital sources disclosed. The operation, which was successfully performed was described as a rare occurrence in medical history. Apparently this was the first-ever such case at the Kandy hospital. The operation was performed by a young surgeon who wished to remain unidentified. The patient was a married man, about 32 years old. He has been taking treatment for abdominal pains and an occasional appearance of a lump in his lower abdomen. Having received treatment at different medical institutions he turned to the Kandy General Hospital. After intense examination it was suspected that the patient was suffering from cancer in the abdomen, hospital sources said. With the consent of the patient the operation was performed to reveal a part of a womb and connected organs inclusive of a fallopian tube. With these vestiges of a female the married man has had menstrual blood seasonally. As the blood could not find its way out due to lack of the female vagina it remained in a clot. This appeared as a lump occasionally. The lump subsided with the disappearance of the clot of blood in its natural process, the surgeons explained. The operation was performed by the young surgeon who was assisted by a team of his colleagues on the directions of Dr. A.M.L. Beligaswatte, Director Kandy General Hospital. The OPA yesterday issued the following statement. "We refer to 'The Island' of Saturday 27th June 1998, where you carried an article on page 1 (Continued on page 3) under the heading "OPA welcomes steps taken to reactivate Commission" purported to have been a press release issued by he OPA. "We wish to place on record that the OPA has not issued a signed (authorised) statement in this connection. "In the circumstances we request you to publish this communication giving it the same prominence as your earlier report. Parliamentarians attend Workshop on Child Rights An orientation workshop for the members of Parliamentary Lobby on Child Rights was held recently at Culture Club Resort in Dambulla. This workshop was arranged to make the members more familiar with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UN-CRC) and to plan out a strategy for the effective functioning and output of the Lobby. The members of this Lobby represent all the political parties in the present parliament and those in attendance included Dr. Jayalath Jayawardene (Chairperson) Dallas Alahapperuma (Secretary), Dinesh Dodan-goda, Kabir Hashim, Pandu Bandaranayake, Mrs. Amara Badra Dis-sanayake, E. A. Sama-rasinghe, Mahinda Amaraweera, K. Thu-rairajasingham, V. G. Jinadasa, Sarath Guna-wardane, Dr. I. M. Illiyas Lucky Jaya-wardena, Dixon J. Perera, Nandasena He-rath and Tissa Kara-liyadda. The workshop was organised by the Parliamentary Lobby for Child Rights and supported by the Save the Children Alliance and UNICEF. A presentation was made by Bradman Weerakoon, Member- National Monotiring Committee on The Children’s Charter on "State Party Obligations on the Convention and the Role of Politicians". He identified the main obligations of state parties as being (1) to provide appropriate policy and legislative framework for the fulfilment of rights (2) to establish effective institutional arrangements to plan, implement and coordinate activities relating to the child (3) to create awareness of the UN-CRC on the widest possible sale, (4) to provide and enabling environment for NGOs to play supportive roles, and (5) to create independent mechanisms to monitor pro-gress and submit reports as required by the United Nations. He also expressed concern that the National Monitoring Committee was inadequate by itself to scrutinise activities regarding child rights as rigorously as required by the UN-CRC. Resident Representative, UNICEF Colin Glennie, explained in his presentation how the UN-CRC is changing the way people and organisations, including UNI-CEF, work for children. The UN-CRC has determined the change from a ‘needs’ based approach to a ‘rights’ based approach. He referred to the Machel Report submitted to the United Nations on "The Impact of Armed Conflict on Children" and explained the concept of declaring "Children as Zones of Peace". Children have the right to be protected from the effects of conflict and to recover from any effects of conflict experienced. They also have a right not to be used in conflicts in any way. Glennie called on the Parliamentary Lob-by to do whatever possible within its ability to realise these rights to make the children of Sri Lanka "zones of peace". The Parliamentarians worked in groups to analyse the present situation prevailing in regard to the issue of birth certificates in order to respect the Rights of a Child to Identity and avoid social and economic disadvantages to a child in the absence of it. The groups also discussed and presented ideas on ways of applying the Machel Report to Sri Lanka so that children may indeed be safe from the scourge of war. The workshop concluded with a Plan of Action for the Lobby which included pragmatic and enthusiastic contributions by the participating Parliamentarians. The suggestions clearly sho-wed an interest to become more informed about the significance of the UN-CRC, the current state of child rights in Sri Lanka and those whom the Lobby may be able to approach to encourage action in this area in future. The conscientious efforts of the Lobby are needed to discharge obligations of Government in respect of children on a continuous basis. The-refore the Lobby expects to create links with provincial and local level politicians for regular feedback on the situation of children, advise the government to apply the principles of the UN-CRC when making policy decisions impacting on children’s lives, and to raise necessary questions in Parliament on implementing and mo-nitoring Child Rights. As an immediate step the Lobby is going to make a request from the Government to appoint a Parliamentary Select Committee on Child Rights and work towards establishing a separate Cabinet Ministry for Children’s Affairs. Participating MPs will be issued a statement very soon. Glenfrey de Mel, Senior Programme Officer - Child Rights at Save the Children Fund (UK) and Markus Auk-sland, Resident Representative, Redd Barna, were the other resource personnel at the workshop. (Press Release) Prof. Priyani Soysa to appeal against Court
of Appeal order Professor Priyani Soysa will file a special leave to appeal application to the Supreme Court shortly. This will be to appeal against a Court of Appeal order, made on June 24, which declared, Professor Soysa, negligent in treating the late four year old Suhani Arsecularatne, in 1992. The Court of Appeal ordered damages to Rienzie Arsecularatne, father of the deceased Suhani. On July 13, R. K. W. Goonesekera, Senior Counsel for Professor Soysa told the Court of Appeal, that he wished to withdraw the leave to appeal application filed in the Court of Appeal, since neither of the two judges who heard the appeal was available and as he could not wait beyond July 13, as 21 days had lapsed. He proposed to withdraw the present application and go straight to the Supreme Court. The request for the withdrawal was allowed and the application was thus dismissed. The Court of Appeal bench on 13.7.98 comprised, Justice Ismail, President of the Court of Appeal and Justice T. B. Weerasuriya. Picketing
campaign by JVP To commemorate the third year since President Chandrika Kumaratunga failed to honour her solemn pledge to JVP and masses of the country to do away with the executive presidential system by July 15th 1995, the People’s Liberation Front (JVP) had joined together with all forces opposed to the executive presidency to stage a picketing cum demonstration opposite Fort Railway Station today at 12 noon said propaganda JVP secretary Wimal Weerawanse yesterday. "We have joined together with all progressive political parties and trade unions including the NSSP’s New Left Front to have this protest demonstration and picketing against the executive presidential system" said Weerawanse. "On July 23rd we have organised another picketing and demonstration opposite Fort Railway Station at 4 p.m. to protest against PA Government’s undemocratic moves to postpone the Provincial Council Elections under the guise of the war in the North East." "We have organised a series of meetings throughout the country to protest against Government’s moves to postpone the polls on the pretext of pursuing the ongoing war against the LTTE in the North East." The first of these rallies was held at Nugegoda junction last week and Badulla on Sunday where we explained to the masses the undemocratic moves by PA Government said Weerawanse. At our politburo meeting held on July 9 we decided after our leader Somawanse Amerasinghe faxed us from London to say that we could join all progressives opposed to the executive presidency to put forward a neutral common candidate in case the PA Government went for Presidential polls at latter part of 1998. Artefacts from A’pura
kingdom era for Internet viewing The Department of Archaeology has decided to access details and pictures of artefacts with a historic value that were discovered in the process of excavation work. Excavation work had been carried out in historic places and details of the artefacts unearthed would be included in the Internet, to draw the attention of those interested in artefacts worldwide. It is also believed that an understanding of the Buddhist culture could be gained through the study of these artefacts. As the first step of this process the details of the artefacts which were discovered from Anuradhapura King-dom had been fed into computers, ac-cording to official sources. At the archaeology stores at Anuradha-pura the data feed-ing work had been carried out from the month of January this year. The discovered artefacts had been separated and label-led before they are stored. This had been the practice of the past. Now the artefacts are been computerised and this is the first instance of this kind said, an officer of the Godagewatte archaeology stores told a group of visiting journalists. The stored arte-facts are provided with extra protection during this compu-terising process, he said. Most of the artefacts discovered through excavation work carried out by the Department of Archaeology and the Central Cultural Fund had been handed over to the Godagewatte stores, had completed the process of computer-ising he added. The inclusion of data and details of the discovered arte-facts in the Internet would make the world more know-ledgeable about the historic background of Sri Lanka, archaeology research officer Ruchira Teldeniya said. 4 Indians, Tamil held with motor spare parts Four Indians and a Tamil resident of Jaffna in possession of motor spare parts have been arrested by the Navy. It is believed they had come from India to Iranathivu in an Indian trawler and the motor spare parts in their possession were believed to have been supplies to the LTTE. They were in possession of Indian passports. Further investigations are being conducted by the Navy. (NP) Richard de Soysa murder
case Certain threats were made to my life, that was why I didn’t pin point the accused at the identification parade witness E. V. Karunadasa said at yesterday’s hearing of the Richard de Soysa case. The witness who had been staying at the house of Richard de Soysa at the time of the abduction was being cross examined by Daya Perera PC before Colombo Additional Magistrate Anoma Dilrukshi Wijewardena. He told court that the first statement he had made after the incident had been to the Welikada police. This had been on February 19, 1990, at the residence of Richard de Soysa. The statement was taken down in Sinhala by Sub Inspector of Police Wickramasighe and signed by the witness. I also gave the licence number of the vehicle that Richard de Soysa was taken away of which I had noted down at the time of the incident witness said. Counsel: Did you also speak to an army personnel? — Yes. Q: Did he write it down ? — No. Q: When did you speak to him? — On February 20. Q: Did you give the description of the first accused? — No, I gave the description of the second accused. Q: Did you speak to anyone else? — I spoke to Lalith Athulathmudali. The witness said that he gave evidence at the com-mision which held inquiries in to the incident. Q: Before giving evidence did you speak to a police personnel who belonged to the commission? — I spoke to a lawyer, Batty Weerakoon. Witness said that one year after the incident he was summoned for an identification parade at the Magistrate’s Court. Q: Did you recognise anyone at this parade? — Yes, three people. Q: Was the first accused there? — Yes. Q: What did you say about him? — I said that he was among those who came to take Richard de Soysa away. Q: Do you know that there is a difference when you say he and some one like him ? — Yes. Q: It is stated in the record that you said someone like him. Is that correct? — Yes, probably. Q: You did have the freedom to say if it was him, someone like him or not him did’nt you? However as a person who was speaking with responsibility you said that you were not sure. Is that correct? Witness: Your honour, certain threats were made to my life after the abduction of Richard de Soysa and till I went to Lalith Athulathmudali’s. Counsel: The parade took place about four years after Athulathmudali’s death yet you said that the first accused was someone like him? — I thought that with the reopening of the case I would once again receive threats. Witness said that he had however lost his fear since the last sitting. Q: In your statement to the Welikada police, did you say that due to your state of mind at the time you would not be able to recognise the abductors? — Yes, but I had a reason. My life would have been in danger. Mr. Daya Perera PC and T. G. Goonasekera appeared for the first accused. Mr. Deva-surendra, Ganesh Dharmawardena and Anil Silva appeared for the second accused and Mr. K. V. Thavarasa and A. R. C. Perera appeared for third accused. Further trial was fixed for August 6. President inaugurates Rs. 740m project to
restore Beira Lake President Chan-drika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga yesterday (14) inaugurated a Rs. 740 million project to restore the Beira Lake, which was once the background to some of the largest and finest residences of the city but an eyesore and a grave health hazard today due to uncontrolled pollution over the years. Speaking at the brief inaugural function the President said that the restoration of Beira Lake was first conceived when she was Chief Minister of the Western Province from 1993-94. Once this most beautiful expanse of fresh water has over the years turned into a source of danger to the health of the people. Our aim is to restore it to its original beauty. When Stage I of the Beira Lake Restoration Project is complete the capital city of Sri Lanka could once again claim for itself a place among world cities adorned by beautiful lakes, she added. Stage I of the Beira Lake Restoration Project involves two separate contracts to be completed simultaneously in September 1999. The first contract the cost of which is Rs. 359 million involves construction of 804 meters of vitrified clay sewers with diameters of 400mm and 500 mm, ten micro tunnel shafts which will later be converted to manholes construction of a new pumping station to replace the present Slave Island pump station construction of a 1450 meter and 400mm diameter, pumping main from Slave Island Pumping station to the existing Polwatta pumping station, constructions of 900 meters of major sewers and a large number of minor sewers and other minor structures. Contract No. 2 the cost of which is Rs. 381 million involves the construction of approx. 3 kilometers of major clay and concrete sewers, construction of a 3 kilometer 500mm. diameter pumping main from Polwatta pumping station along R.A. de Mel Mawatha and a 200 meter long pumping main along Vauxhall Street, major re-furbishments at Polwatta pumping station including new pumps, pipe work grit removal and associated mechanical and electrical works, construction of a new pumping station close to Vauxhall Street and a large number of small sewers and minor structures to intercept polluting flows. Both contracts have been awarded to China Beijing Corporation for International Economic Co-operation (BEICO). The project will be co-financed by the World Bank and the government of Sri Lanka and co-ordinated by the Colombo Environmental Improvement Project (CEIP). The project will be implemented by the Urban Development Authority (UDA) while the project management will be handled by National Water Supply and Drainage Board. Technical assistance will be provided by Messrs. W. S. Atkins International Ltd. Minister of Housing and Urban Development, Indika Gunawardana also spoke. Representatives of the collaborating organisations were also present. SLPP
nomination list Sri Lanka Pragathsili Peramuna handed over the nomination list of candidates to the returning officer of the elections Kalutuara A. I. Wickrama on 14.7.98. The list consists of the following:- M. K. Sunil Nandasiri, G. D. Sisira Wijendranatha Perera, V. K. Dhanapala, G. D. Sena, Ajith Chaminda Pelawatta, H. Prasan Perera, Jamuni Anura Silva, Ranjith Munasingha, K. D. Lintan, D. N. Weeratna, Jagath Kolombarachchi, Wijegunawardhana Jayasiri, Prasad Munasinghe, K. Premalal, Munasingha Piaydasa, K. Pandula Prasanna, V. Jayasena, A. Pushpa Jayantha, A. L. Upul Shantha, K. A. Gnadasa, D. Somasiri, P. Kovis, Mohamed Musin Rizvi, K. D. Fernando, Rohita Kannangara, G. W. Lal. New Sri Lankan envoys to
Thailand, Egypt and Philippines briefed by Agriculture
Minister The three newly appointed Sri Lankan ambassadors for Thailand, Egypt and Philippines called on Minister of Agriculture and Lands, D. M. Jayaratne before leaving for their designated countries recently. The three ambassadors, K. Amunugama (Thailand), Jayantha Palipana (Egypt) and P. J. Karunasiri (Philippines) met with Minister Jayaratne at the Hector Kobbekaduwa Agricultural Research and Training Centre and were briefed on the religious, cultural and political back-grounds of their designated countries. The Minister also discussed in length the agricultural policies and various development projects, relating to agriculture, that are been conducted with the co-operation and assistance of these three countries. A new program launched to import high quality corn seedlings from Thai-land was discussed. The program aims to popularise the culti-vation of corn. Approximately 8,620 million rupees is spent annually on the import of wheat flour, the Minister said. One of the objectives of the new program is to reduce the amount spent on importing wheat flour. The Minister said that countries such as Thailand, Taiwan and Malaysia have a very high demand for exotic plants and flowers, an industry that brings in a large amount of foreign currency to the country. He added that at present 447 million rupees in foreign currency has been earned from the export of these exotic plants and flowers and that the steps taken will provide a further estimated 250 million rupees in the future. Mr. K. Amu-nugama ambassador for Thailand was requested to explore the market for these products in Thailand and to take steps to increase opportunities for the export of exotic plants and flowers from Sri Lanka. The Minister dis-cussed with Jayantha Palipana, ambassador for Egypt, various methods that could be taken to increase the amount of tea currently exported to Egypt. A program to encourage the ex-ports of fruits and vegetables to Egypt was also discussed with the ambassador. The Minister said that measures have been taken to develop the ad-vanced agricultural crop management system which used in both Thailand and Philippines in Sri Lanka. He added that with the nece-ssary technical ex-pertise and research facilities made available, local farmers could produce high quality crops and rejunate the field of agriculture. Discharged accused arrested
again Kataragama police on Sunday arrested an accused who was discharged in Krishanthy Kumara-swamy rape and murder case for having on his pos-session an illegal weapon at Tissa-maharama. The suspect, a former soldier had been cultivating a land in Tissamaha-rama, police said. He was produced before Tissamaha-rama courts and remanded, pending further investiga-tions, Police said. Maithripala’s funeral tomorrow The funeral of Maithripala Senanayake, Governor of the North Central Province will take place tomorrow at the Walisinghe Harischandra Park, Anuradhapura, at 4 p.m. Members of the public continued to pay their last respects to the veteran Rajarata politician at his residence at Harischandra Mawatha. |
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