By Ifham Nizam
The water level in the hydro reservoirs providing water to generate electricity had increased with the recent rains, and by Thursday (Nov.3) noon the overall hydro storage in the reservoirs was 37.4 per cent. It was less than 20 per cent last week.
Ceylon Electricity Board officials told The Island that by noon yesterday the storage level was 470 GWh. To reach a satisfactory level, it has to be more than 1,000 GWh.
The present electricity generation was from hydro, 24.4 per cent and thermal, 75.6 per cent. Last week the hydro contribution was less than 15 per cent.
Systems Control Division of the CEB says that that they were expecting more–heavy showers in the coming weeks. "Still, we are not at a satisfactory level but things will change by next week," a spokesman said.
Castelreigh recorded a rainfall of 18.6 mm. Moussakelle 35.6, Kotmale 62.0, Victoria 39.1, Randenigala 34.6 and Samanala Wewa 28.1 on Wednesday.
However, the CEB Media Unit didn’t send The Island, the usual water storage forecast sheet, saying that they too didn’t get it and obtained it over the phone.
http://www.island.lk/index.php?page_cat=article-details&page=article-details&code_title=38317
Saturday, November 5, 2011
Govt to take over 37 plots of unutilized state land
Disna MUDALIGE and Ishara MUDUGAMUWA
The government has decided to take over 37 unutilized state lands given to private enterprises with the intention of making them available for serious investment, a senior government official told the Daily News.
An under utilized property in Colombo
He said that even though the government had granted state land with tax benefits and sufficient time to these investors to start development projects, they have failed even to embark on them. He observed that these investors have entered into agreements with the government that these projects will create employment opportunities and provide assistance for skills development and technology transfer.
These lands were given to them with the understanding that those investments will bring funds to the country, he said.
The official observed that these unactivated project agreements are a great loss of opportunity for serious investment flowing into the country with the dawn of peace.
He stated that there is a growing interest among local and foreign investors to invest in Sri Lanka and optimum benefits should be secured from these prospects.
The percentage of unutilized state land is small compared with the total number of investments embarked as local, foreign or joint ventures on state land.
He said that these investors were given tax concessions and exemption from the Exchange Control Act and Custom duties and some of them still have not done anything.
He observed that these lands are important property of the country and non utilization of them is a waste of state assets.
He explained that the 37 private enterprises also include land out of Colombo. He revealed that state land which is to be taken over also include, a land in Sevanagala given for an investment to build a factory to develop sugar, a land in Anuradhapura given to set up a garment factory for export, a land in Battaramulla leased by the UDA to build a tower and another UDA land on Galle Road, Colpetty, given to operate a city hotel.
He also noted that these state lands will be taken over by enforcing a new law and it is to be presented in Parliament for approval shortly.
http://www.dailynews.lk/2011/11/04/news20.asp
The government has decided to take over 37 unutilized state lands given to private enterprises with the intention of making them available for serious investment, a senior government official told the Daily News.
An under utilized property in Colombo
He said that even though the government had granted state land with tax benefits and sufficient time to these investors to start development projects, they have failed even to embark on them. He observed that these investors have entered into agreements with the government that these projects will create employment opportunities and provide assistance for skills development and technology transfer.
These lands were given to them with the understanding that those investments will bring funds to the country, he said.
The official observed that these unactivated project agreements are a great loss of opportunity for serious investment flowing into the country with the dawn of peace.
He stated that there is a growing interest among local and foreign investors to invest in Sri Lanka and optimum benefits should be secured from these prospects.
The percentage of unutilized state land is small compared with the total number of investments embarked as local, foreign or joint ventures on state land.
He said that these investors were given tax concessions and exemption from the Exchange Control Act and Custom duties and some of them still have not done anything.
He observed that these lands are important property of the country and non utilization of them is a waste of state assets.
He explained that the 37 private enterprises also include land out of Colombo. He revealed that state land which is to be taken over also include, a land in Sevanagala given for an investment to build a factory to develop sugar, a land in Anuradhapura given to set up a garment factory for export, a land in Battaramulla leased by the UDA to build a tower and another UDA land on Galle Road, Colpetty, given to operate a city hotel.
He also noted that these state lands will be taken over by enforcing a new law and it is to be presented in Parliament for approval shortly.
http://www.dailynews.lk/2011/11/04/news20.asp
Yan Oya project, a boon to agriculture
Priyanka KURUGALA
The construction of the Yan Oya Irrigation Project will ensure a huge area which had so far not been cultivated in the Eastern and North Central Province to be brought under the plough. Apart from that, this irrigation project will help foster amity between Sinhala, Tamil and Muslims in the area, Irrigation and Water Resources Management Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva said.
He was addressing the agreement signing ceremony of the Yan Oya construction project between the Sri Lankan government and the construction company of the Yan Oya Irrigation Project, the China CAMA Engineering Co LTD, at the Mahaweli Center, yesterday. The foundation stone for this project will be laid by President Mahinda Rajapaksa at the Deyata Kirula National Development Programme next February, he said.
The total project cost is Rs 19,360 million and it is planned to be completed in four years.
"The proposal for the Yan Oya Irrigation Project was presented around 50 years ago. Nevertheless, up to now no government was able to commence the project. The time has come to commence its construction," he said.
This will be a fruitful project to build ethnic harmony. According to the Mahinda Chinthana future vision, the country is heading towards becoming the "Wonder of Asia" after eradicating terrorism, the minister said.
Under this project the fisheries industry, optional crops cultivation and fruits and vegetable cultivation, will be developed. The living standard of people in the area will be enhanced under this project, he said.
http://www.dailynews.lk/2011/11/04/news22.asp
The construction of the Yan Oya Irrigation Project will ensure a huge area which had so far not been cultivated in the Eastern and North Central Province to be brought under the plough. Apart from that, this irrigation project will help foster amity between Sinhala, Tamil and Muslims in the area, Irrigation and Water Resources Management Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva said.
He was addressing the agreement signing ceremony of the Yan Oya construction project between the Sri Lankan government and the construction company of the Yan Oya Irrigation Project, the China CAMA Engineering Co LTD, at the Mahaweli Center, yesterday. The foundation stone for this project will be laid by President Mahinda Rajapaksa at the Deyata Kirula National Development Programme next February, he said.
The total project cost is Rs 19,360 million and it is planned to be completed in four years.
"The proposal for the Yan Oya Irrigation Project was presented around 50 years ago. Nevertheless, up to now no government was able to commence the project. The time has come to commence its construction," he said.
This will be a fruitful project to build ethnic harmony. According to the Mahinda Chinthana future vision, the country is heading towards becoming the "Wonder of Asia" after eradicating terrorism, the minister said.
Under this project the fisheries industry, optional crops cultivation and fruits and vegetable cultivation, will be developed. The living standard of people in the area will be enhanced under this project, he said.
http://www.dailynews.lk/2011/11/04/news22.asp
Cigarette production down 20 pc in five years
Ridma DISSANAYAKE
Cigarette production in Sri Lanka has gone down by 20 percent in the last five years. According to statistics, around 4,900 million cigarettes were produced per year and it had reduced to 4,200 million,said Sri Lanka Medical Association committee member Dr. Sajeewa Ranaweera. The percentage of daily smokers in Sri Lanka is 18.6 percent. It is the lowest rate among 140 countries. According to a World Health Organization (WHO) research done by the the percentage of cigarette consumption has reduced to five percent in Sri Lanka, he said.
Dr. Sajeewa was addressing a workshop for media personnel on "How we can transform the tax policy on cigarettes as an advantage for the government". The workshop was held at the Information Department, under the patronage of National Authority on Tobacco and Alcohol (NATA) chairman Prof. Carlo Fonseka Wednesday.
"There are four methods to follow to reduce tobacco and alcohol consumption in the country.
The four methods are stopping advertising and promoting tobacco and alcohol, increasing tax, banning smoking in public places and holding awareness programmes and health promotion campaigns for the public," Dr. Sajeewa said.
http://www.dailynews.lk/2011/11/04/news40.asp
Cigarette production in Sri Lanka has gone down by 20 percent in the last five years. According to statistics, around 4,900 million cigarettes were produced per year and it had reduced to 4,200 million,said Sri Lanka Medical Association committee member Dr. Sajeewa Ranaweera. The percentage of daily smokers in Sri Lanka is 18.6 percent. It is the lowest rate among 140 countries. According to a World Health Organization (WHO) research done by the the percentage of cigarette consumption has reduced to five percent in Sri Lanka, he said.
Dr. Sajeewa was addressing a workshop for media personnel on "How we can transform the tax policy on cigarettes as an advantage for the government". The workshop was held at the Information Department, under the patronage of National Authority on Tobacco and Alcohol (NATA) chairman Prof. Carlo Fonseka Wednesday.
"There are four methods to follow to reduce tobacco and alcohol consumption in the country.
The four methods are stopping advertising and promoting tobacco and alcohol, increasing tax, banning smoking in public places and holding awareness programmes and health promotion campaigns for the public," Dr. Sajeewa said.
http://www.dailynews.lk/2011/11/04/news40.asp
සමූපයේ පනස් දහසකට රාජ්ය සේවක වරප්රසාද: සමූප සේවක ආයතන සංග්රහය එළි දැක්වේ
වසර 100කට පසු රැකියා සුරක්ෂිතයි
විජයානි එදිරිසිංහ
සමූපකාර ක්ෂේත්රයේ නියුතු පනස්දහසකට වැඩි සේවක සේවිකාවන්ගේ රැකියා නීත්යානුකූලභාවයට පත් කරමින් ඔවුන්ට රජයේ සේවකයන්ට හා සමාන අයිතිවාසිකම් ලබා දීමට රජය පියවරගෙන තිබේ.
එම අයිතිවාසිකම් ඇතුළත් සමූපකාර සේවක ආයතන සංග්රහය ඊයේ (03) සමූපකාර හා අභ්යන්තර වෙළෙඳ කටයුතු පිළිබඳ අමාත්ය ජොන්ස්ටන් ප්රනාන්දු මහතාගේ ප්රධානත්වයෙන් කොළඹ පදනම් ආයතනයේදී එළිදැක්විණි.
සමූපකාර ව්යාපාරය නීතිගතකොට වසර සියයක් සපිරෙයි. එහෙත් සමූපකාර සේවකයන් වෙනුවෙන් එතෙක් කාලයක් බලයේ සිටි කිසිදු රජයක් ඔවුන්ගේ රැකියා සුරක්ෂිත කිරීමට පියවර ගෙන නොතිබිණි.
ජනාධිපති මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතා සමූපකාර ව්යාපාරය ගොඩනඟා රටේ දැවැන්තම ව්යාපාරය කිරීමට කටයුතු කරයි. එහි ප්රධාන කර්තව්යයක් ලෙස එහි සේවකයන්ගේ රැකියා නීත්යානුකූලභාවයට පත් කර ඇත.
1972 අංක 12 දරන සමූපකාර කොමිෂන් සභා පනතේ 32(2) සමූපකාර ආයතන සංග්රහය නිකුත් වී ඇත.
සමූපකාර සේවකයන්ට මෙතෙක් කාලයක් හිමි වී තිබුණේ විසිරී ගිය නීති පද්ධතියකි. 1972 සමූපකාර පනත 1989 සංශෝධනය කිරීමෙන් පසු සමූපකාර සේවකයා වෙනුවෙන් පිළිගත හැකි නීති පද්ධතියක් නොතිබුණි. චක්රලේඛවලින් පමණක් නීතිය ක්රියාත්මක වී තිබේ. නව ආයතන සංග්රහය යටතේ සමූපකාර සේවකයන් බඳවා ගැනීම, උසස් කිරීම, මාරු කිරීම / විශ්රාම යාම, පාරිතෝෂික ලබාදීම දූෂණ වංචාවල යෙදෙන්නන්ට එරෙහිව ක්රියා කිරීම ඇතුළු සියලු කටයුතු සිදු කෙරේ.වසර සියයක් තිස්සේ විසිරී තිබූ සියලු නීති රීති එක්තැන් කරමින් සමූපකාර කොමිෂන් සභාව ජනාධිපතිවරයාගේ උපදෙස් මත මෙම ආයතන සංග්රහය සකස් කර තිබේ.
මෙම නව අයිතිවාසිකම් පද්ධතිය හරහා ලක්ෂ 80 ක සමූපකාර සාමාජිකයන්ගේ අයිතිවාසිකම් වලටද වක්රානුකූලව ආරක්ෂිත තත්ත්වයක් හිමිවෙයි. සමූපකාර ව්යාපාරය සතු කෝටි ගණන් දේපොල සොරකම් කර එම ව්යාපාරය බිඳහෙළූ පසුගිය කාලයේ බලයේ සිටි බලවතුන්ට එරෙහිව නීති මගින් ක්රියා කිරීමට නොහැකි වූයේ මෙවැනි පිළිගත හැකි නීති පද්ධතියක් නොතිබූ නිසා ය.
සමූපකාර ව්යාපාරය ගොඩගැනීමට අවශ්ය නිසා ඔවුන් ලබාගෙන තිබූ කෝටි ගණනක ණය මුදල් කපා හැරි බවද අමාත්ය ජොන්ස්ටන් ප්රනාන්දු මහතා කීය.
http://www.dinamina.lk/2011/11/04/_art.asp?fn=n1111041
විජයානි එදිරිසිංහ
සමූපකාර ක්ෂේත්රයේ නියුතු පනස්දහසකට වැඩි සේවක සේවිකාවන්ගේ රැකියා නීත්යානුකූලභාවයට පත් කරමින් ඔවුන්ට රජයේ සේවකයන්ට හා සමාන අයිතිවාසිකම් ලබා දීමට රජය පියවරගෙන තිබේ.
එම අයිතිවාසිකම් ඇතුළත් සමූපකාර සේවක ආයතන සංග්රහය ඊයේ (03) සමූපකාර හා අභ්යන්තර වෙළෙඳ කටයුතු පිළිබඳ අමාත්ය ජොන්ස්ටන් ප්රනාන්දු මහතාගේ ප්රධානත්වයෙන් කොළඹ පදනම් ආයතනයේදී එළිදැක්විණි.
සමූපකාර ව්යාපාරය නීතිගතකොට වසර සියයක් සපිරෙයි. එහෙත් සමූපකාර සේවකයන් වෙනුවෙන් එතෙක් කාලයක් බලයේ සිටි කිසිදු රජයක් ඔවුන්ගේ රැකියා සුරක්ෂිත කිරීමට පියවර ගෙන නොතිබිණි.
ජනාධිපති මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතා සමූපකාර ව්යාපාරය ගොඩනඟා රටේ දැවැන්තම ව්යාපාරය කිරීමට කටයුතු කරයි. එහි ප්රධාන කර්තව්යයක් ලෙස එහි සේවකයන්ගේ රැකියා නීත්යානුකූලභාවයට පත් කර ඇත.
1972 අංක 12 දරන සමූපකාර කොමිෂන් සභා පනතේ 32(2) සමූපකාර ආයතන සංග්රහය නිකුත් වී ඇත.
සමූපකාර සේවකයන්ට මෙතෙක් කාලයක් හිමි වී තිබුණේ විසිරී ගිය නීති පද්ධතියකි. 1972 සමූපකාර පනත 1989 සංශෝධනය කිරීමෙන් පසු සමූපකාර සේවකයා වෙනුවෙන් පිළිගත හැකි නීති පද්ධතියක් නොතිබුණි. චක්රලේඛවලින් පමණක් නීතිය ක්රියාත්මක වී තිබේ. නව ආයතන සංග්රහය යටතේ සමූපකාර සේවකයන් බඳවා ගැනීම, උසස් කිරීම, මාරු කිරීම / විශ්රාම යාම, පාරිතෝෂික ලබාදීම දූෂණ වංචාවල යෙදෙන්නන්ට එරෙහිව ක්රියා කිරීම ඇතුළු සියලු කටයුතු සිදු කෙරේ.වසර සියයක් තිස්සේ විසිරී තිබූ සියලු නීති රීති එක්තැන් කරමින් සමූපකාර කොමිෂන් සභාව ජනාධිපතිවරයාගේ උපදෙස් මත මෙම ආයතන සංග්රහය සකස් කර තිබේ.
මෙම නව අයිතිවාසිකම් පද්ධතිය හරහා ලක්ෂ 80 ක සමූපකාර සාමාජිකයන්ගේ අයිතිවාසිකම් වලටද වක්රානුකූලව ආරක්ෂිත තත්ත්වයක් හිමිවෙයි. සමූපකාර ව්යාපාරය සතු කෝටි ගණන් දේපොල සොරකම් කර එම ව්යාපාරය බිඳහෙළූ පසුගිය කාලයේ බලයේ සිටි බලවතුන්ට එරෙහිව නීති මගින් ක්රියා කිරීමට නොහැකි වූයේ මෙවැනි පිළිගත හැකි නීති පද්ධතියක් නොතිබූ නිසා ය.
සමූපකාර ව්යාපාරය ගොඩගැනීමට අවශ්ය නිසා ඔවුන් ලබාගෙන තිබූ කෝටි ගණනක ණය මුදල් කපා හැරි බවද අමාත්ය ජොන්ස්ටන් ප්රනාන්දු මහතා කීය.
http://www.dinamina.lk/2011/11/04/_art.asp?fn=n1111041
ඇමැති බලා සිටිය දී දළ පූට්ටුවා ගුටිකයි
සීගිරිය - සරත් එරමිණිගම්මන
වෙඩි වැදීමකින් සිදුවූ තුවාල සහිතව කලා වැව රක්ෂිතයේ ප්රතිකාර ලබමින් සිටින ගල්ගමුවේ දළ පූට්ටුවාට එම රක්ෂිතයේ සිටින වෙනත් අලින් දෙදෙනකු විසින් ඊයේ (03 වැනිදා) අවස්ථා කීපයකදී පහර දී ඇත.
පශු වෛද්යවරුන්ගේ කැපවීම මත දින හතරක් තිස්සේ ප්රතිකාර ලබන ඇතාගේ තත්ත්වය සොයා බැලීමට කලාවැව රක්ෂිතයට පැමිණි වනජීවී ඇමැති එස්. එම්. චන්ද්රසේන මහතා පහරදීම් සියෑසින් දැක තිබේ.
ඇතාට පහරදුන් වල් අලින් දෙදෙනා පලවා හැරීමට උපදෙස් දුන් ඇමැතිවරයා ඇතා පිළිබඳව විශේෂ අවධානයෙන් සිට ආරක්ෂාව සපයන ලෙසද වනජීවී නිලධාරීන්ට උපදෙස් දුන්නේය. පසුගිය දා කැකිරාව නගරයේ මහා කලබැගෑනියක් ඇති කළේ මෙම දළ පූට්ටුවාය.
http://www.divaina.com/2011/11/04/news33.html
වෙඩි වැදීමකින් සිදුවූ තුවාල සහිතව කලා වැව රක්ෂිතයේ ප්රතිකාර ලබමින් සිටින ගල්ගමුවේ දළ පූට්ටුවාට එම රක්ෂිතයේ සිටින වෙනත් අලින් දෙදෙනකු විසින් ඊයේ (03 වැනිදා) අවස්ථා කීපයකදී පහර දී ඇත.
පශු වෛද්යවරුන්ගේ කැපවීම මත දින හතරක් තිස්සේ ප්රතිකාර ලබන ඇතාගේ තත්ත්වය සොයා බැලීමට කලාවැව රක්ෂිතයට පැමිණි වනජීවී ඇමැති එස්. එම්. චන්ද්රසේන මහතා පහරදීම් සියෑසින් දැක තිබේ.
ඇතාට පහරදුන් වල් අලින් දෙදෙනා පලවා හැරීමට උපදෙස් දුන් ඇමැතිවරයා ඇතා පිළිබඳව විශේෂ අවධානයෙන් සිට ආරක්ෂාව සපයන ලෙසද වනජීවී නිලධාරීන්ට උපදෙස් දුන්නේය. පසුගිය දා කැකිරාව නගරයේ මහා කලබැගෑනියක් ඇති කළේ මෙම දළ පූට්ටුවාය.
http://www.divaina.com/2011/11/04/news33.html
සිගරැට් මිල 10%කින් ඉහළ යන විට සියයට පහක් දුම්පානයෙන් ඉවත් වෙනවා
ප්රභාත් විතාන, සිරිමන්ත රත්නසේකර
වෙළෙඳපොළේ රුපියල් 22 කට අලෙවි කරන සිගරැට් එකක මිල රුපියල් 29 දක්වා වැඩි කළ හැකි බව දුම්කොළ හා මධ්යසාර පිළිබඳ ජාතික අධිකාරිය විසින් කරන ලද අධ්යයනයකින් හෙළිවී තිබේ.
මෙමගින් ශ්රී ලංකා රජයේ ආදායම වැඩි කරගත හැකි බවත් එම ආදායම ලබා ගැනීමට නම් වැඩි කරන සිගරැට් මිල බදු ලෙස රජයට අයකරගත යුතු බවත් දුම්කොළ හා මධ්යසාර පිළිබඳ ජාතික අධිකාරියේ උපදේශකවරයකු වන ආර්ථික විද්යාඥ ආචාර්ය නිශාන් ද මෙල් මහතා පැවසීය.
දුම්කොළ බදු වැඩිකර සිගරැට් මිල ඉහළ දැමීම මගින් දුම්පානය අධෛර්යමත් කළ හැකි බව ලෝක සෞඛ්ය සංවිධානය පවසා ඇති බවත් සිගරැට් මත නිවැරැදි බදු ප්රමාණයන් පැනවීම තුළින් රජයේ ආදායම ඉහළ යන අතර මහජන සෞඛ්ය ආරක්ෂා වන බවත් ආචාර්ය නිශාන් ද මෙල් මහතා කියා සිටියේය.
එමෙන්ම සිගරැට් මිල සියයට 10 කින් ඉහළ යන සෑම අවස්ථාවකම සියයට 5 ක ප්රමාණයක් දුම්බීමෙන් ඉවත් වන බව විදේශ රටවල් කරන ලද සමීක්ෂණවලින් තහවුරු වී තිබෙන බවත් ඒ මහතා කියා සිටියේය.
මිලෙන් අඩු අනිකුත් දුම්කොළ නිෂ්පාදනයන්ගේද මිල ඉහළ දැමීම සඳහා රජය විසින් කටයුතු කළ යුතු බවත් (02 වැනිදා) රජයේ ප්රවෘත්ති දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවේ පැවති ප්රවෘත්ති සාකච්ඡාවකදී ආචාර්ය නිශාන් ද මෙල් මහතා පැවසීය.
http://www.divaina.com/2011/11/04/news18.html
වෙළෙඳපොළේ රුපියල් 22 කට අලෙවි කරන සිගරැට් එකක මිල රුපියල් 29 දක්වා වැඩි කළ හැකි බව දුම්කොළ හා මධ්යසාර පිළිබඳ ජාතික අධිකාරිය විසින් කරන ලද අධ්යයනයකින් හෙළිවී තිබේ.
මෙමගින් ශ්රී ලංකා රජයේ ආදායම වැඩි කරගත හැකි බවත් එම ආදායම ලබා ගැනීමට නම් වැඩි කරන සිගරැට් මිල බදු ලෙස රජයට අයකරගත යුතු බවත් දුම්කොළ හා මධ්යසාර පිළිබඳ ජාතික අධිකාරියේ උපදේශකවරයකු වන ආර්ථික විද්යාඥ ආචාර්ය නිශාන් ද මෙල් මහතා පැවසීය.
දුම්කොළ බදු වැඩිකර සිගරැට් මිල ඉහළ දැමීම මගින් දුම්පානය අධෛර්යමත් කළ හැකි බව ලෝක සෞඛ්ය සංවිධානය පවසා ඇති බවත් සිගරැට් මත නිවැරැදි බදු ප්රමාණයන් පැනවීම තුළින් රජයේ ආදායම ඉහළ යන අතර මහජන සෞඛ්ය ආරක්ෂා වන බවත් ආචාර්ය නිශාන් ද මෙල් මහතා කියා සිටියේය.
එමෙන්ම සිගරැට් මිල සියයට 10 කින් ඉහළ යන සෑම අවස්ථාවකම සියයට 5 ක ප්රමාණයක් දුම්බීමෙන් ඉවත් වන බව විදේශ රටවල් කරන ලද සමීක්ෂණවලින් තහවුරු වී තිබෙන බවත් ඒ මහතා කියා සිටියේය.
මිලෙන් අඩු අනිකුත් දුම්කොළ නිෂ්පාදනයන්ගේද මිල ඉහළ දැමීම සඳහා රජය විසින් කටයුතු කළ යුතු බවත් (02 වැනිදා) රජයේ ප්රවෘත්ති දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවේ පැවති ප්රවෘත්ති සාකච්ඡාවකදී ආචාර්ය නිශාන් ද මෙල් මහතා පැවසීය.
http://www.divaina.com/2011/11/04/news18.html
Water levels in irrigation reservoirs (2 items)
සිඳී ගිය සියලු ජලාශ මහ වැස්සෙන් පිරේ
තුෂාරී කළුබෝවිල
පසුගිය කාලයේ සිඳී ගිය ජලාශ සියල්ලම මේ වනවිට පිරී ඇතැයි දිස්ත්රික් ලේකම් කාර්යාල නිලධාරීහු "දිවයින" කළ විමසීමකදී පැවසූහ.
මඩකලපුව රෑගම් ජලාශයේ වාං දොරටු 2 ක් ඊයේ (02 වැනිදා) වනවිට විවෘත කර ඇති අතර බදුල්ල සොරබොර වැව හා වාං ඇළ පිටාර මට්ටමේ පවතී.
වාරිමාර්ග දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවට අයත් වැව් හා ජලාශ 69 න් සියලුම ජලාශවල ජල මට්ටම 50% ක් ඉක්මවා තිබේ.
මේ දිනවල පවතින වැසි තත්ත්වය තවදුරටත් දිවයිනේ සෑම ප්රදේශයකටම අඩුවැඩි වශයෙන් බලපාන බව කාලගුණ විද්යා දෙපාර්තමේන්තුව පවසයි.
ප්රදේශ කිහිපයක වැසි ජලය බැස නොයැම හේතුවෙන් මාර්ග, පහත් බිම් ජලයෙන් යටවී ඇති අතර මඩකලපුව දිස්ත්රික්කයට මෙම තත්ත්වය දැඩි ලෙස බලපා තිබේ.
වැසි හා අහස වළාකුළු සහිත වීම ආදිය නිසා ඊයේ (2 දා) රට අභ්යන්තර ගුවන් ගමන්වල ද ප්රමාද වීම් සිදු විය.
මෙම තත්ත්වය නොවැම්බර් අග දක්වා පැවතිය හැකි බව කාලගුණ විද්යාඥ චමින්ද සිල්වා මහතා පැවසීය.
http://www.divaina.com/2011/11/04/news16.html
Water levels in irrigation reservoirs rise upto 50 percent
Disna MUDALIGE
The water levels in irrigation reservoirs have risen upto 50 percent with the rains experienced during the past few weeks, Irrigation Department Director General Dr G G A Godaliyedda told the Daily News yesterday.
He said this level was about 37 percent during the beginning of October. Dr Godaliyedda said that there are 69 major irrigational reservoirs. "The islandwide capacity is around 2.81 million acre-feet. Storage is about 1.465 million acre-feet and this is equivalent to 50 percent," he said.
He observed that the Maha cultivation season has started and farmers are preparing the soil for cultivation. Dr Godaliyedda noted that they would be able to supply water to all paddy lands cultivated during this year's Maha season due to the rising water levels in reservoirs. He expected a heavy rain fall to these areas during the next one and half months.
Dr Godaliyedda said that reservoirs in Ampara have filled upto to 61 percent, Batticaloa 58 percent, Moneragala 64 percent and Hambantota 55 percent. Water levels in Mahawilachchiya tank and Rajanganaya tank in Anuradhapura are 53 percent and 58 percent, he said.
http://www.dailynews.lk/2011/11/04/news24.asp
තුෂාරී කළුබෝවිල
පසුගිය කාලයේ සිඳී ගිය ජලාශ සියල්ලම මේ වනවිට පිරී ඇතැයි දිස්ත්රික් ලේකම් කාර්යාල නිලධාරීහු "දිවයින" කළ විමසීමකදී පැවසූහ.
මඩකලපුව රෑගම් ජලාශයේ වාං දොරටු 2 ක් ඊයේ (02 වැනිදා) වනවිට විවෘත කර ඇති අතර බදුල්ල සොරබොර වැව හා වාං ඇළ පිටාර මට්ටමේ පවතී.
වාරිමාර්ග දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවට අයත් වැව් හා ජලාශ 69 න් සියලුම ජලාශවල ජල මට්ටම 50% ක් ඉක්මවා තිබේ.
මේ දිනවල පවතින වැසි තත්ත්වය තවදුරටත් දිවයිනේ සෑම ප්රදේශයකටම අඩුවැඩි වශයෙන් බලපාන බව කාලගුණ විද්යා දෙපාර්තමේන්තුව පවසයි.
ප්රදේශ කිහිපයක වැසි ජලය බැස නොයැම හේතුවෙන් මාර්ග, පහත් බිම් ජලයෙන් යටවී ඇති අතර මඩකලපුව දිස්ත්රික්කයට මෙම තත්ත්වය දැඩි ලෙස බලපා තිබේ.
වැසි හා අහස වළාකුළු සහිත වීම ආදිය නිසා ඊයේ (2 දා) රට අභ්යන්තර ගුවන් ගමන්වල ද ප්රමාද වීම් සිදු විය.
මෙම තත්ත්වය නොවැම්බර් අග දක්වා පැවතිය හැකි බව කාලගුණ විද්යාඥ චමින්ද සිල්වා මහතා පැවසීය.
http://www.divaina.com/2011/11/04/news16.html
Water levels in irrigation reservoirs rise upto 50 percent
Disna MUDALIGE
The water levels in irrigation reservoirs have risen upto 50 percent with the rains experienced during the past few weeks, Irrigation Department Director General Dr G G A Godaliyedda told the Daily News yesterday.
He said this level was about 37 percent during the beginning of October. Dr Godaliyedda said that there are 69 major irrigational reservoirs. "The islandwide capacity is around 2.81 million acre-feet. Storage is about 1.465 million acre-feet and this is equivalent to 50 percent," he said.
He observed that the Maha cultivation season has started and farmers are preparing the soil for cultivation. Dr Godaliyedda noted that they would be able to supply water to all paddy lands cultivated during this year's Maha season due to the rising water levels in reservoirs. He expected a heavy rain fall to these areas during the next one and half months.
Dr Godaliyedda said that reservoirs in Ampara have filled upto to 61 percent, Batticaloa 58 percent, Moneragala 64 percent and Hambantota 55 percent. Water levels in Mahawilachchiya tank and Rajanganaya tank in Anuradhapura are 53 percent and 58 percent, he said.
http://www.dailynews.lk/2011/11/04/news24.asp
බාල පොල්තෙල් සොයා රටපුරා වැටලීම්
නෝමන් පලිහවඩන
මිනිස් පරිභෝජනයට නුසුදුසු පොල්තෙල් විකුණනු ලබන වෙළෙඳුන් නීතියේ රැහැනට කොටුකර ගැනීම සඳහා පාරිභෝගික අධිකාරිය මගින් රටපුරාම වැටලීම් කණ්ඩායම් දැන් යොදවා ඇතැයි එම අධිකාරියේ සභාපති රූමි මර්ෂුක් මහතා "දිවයින"ට ඊයේ ප්රකාශ කළේය.
දැනටමත් සැකසහිත පොල්තෙල් බෝතල් 75 ක් පමණ සොයාගෙන වැඩිදුර පරීක්ෂණ සඳහා පොල් පර්යේෂණායතනයට භාරදුන් බවද රූමි මර්ෂුක් මහතා වැඩිදුරටත් සඳහන් කළේය.
පොල්තෙල්වලට ෆාම් තෙල් හරිහරියට කලවම් කරන බවට පාරිභෝගික අමාත්යාංශයට ලැබෙන පැමිණිලි අනුව මෙම වැටලීම් ආරම්භ කළ බව ද ඔහු කීය.
මෙසේ බාලකරන ලද පොල්තෙල් විකුණන වෙළෙඳුන් පිළිබඳ තොරතුරු ඇතොත් පාරිභෝගික අධිකාරියට දැනුම් දෙන ලෙසද රූමි මර්ෂුක් මහතා ජනතාවගෙන් ඉල්ලීමක් කරයි.
http://www.divaina.com/2011/11/04/news25.html
මිනිස් පරිභෝජනයට නුසුදුසු පොල්තෙල් විකුණනු ලබන වෙළෙඳුන් නීතියේ රැහැනට කොටුකර ගැනීම සඳහා පාරිභෝගික අධිකාරිය මගින් රටපුරාම වැටලීම් කණ්ඩායම් දැන් යොදවා ඇතැයි එම අධිකාරියේ සභාපති රූමි මර්ෂුක් මහතා "දිවයින"ට ඊයේ ප්රකාශ කළේය.
දැනටමත් සැකසහිත පොල්තෙල් බෝතල් 75 ක් පමණ සොයාගෙන වැඩිදුර පරීක්ෂණ සඳහා පොල් පර්යේෂණායතනයට භාරදුන් බවද රූමි මර්ෂුක් මහතා වැඩිදුරටත් සඳහන් කළේය.
පොල්තෙල්වලට ෆාම් තෙල් හරිහරියට කලවම් කරන බවට පාරිභෝගික අමාත්යාංශයට ලැබෙන පැමිණිලි අනුව මෙම වැටලීම් ආරම්භ කළ බව ද ඔහු කීය.
මෙසේ බාලකරන ලද පොල්තෙල් විකුණන වෙළෙඳුන් පිළිබඳ තොරතුරු ඇතොත් පාරිභෝගික අධිකාරියට දැනුම් දෙන ලෙසද රූමි මර්ෂුක් මහතා ජනතාවගෙන් ඉල්ලීමක් කරයි.
http://www.divaina.com/2011/11/04/news25.html
Thursday, November 3, 2011
NATA wants Govt. to increase cigarette prices
The National Authority on Tobacco and Alcohol (NATA) today urged the government to increase the price of cigarettes by 50 per cent as a means of controlling tobacco consumption and increasing government revenue.
NATA Chairman Carlo Fonseka said by increasing the price of cigarettes government revenue from tobacco would increase by a staggering Rs.16 billion.
He said it had been proved the world over that if cigarette prices were increased, total tobacco consumption would fall.
Professor Fonseka said the majority of those who consumed cigarettes were those in the lower income groups and each time we increased the price of a cigarette by 10 per cent, cigarette consumption reduced by five per cent.
“We are persuading the government to increase cigarette prices as it will benefit the government by way of taxes and protecting the people’s health. It is a win-win situation,” Prof. Fonseka said and added that as a first step a Rs.20 cigarette which was
increased by between Rs.1 and Rs.3 last week should be further increased to Rs.30.
He said with people having a larger purchasing power, cigarette prices should also be raised but this had not happened.
According to National Dangerous Drugs Control Board (NDDCB) statistics, tax income from tobacco had increased to Rs.725 billion last year.
Verite Research Economist Nishan de Mel said government revenue from tobacco could increase by Rs.16 billion if cigarette prices were raised by 50 per cent and if taxes were also proportionately increased.
“The government should find a reasonable basis to increase cigarette prices,” he said.
Mr. de Mel said with the nominal increase in real GDP there should be an increase in the price of cigarettes as well and added that between 2001 and 2005 there had been a reversal in the trend of cigarette price adjustments and tobacco affordability increases insignificantly as the increase in cigarettes prices was consistently less than the increase in GDP. (Olindhi Jayasundere)
http://www.dailymirror.lk/news/14513-nata-wants-govt-to-increase-cigarette-prices.html
NATA Chairman Carlo Fonseka said by increasing the price of cigarettes government revenue from tobacco would increase by a staggering Rs.16 billion.
He said it had been proved the world over that if cigarette prices were increased, total tobacco consumption would fall.
Professor Fonseka said the majority of those who consumed cigarettes were those in the lower income groups and each time we increased the price of a cigarette by 10 per cent, cigarette consumption reduced by five per cent.
“We are persuading the government to increase cigarette prices as it will benefit the government by way of taxes and protecting the people’s health. It is a win-win situation,” Prof. Fonseka said and added that as a first step a Rs.20 cigarette which was
increased by between Rs.1 and Rs.3 last week should be further increased to Rs.30.
He said with people having a larger purchasing power, cigarette prices should also be raised but this had not happened.
According to National Dangerous Drugs Control Board (NDDCB) statistics, tax income from tobacco had increased to Rs.725 billion last year.
Verite Research Economist Nishan de Mel said government revenue from tobacco could increase by Rs.16 billion if cigarette prices were raised by 50 per cent and if taxes were also proportionately increased.
“The government should find a reasonable basis to increase cigarette prices,” he said.
Mr. de Mel said with the nominal increase in real GDP there should be an increase in the price of cigarettes as well and added that between 2001 and 2005 there had been a reversal in the trend of cigarette price adjustments and tobacco affordability increases insignificantly as the increase in cigarettes prices was consistently less than the increase in GDP. (Olindhi Jayasundere)
http://www.dailymirror.lk/news/14513-nata-wants-govt-to-increase-cigarette-prices.html
Losses at 249 Govt. ventures exceed Rs.19 billion: COPE
The parliamentary Committee On Public Enterprises (COPE) which investigated 249 government-owned institutions have found that the losses incurred by them during 2007 - 2009 exceeds a staggering Rs.19 billion, a COPE official said yesterday.
He said the loss-making institutions included the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB), Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC), Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC), the State Timber Corporation (STC), Rupavahini, Lankaputhra Bank and Mihin Lanka among others.
COPE Chairman and Senior Minister D.E.W. Gunasekara said COPE had concluded its inquiries and would hold its final sittings on November 14 and 15.
“We hope to hand over the COPE report to Speaker Chamal Rajapaksa before the budget so that parliament could discuss the report during the budget debate. The COPE report is based on our investigations into 249 public enterprises from August 2010 to November 2011,” the minister said.
He said he received the cooperation and assistance of all COPE members whether from the government or the opposition.
He said the loss-making institutions included the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB), Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC), Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC), the State Timber Corporation (STC), Rupavahini, Lankaputhra Bank and Mihin Lanka among others.
COPE Chairman and Senior Minister D.E.W. Gunasekara said COPE had concluded its inquiries and would hold its final sittings on November 14 and 15.
“We hope to hand over the COPE report to Speaker Chamal Rajapaksa before the budget so that parliament could discuss the report during the budget debate. The COPE report is based on our investigations into 249 public enterprises from August 2010 to November 2011,” the minister said.
He said he received the cooperation and assistance of all COPE members whether from the government or the opposition.
“We expect to make a few recommendations to prevent or minimise losses at public enterprises and a series of guidelines on financial and administrative guidelines. The presentation of the annual report before the second half of the following year will be mandatory for all public enterprises from next year,” the minister said.
He said another recommendation was to make all top officials and board members accountable for financial or administrative malpractices even after they had left their places of employment.
The minister said certain establishments had failed to submit their annual reports for two or three years. “The appointment of unqualified people to top management posts on political grounds and the lack of financial and administrative disciplines had ruined many of the public enterprises. One of our strong recommendations will be to appoint educated and professionally qualified people to the top management at these institutions,” he added.
The minister citing two instances of losses at state enterprises said the Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation (SLRC) had recruited nearly 100 employees violating the accepted procedure and Finance Ministry guidelines and also without the approval of the board of directors.
“Almost all these appointments were unnecessary and has been a burden to the SLRC up to now,” he said.
The other instance was the activities at Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) According to COPE, SLC has incurred a loss of more than Rs.2 billion at the time the previous interim committees were in charge.
“Most of the queries raised by the Auditor General with regard to SLC accounts for 2009 have gone unanswered and cricket officials have little or no clue on how to answer them. The SLC is a good example on how the downfall of an establishment can be brought through financial and administrative indiscipline,” the minister said. SLC officials who were summoned before the COPE had no clue as to
how payments had been made for foreign trips by top SLC officials, misappropriations of Cricket World Cup funds and of the many contracts given for the refurbishment of International Cricket Stadiums.
The COPE report is also critical on the performance of all university administrations except that of Moratuwa University.
The minister said COPE members had praised the Moratuwa University for its proper fiscal management and excellent academic performance. (Sandun A Jayasekera)
http://www.dailymirror.lk/news/14518-losses-at-249-govt-ventures-exceed-rs19-billion-cope.html
He said another recommendation was to make all top officials and board members accountable for financial or administrative malpractices even after they had left their places of employment.
The minister said certain establishments had failed to submit their annual reports for two or three years. “The appointment of unqualified people to top management posts on political grounds and the lack of financial and administrative disciplines had ruined many of the public enterprises. One of our strong recommendations will be to appoint educated and professionally qualified people to the top management at these institutions,” he added.
The minister citing two instances of losses at state enterprises said the Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation (SLRC) had recruited nearly 100 employees violating the accepted procedure and Finance Ministry guidelines and also without the approval of the board of directors.
“Almost all these appointments were unnecessary and has been a burden to the SLRC up to now,” he said.
The other instance was the activities at Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) According to COPE, SLC has incurred a loss of more than Rs.2 billion at the time the previous interim committees were in charge.
“Most of the queries raised by the Auditor General with regard to SLC accounts for 2009 have gone unanswered and cricket officials have little or no clue on how to answer them. The SLC is a good example on how the downfall of an establishment can be brought through financial and administrative indiscipline,” the minister said. SLC officials who were summoned before the COPE had no clue as to
how payments had been made for foreign trips by top SLC officials, misappropriations of Cricket World Cup funds and of the many contracts given for the refurbishment of International Cricket Stadiums.
The COPE report is also critical on the performance of all university administrations except that of Moratuwa University.
The minister said COPE members had praised the Moratuwa University for its proper fiscal management and excellent academic performance. (Sandun A Jayasekera)
http://www.dailymirror.lk/news/14518-losses-at-249-govt-ventures-exceed-rs19-billion-cope.html
Lakwijaya (Coal) Power Plant (2 items)
"ලක්විජය බලාගාරය කිසිවකුට දෙන්නේ නෑ"
ශිරාන් රණසිංහ
පුත්තලම, ලක්විජය ගල්අඟුරු බලාගාරය කිසි ලෙසකින්වත් පෞද්ගලික සමාගමකට හෝ චීන සමාගමකට පවරන්නේ නැතැයි විදුලිබල හා බලශක්ති ඇමැති පාඨලී චම්පික රණවක මහතා "දිවයින"ට පැවැසීය.
ශ්රී ලංකාවේ ඉදිකළ පළමු ගල්අඟුරු බලාගාරය මෙය බැවින් එහි ඇතැම් යාන්ත්රික හා තාක්ෂණික තත්ත්වයන්ට මෙරට ඉංජිනේරුවන් පුරුදු වන අතුරු මාස තුනකට හෝ මාස හයක් වැනි කාල සීමාවකට චීන උපදේශකයන් ගෙන්වා ගැනීමට යෝජනා වී ඇතැයි ද ඇමැතිවරයා කීවේය.
මෙම ගල්අඟුරු බලාගාරය මෙගොවොට් නවසියයකින් සමන්විත අතර මේ වනවිට නිම කර ඇත්තේ පළමු අදියර යටතේ මෙගොවොට් තුන්සියයකි. මෙම බලාගාරයේ මෙගොවොට් තුන්සියයකට නිපදවන්නේ එක් යන්ත්රයකින් බවත් එය චීනයේ නිෂ්පාදනයක් නිසා මෙරට ඉංජිනේරුවන්ට ටික කලක් යනතුරු ප්රායෝගික පුහුණුවක් අවශ්ය බවද ඇමැතිවරයා පෙන්වා දෙයි.
කෙසේ වෙතත් මේ වනවිටත් අපේ ඉංජිනේරුවරුන් එකසිය අසූ නවදෙනකු බලාගාරයේ කටයුතුවල නිරතව සිටින බවද චීන ඉංජිනේරුවන්ගේ සහාය දැනටමත් ලබාගත් පසු වෙනත් සමාගම්වලට එහි පාලනය බාර කිරීමට අවශ්ය නැති බවද ඇමැතිවරයා කීවේය.
පසුගිය සැප්තැම්බර් මාසයේදී බලාගාරය ඉදිකළ චීන සමාගම විසින් බලාගාරයේ අයිතිය හා එය පවත්වාගෙන යාම, ලංකා විදුලිබල මණඩලය වෙත පැවැරූ බවද ඇමැතිවරයා අවධාරණය කළේය.
ශිරාන් රණසිංහ
පුත්තලම, ලක්විජය ගල්අඟුරු බලාගාරය කිසි ලෙසකින්වත් පෞද්ගලික සමාගමකට හෝ චීන සමාගමකට පවරන්නේ නැතැයි විදුලිබල හා බලශක්ති ඇමැති පාඨලී චම්පික රණවක මහතා "දිවයින"ට පැවැසීය.
ශ්රී ලංකාවේ ඉදිකළ පළමු ගල්අඟුරු බලාගාරය මෙය බැවින් එහි ඇතැම් යාන්ත්රික හා තාක්ෂණික තත්ත්වයන්ට මෙරට ඉංජිනේරුවන් පුරුදු වන අතුරු මාස තුනකට හෝ මාස හයක් වැනි කාල සීමාවකට චීන උපදේශකයන් ගෙන්වා ගැනීමට යෝජනා වී ඇතැයි ද ඇමැතිවරයා කීවේය.
මෙම ගල්අඟුරු බලාගාරය මෙගොවොට් නවසියයකින් සමන්විත අතර මේ වනවිට නිම කර ඇත්තේ පළමු අදියර යටතේ මෙගොවොට් තුන්සියයකි. මෙම බලාගාරයේ මෙගොවොට් තුන්සියයකට නිපදවන්නේ එක් යන්ත්රයකින් බවත් එය චීනයේ නිෂ්පාදනයක් නිසා මෙරට ඉංජිනේරුවන්ට ටික කලක් යනතුරු ප්රායෝගික පුහුණුවක් අවශ්ය බවද ඇමැතිවරයා පෙන්වා දෙයි.
කෙසේ වෙතත් මේ වනවිටත් අපේ ඉංජිනේරුවරුන් එකසිය අසූ නවදෙනකු බලාගාරයේ කටයුතුවල නිරතව සිටින බවද චීන ඉංජිනේරුවන්ගේ සහාය දැනටමත් ලබාගත් පසු වෙනත් සමාගම්වලට එහි පාලනය බාර කිරීමට අවශ්ය නැති බවද ඇමැතිවරයා කීවේය.
පසුගිය සැප්තැම්බර් මාසයේදී බලාගාරය ඉදිකළ චීන සමාගම විසින් බලාගාරයේ අයිතිය හා එය පවත්වාගෙන යාම, ලංකා විදුලිබල මණඩලය වෙත පැවැරූ බවද ඇමැතිවරයා අවධාරණය කළේය.
http://www.divaina.com/2011/11/03/news06.html
Chinese deny talks with CEB to purchase Norochcholai Plant
By Ifham Nizam
Senior officials of the China Machinery and Engineering Corporation yesterday denied having held any discussions with the Ceylon Electricity Board to purchase the Norochcholai Power Plant in Puttalam, amidst widespread speculation to that effect.
CMEC Senior Official and a Project Director of the Norochcholai Plant, Lnong Ludong told The Islandyesterday that after the completion of the first phase (300 MW) they were now providing technical assistance for phase two of the project.
Ludong told The Island that more than 1,000 people were employed at the Norochcholai Plant including about 800 foreigners.
Last month, The Island exclusively reported that a staggering Rs. 300 million was allocated for six months for maintenance and technical expertise from the Chinese firm. However, Power and Energy
Ministry, Secretary M. M. C. Ferdinando opposed the move and said that Cabinet approval should be obtained prior to releasing such a huge amount.
The Treasury had recommended that it was advisable to handover the project to the Chinese Company instead of paying huge amounts on and off. It is reliably learnt, however, that Power and Energy Minister Patali Champika Ranawaka had vehemently opposed the decision of handing over the plant to the Chinese firm.
CEB Chairman Professor Wimaladhrama Abeywickrema told The Island yesterday that they needed the services of the Chinese company especially during technical mishap as the locals were not competent in the subject.
He also said that the plant was controlled and maintained by the CEB.
The second stage construction of the Norochcholai coal power plant was declared open by President Mahinda Rajapaksa on March 10 this year. The first stage was started in 2006 and was completed earlier this year.
The construction of the third stage begins in 2012 and is to be completed in 2013. According to Ministry sources the power plant would add 900 MW to the CEB.
Chinese deny talks with CEB to purchase Norochcholai Plant
By Ifham Nizam
Senior officials of the China Machinery and Engineering Corporation yesterday denied having held any discussions with the Ceylon Electricity Board to purchase the Norochcholai Power Plant in Puttalam, amidst widespread speculation to that effect.
CMEC Senior Official and a Project Director of the Norochcholai Plant, Lnong Ludong told The Islandyesterday that after the completion of the first phase (300 MW) they were now providing technical assistance for phase two of the project.
Ludong told The Island that more than 1,000 people were employed at the Norochcholai Plant including about 800 foreigners.
Last month, The Island exclusively reported that a staggering Rs. 300 million was allocated for six months for maintenance and technical expertise from the Chinese firm. However, Power and Energy
Ministry, Secretary M. M. C. Ferdinando opposed the move and said that Cabinet approval should be obtained prior to releasing such a huge amount.
The Treasury had recommended that it was advisable to handover the project to the Chinese Company instead of paying huge amounts on and off. It is reliably learnt, however, that Power and Energy Minister Patali Champika Ranawaka had vehemently opposed the decision of handing over the plant to the Chinese firm.
CEB Chairman Professor Wimaladhrama Abeywickrema told The Island yesterday that they needed the services of the Chinese company especially during technical mishap as the locals were not competent in the subject.
He also said that the plant was controlled and maintained by the CEB.
The second stage construction of the Norochcholai coal power plant was declared open by President Mahinda Rajapaksa on March 10 this year. The first stage was started in 2006 and was completed earlier this year.
The construction of the third stage begins in 2012 and is to be completed in 2013. According to Ministry sources the power plant would add 900 MW to the CEB.
ගල්ගමුවේ දළ පූට්ටුවාගේ ජීවිතය රැක ගැනීමට පශු වෛද්යවරු දැඩි සටනක
සීගිරිය - සරත් එරමිණිගම්මන
කැකිරාව ප්රදේශය කැළඹූ "ගල්ගමුවේ දළ පූට්ටුවාගේ" දිවිබේරා ගැනීම සඳහා වනජීවී පශු වෛද්යවරුන් සිව්දෙනෙකු හා නිලධාරීන් 32 දෙනකුගෙන් සමන්විත කණ්ඩායමක් ජීවිත අවදානම සහ ධාරානිපාත වර්ෂාව ද නොතකා ප්රතිකාර සේවා සිදුකරති.
ඇතාගේ සිරුරේ පවතින බහුවිධ තුවාල ආසාදනයට ලක්වීම හේතුවෙන් දැඩි ආසාධනයට පත්ව සිටින බවත්, එම තත්ත්වය තුළ ඇතා නිර්වින්දනය කර හෝ නිදි ගන්වා ප්රතිකාර කිරීම ජීවිත අවදානම තීව්ර කරන්නක් බවත් පෙන්වා දෙන වෛද්යවරු ඇතා ආසන්නයට ගොස් ප්රතිජීවක ඖෂධ එන්නත් කිරීම, ආලේප කිරීම හා වේදනා නාශක ලබාදීම සිදු කරති. මේ වනවිට ඇතා ආහාර හා ජලය ගැනීම ප්රතික්ෂේප කර ඇති හේතුවෙන් ජීවිත අවදානමකට ලක්ව ඇති බවත්, පැණි කොමඩු හා වට්ටක්කා ආදී ආහාර ක්රමයෙන් ගැනීමට සලස්වා ඇති බවත් වෛද්යවරු පවසති.
වනජීවී නියෝජ්ය අධ්යක්ෂ පශූ වෛද්ය තාරක ප්රසාද්, පශු වෛද්යවරුන් වන විජිත පෙරේරා, චන්දන ජයසිංහ, ඩබ්ලිව්. ඒ. ධර්මකීර්ති යන මහත්වරු ඇතුළු සෙසු කාර්ය මණ්ඩලය කැකිරාව උඩගොල්ලෑව ප්රදේශයේ ප්රජා ශාලාවක කඳවුරු බැඳ ප්රතිකාර සේවාවක් සිදු කරති
http://www.divaina.com/2011/11/03/news12.html
කැකිරාව ප්රදේශය කැළඹූ "ගල්ගමුවේ දළ පූට්ටුවාගේ" දිවිබේරා ගැනීම සඳහා වනජීවී පශු වෛද්යවරුන් සිව්දෙනෙකු හා නිලධාරීන් 32 දෙනකුගෙන් සමන්විත කණ්ඩායමක් ජීවිත අවදානම සහ ධාරානිපාත වර්ෂාව ද නොතකා ප්රතිකාර සේවා සිදුකරති.
ඇතාගේ සිරුරේ පවතින බහුවිධ තුවාල ආසාදනයට ලක්වීම හේතුවෙන් දැඩි ආසාධනයට පත්ව සිටින බවත්, එම තත්ත්වය තුළ ඇතා නිර්වින්දනය කර හෝ නිදි ගන්වා ප්රතිකාර කිරීම ජීවිත අවදානම තීව්ර කරන්නක් බවත් පෙන්වා දෙන වෛද්යවරු ඇතා ආසන්නයට ගොස් ප්රතිජීවක ඖෂධ එන්නත් කිරීම, ආලේප කිරීම හා වේදනා නාශක ලබාදීම සිදු කරති. මේ වනවිට ඇතා ආහාර හා ජලය ගැනීම ප්රතික්ෂේප කර ඇති හේතුවෙන් ජීවිත අවදානමකට ලක්ව ඇති බවත්, පැණි කොමඩු හා වට්ටක්කා ආදී ආහාර ක්රමයෙන් ගැනීමට සලස්වා ඇති බවත් වෛද්යවරු පවසති.
වනජීවී නියෝජ්ය අධ්යක්ෂ පශූ වෛද්ය තාරක ප්රසාද්, පශු වෛද්යවරුන් වන විජිත පෙරේරා, චන්දන ජයසිංහ, ඩබ්ලිව්. ඒ. ධර්මකීර්ති යන මහත්වරු ඇතුළු සෙසු කාර්ය මණ්ඩලය කැකිරාව උඩගොල්ලෑව ප්රදේශයේ ප්රජා ශාලාවක කඳවුරු බැඳ ප්රතිකාර සේවාවක් සිදු කරති
http://www.divaina.com/2011/11/03/news12.html
තැඹිලි බී දඩ කයි
විජිතා ලියනගේ - පානදුර
තැඹිලි ගෙඩියක් පානය කර කෝම්බය ප්රධාන මාවතකට විසිකරන ලද කාන්තාවක් අත්අඩංගුවට ගත් පානදුර පොලිස් පරිසර අංශයේ නිලධාරීන් ඇය පානදුර අධිකරණයට ඉදිරිපත් කරන ලදී. අනතුරුව පානදුර මහෙස්ත්රාත් රංග දිසානායක මහතා රුපියල් 2,500 ක දඩයක් ඇයට නියම කරන ලදී. දඩ නියමවූයේ පානදුර කෝවිලවත්තේ ශ්රියාලතා විතානගේ යන අයටය.
ඇය තැඹිලි ගොඩියක් බී පානදුර කෙළින් වීදිය දක්වා ඇති විඡේසූරිය මාවතේ කානුවක් අසලට තැඹිලි කෝම්බයක් විසි කරනු දුටු පොලිස් නිලධාරීන් ඇය අත්අඩංගුවට ගෙන අධිකරණයට ඉදිරිපත් කෙරිණි. පරිසරය දූෂණය කිරීම, ඩෙංගු මදුරුවන් බෝවීමට ඉඩකඩ සැලසීම, කානු අවහිරවී වතුර බැසයැමට බාධා සිදුවීම මෙවන් වැරැදි ක්රියා නිසා සිදුවන බවට පොලිස් පරිසර අංශයේ ස්ථානාධිපති උ. පො. ප. වසන්ත අභයරත්න මහතා අධිකරණයට කරුණු දක්වමින් කියා සිටියේය.
http://www.divaina.com/2011/11/03/news17.html
තැඹිලි ගෙඩියක් පානය කර කෝම්බය ප්රධාන මාවතකට විසිකරන ලද කාන්තාවක් අත්අඩංගුවට ගත් පානදුර පොලිස් පරිසර අංශයේ නිලධාරීන් ඇය පානදුර අධිකරණයට ඉදිරිපත් කරන ලදී. අනතුරුව පානදුර මහෙස්ත්රාත් රංග දිසානායක මහතා රුපියල් 2,500 ක දඩයක් ඇයට නියම කරන ලදී. දඩ නියමවූයේ පානදුර කෝවිලවත්තේ ශ්රියාලතා විතානගේ යන අයටය.
ඇය තැඹිලි ගොඩියක් බී පානදුර කෙළින් වීදිය දක්වා ඇති විඡේසූරිය මාවතේ කානුවක් අසලට තැඹිලි කෝම්බයක් විසි කරනු දුටු පොලිස් නිලධාරීන් ඇය අත්අඩංගුවට ගෙන අධිකරණයට ඉදිරිපත් කෙරිණි. පරිසරය දූෂණය කිරීම, ඩෙංගු මදුරුවන් බෝවීමට ඉඩකඩ සැලසීම, කානු අවහිරවී වතුර බැසයැමට බාධා සිදුවීම මෙවන් වැරැදි ක්රියා නිසා සිදුවන බවට පොලිස් පරිසර අංශයේ ස්ථානාධිපති උ. පො. ප. වසන්ත අභයරත්න මහතා අධිකරණයට කරුණු දක්වමින් කියා සිටියේය.
http://www.divaina.com/2011/11/03/news17.html
Matara MC: high risk area: Twenty seven new dengue patients last month
Matara Group corr
The Matara Municipal Council area has been declared a high risk area threatened with dengue by the Health Ministry, following the detection of 27 new dengue patients within the last month.
Officials said the detection of such a large number of patients can be considered as an epidemic situation.
Altogether 48 dengue patients have been reported from the municipal area during the last 10 months of this year.
The most affected areas with mosquito breeding places are Canal Bank area, Bentotagewatta, Hittetiya South and Central areas Izadeen Town, Hamugewatta, Sudarshi Mawatha, Kumaradasa Mawatha and Mahanamapura.
The PHIs are working round the clock to destroy mosquito breeding places through fumigation and other means.
http://www.dailynews.lk/2011/11/03/news02.asp
The Matara Municipal Council area has been declared a high risk area threatened with dengue by the Health Ministry, following the detection of 27 new dengue patients within the last month.
Officials said the detection of such a large number of patients can be considered as an epidemic situation.
Altogether 48 dengue patients have been reported from the municipal area during the last 10 months of this year.
The most affected areas with mosquito breeding places are Canal Bank area, Bentotagewatta, Hittetiya South and Central areas Izadeen Town, Hamugewatta, Sudarshi Mawatha, Kumaradasa Mawatha and Mahanamapura.
The PHIs are working round the clock to destroy mosquito breeding places through fumigation and other means.
http://www.dailynews.lk/2011/11/03/news02.asp
Rare tree found in Delft Island
Priyanka KURUGALA
'Baobab is an extraordinary large tree said to have its origins in the African Savannah. The leaves of this tree is used as a meal for horses. These trees can store huge amounts of water and are very strong,' a senior official from the Archaeological Department said.
'Baobab trees can be found in places, such as, the Delft Island, Talaimannar and Mannar, which is a strange sight in Sri Lanka,' the official said.
Archaeological Department sources said Baobab was brought to our country by Arab traders during the Dutch period.
They were probably planted on Delft Island as it was an important location and a sanctuary for horses.
http://www.dailynews.lk/2011/11/03/news18.asp
'Baobab is an extraordinary large tree said to have its origins in the African Savannah. The leaves of this tree is used as a meal for horses. These trees can store huge amounts of water and are very strong,' a senior official from the Archaeological Department said.
'Baobab trees can be found in places, such as, the Delft Island, Talaimannar and Mannar, which is a strange sight in Sri Lanka,' the official said.
Archaeological Department sources said Baobab was brought to our country by Arab traders during the Dutch period.
They were probably planted on Delft Island as it was an important location and a sanctuary for horses.
http://www.dailynews.lk/2011/11/03/news18.asp
NHSL not adhering to Ministry circular on lab tests
By Dilanthi Jayamanne
The Sri Lanka Society for Medical Laboratory Science (SLSMLS) urged the administration of the Colombo National Hospital (NHSL) to implement the circular issued by the Health Ministry on out sourcing laboratory tests.
President of the SLSMLS, Ravi Kumudesh said yesterday that the circular had been issued by the Health Ministry over a month ago instructing lab tests to be carried out at the NHSL.
Health Minister Maithripala Sirisena visited the NHSL laboratory facility over three months ago and issued instructions that the hospital refrain from outsourcing medical tests to the private sector.
However, the situation continues due to the need of a solid plan. He said the administration should carry out an analysis on the tests that could be carried out, the resources available to carry them out, and what tests should be directed to the private sector owing to the need of resources.
The findings should be discussed with the Health Ministry and the two parties have yet to reach an agreement, he said. The Ministry and the NHSL should also decide which private sector lab institutions should carry out the tests rather than inconveniencing patients. Kumudesh said the hospital should finance the tests rather than placing the burden on the patient.
As it is, patients are of the opinion that the doctors, the lab staff and other staff members of the hospital have an understanding with certain private sector laboratory institutions regarding outsourcing medical tests. However, if a method is formulated this situation too could be reversed. The situation could be explained to the patient and he/she could be directed to the private laboratory which has been decided on by the Ministry and the NHSL authorities, Kumudesh added.
http://www.island.lk/index.php?page_cat=article-details&page=article-details&code_title=38231
The Sri Lanka Society for Medical Laboratory Science (SLSMLS) urged the administration of the Colombo National Hospital (NHSL) to implement the circular issued by the Health Ministry on out sourcing laboratory tests.
President of the SLSMLS, Ravi Kumudesh said yesterday that the circular had been issued by the Health Ministry over a month ago instructing lab tests to be carried out at the NHSL.
Health Minister Maithripala Sirisena visited the NHSL laboratory facility over three months ago and issued instructions that the hospital refrain from outsourcing medical tests to the private sector.
However, the situation continues due to the need of a solid plan. He said the administration should carry out an analysis on the tests that could be carried out, the resources available to carry them out, and what tests should be directed to the private sector owing to the need of resources.
The findings should be discussed with the Health Ministry and the two parties have yet to reach an agreement, he said. The Ministry and the NHSL should also decide which private sector lab institutions should carry out the tests rather than inconveniencing patients. Kumudesh said the hospital should finance the tests rather than placing the burden on the patient.
As it is, patients are of the opinion that the doctors, the lab staff and other staff members of the hospital have an understanding with certain private sector laboratory institutions regarding outsourcing medical tests. However, if a method is formulated this situation too could be reversed. The situation could be explained to the patient and he/she could be directed to the private laboratory which has been decided on by the Ministry and the NHSL authorities, Kumudesh added.
http://www.island.lk/index.php?page_cat=article-details&page=article-details&code_title=38231
යාන් ඔය ව්යාපෘතියට චීනය සමඟ අද අස්සන්
නුවන් කොඩිකාර
යාන් ඔය’ වාරි ව්යාපෘතියේ ඉදිකිරීම් ආරම්භ කිරීම සඳහා වූ ගිවිසුම් ශ්රී ලංකා රජය සහ චීන රජය අතර මහවැලි කේන්ද්රයේදී අද (3) අස්සන් කෙරේ.
චීන රජය සහ වාරි මාර්ග හා ජල සම්පත් කළමනාකරණ ඇමැති නිමල් සිරිපාල ද සිල්වා මහතා අතර ගිවිසුම් අස්සන් කිරීම සිදු කෙරේ.
මේ ව්යාපෘතිය මඟින් අනුරාධපුර හා ත්රිකුණාමලය දිස්ත්රික්ක සඳහා වාරි ජල පහසුකම් සැපයෙන අතර චීන රජය අමෙරිකන් ඩොලර් මිලියන 176 ක් මේ සඳහා වැය කිරීමට නියමිතය.
වසර හතරකින් ඉදිකිරීම් කටයුතු අවසන් කිරීමට නියමිතය.
http://www.dinamina.lk/2011/11/03/_art.asp?fn=n1111039
යාන් ඔය’ වාරි ව්යාපෘතියේ ඉදිකිරීම් ආරම්භ කිරීම සඳහා වූ ගිවිසුම් ශ්රී ලංකා රජය සහ චීන රජය අතර මහවැලි කේන්ද්රයේදී අද (3) අස්සන් කෙරේ.
චීන රජය සහ වාරි මාර්ග හා ජල සම්පත් කළමනාකරණ ඇමැති නිමල් සිරිපාල ද සිල්වා මහතා අතර ගිවිසුම් අස්සන් කිරීම සිදු කෙරේ.
මේ ව්යාපෘතිය මඟින් අනුරාධපුර හා ත්රිකුණාමලය දිස්ත්රික්ක සඳහා වාරි ජල පහසුකම් සැපයෙන අතර චීන රජය අමෙරිකන් ඩොලර් මිලියන 176 ක් මේ සඳහා වැය කිරීමට නියමිතය.
වසර හතරකින් ඉදිකිරීම් කටයුතු අවසන් කිරීමට නියමිතය.
http://www.dinamina.lk/2011/11/03/_art.asp?fn=n1111039
Oil explorations: Russian teams expected (3 items)
මන්නාරමේ තෙල් ගවේෂණයට රුසියානු විශේෂඥ කණ්ඩායමක්
සුභාෂිනී සේනානායක
මන්නාරම් මුහුදු තීරයේ තෙල් ගවේෂණ කටයුතු සඳහා සහාය වීමට රුසියානු තාක්ෂණ විශේෂඥයන් කණ්ඩායමක් ඉදිරි සති තුන ඇතුළත ශ්රී ලංකාවට පැමිණීමට නියමිතය.
රුසියානු ගෑස්ප්රොම් ජාත්යන්තර සමාගම සමඟ ශ්රී ලංකා රජය සිදුකරන ලද සාකච්ඡාවකින් අනතුරුව මේ විශේෂ කණ්ඩායම මෙරටට පැමිණීමට නියමිතය.
රුසියාවේ සිවු දින නිල සංචාරයක යෙදුණු ඛනිජ තෙල් කර්මාන්ත ඇමැති සුසිල් ප්රේම්ජයන්ත් මහතා පැවැසුවේ රුසියානු රජය සමඟ තෙල් හා ගෑස් සම්බන්ධව සුවිශේෂී එකඟතාවන් රැසකට එළැඹුණු බවයි.
ලෝකයේ විශාලතම ගෑස් සමාගමක් වන රුසියානු ගෑස්ප්රොම් ජාත්යන්තර සමාගමේ උප සභාපති වැලෙරි ගුලේයෙව්, ශ්රී ලංකා රුසියානු තානාපති උදයංග වීරතුංග මහතා ඇතුළු පිරිසක් මේ සාකච්ඡාව සඳහා සහභාගි වූහ.
මේ සාකච්ඡාව තුළදී ශ්රී ලංකාවේ උසස් පෙළ සමත් සිසුන් සඳහා ශිෂ්යත්ව පිරිනැමීමටත් එකඟ වී තිබෙන අතර තෙල් ගවේෂණය සහ තෙල් නිෂ්පාදිත ද්රව්ය ආශ්රිතව ශ්රී ලාංකික උපාධිධාරීන් එක්කර ගැනීමට කැමැත්ත පළ කර තිබේ.
මෙම සංචාරයේදී 2016 වසරේදී සංචාරකයන් මිලියන 2.5 ක් ගෙන්වා ගැනීමේ ඉලක්කය සඳහා සහාය ලබාදීමටද රුසියානු රජය සහාය පළකර තිබේ.
හෝටල් කර්මාන්ත ක්ෂේත්රයේ ආයෝජනයන් සඳහාත්, මෙරට සංචාරක ව්යාපාරයේ වර්ධනය සඳහා ඩොලර් මිලියන 30 ක පමණ ආයෝජන සිදුකිරීමටද කැමැත්ත රුසියානු රජය පළ කර ඇත.
මේ සංචාරයේදී රුසියානු විදේශ කටයුතු පිළිබඳ නියෝජ්ය ඇමැති ඇලෙක්සෙයී බරොදාවිකිත් මහතා සමඟ විශේෂ සාකච්ඡාවක් මොස්කව් නුවරදී පවත්වා තිබේ. එහිදී රුසියාවේ ශ්රී ලංකාව පිළිබඳ විදේශ ප්රතිපත්තිය තවදුරටත් ශක්තිමත් කරමින් දෙරට අතර මිත්රත්වය තහවුරු කිරීමටත් සෑම විටම සහාය පළ කරන බවටත් ප්රකාශ කර තිබේ.
http://www.dinamina.lk/2011/11/03/_art.asp?fn=n1111036
Milestone in oil exploration bid
Athapattu BANDARA
The recent four-day visit of Petroleum Industries Minister Susil Premajayantha to Russia marked a milestone in the efforts of oil exploration in Sri Lanka with several crucial agreements in oil exploration off the Mannar coast and while strengthening bilateral relationships between the two countries.
Russia’s biggest energy company Gazprom has agreed to support Sri Lanka in oil exploration and to help reach the expected economic development in the country.
Gazprom Vice Chairman Valleri Gulyev expressed the company's willingness to carry out oil exploration in the Mannar Basin when he met Minister Premajayantha at a meeting. Gazprom also agreed to dispatch a team of experts on oil exploration to Sri Lanka within three weeks following the discussion. The minister visited Russia to hold discussions on oil exploration with the authorities of the worlds biggest gas extractor, Gazprom and attend the first session of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) at Moscow following a special invitation of the Russian Government's Energy Ministry.
Gulyev said the company would send a group of experts to Sri Lanka for a study on oil exploration. He has also assured to set up an oil refinery in Sri Lanka.
Gazprom further agreed to offer scholarships for Sri Lankan students who get through GCE A/L examination and enlist Sri Lankan graduates in the proceedings of oil exploration in Sri Lanka.
To make the government's bid a reality by increasing the tourist arrivals up to 2.5 million by 2016, Gazprom promised to assist Sri Lanka by promoting Russian tourists to visit Sri Lanka.
He said Gazprom will assist Russian investors to invest US$ 30 million in Sri Lanka's tourism industry in the coming years.
The minister also met Russian Foreign Affairs Deputy Minister Aleksei Barodawki. He also pledged Russians support to strengthen amicable relationships between both countries maintained for many years.
Sri Lankan's Ambassador to Russia Udayanga Weerathunga, oil exploration consultant Saliya Wickramasuriya and Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau Deputy Director Rumy Jaufer also attended the meeting.
http://www.dailynews.lk/2011/11/03/news04.asp
World’s largest gas extractor Gazprom to join Lanka’s search
By Ifham Nizam
The largest extractor of natural gas in the world, Russian company Gazprom has expressed its intention to join the gas drilling in the Mannar basin, Petroleum Industries Ministry said.
A group of technical specialist will arrive in Sri Lanka shortly for further discussions.
Petroleum Industries Minister Susil Premajayantha who participated at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in Moscow last week had bilateral discussions with the Gazprom company representatives.
According to Ministry officials positive decisions were being taken following number of discussions on the matter.
Sri Lanka had the advantage of reducing fossil fuel costs with the finding of gas in the Mannar basin and certainly it would become a major relief to the energy sector in the country, a senior official said.
Public Utilities Commission Chairman Dr. Jayatissa De Costa told ‘The Island’ yesterday that gas was there in Sri Lanka but it would take at least two years to commercially extract it.
Dr. Costa believes that if Sri Lanka could increase the renewable energy sources from six per cent to 15 per cent, certainly the relief could be passed on to the consumers.
සුභාෂිනී සේනානායක
මන්නාරම් මුහුදු තීරයේ තෙල් ගවේෂණ කටයුතු සඳහා සහාය වීමට රුසියානු තාක්ෂණ විශේෂඥයන් කණ්ඩායමක් ඉදිරි සති තුන ඇතුළත ශ්රී ලංකාවට පැමිණීමට නියමිතය.
රුසියානු ගෑස්ප්රොම් ජාත්යන්තර සමාගම සමඟ ශ්රී ලංකා රජය සිදුකරන ලද සාකච්ඡාවකින් අනතුරුව මේ විශේෂ කණ්ඩායම මෙරටට පැමිණීමට නියමිතය.
රුසියාවේ සිවු දින නිල සංචාරයක යෙදුණු ඛනිජ තෙල් කර්මාන්ත ඇමැති සුසිල් ප්රේම්ජයන්ත් මහතා පැවැසුවේ රුසියානු රජය සමඟ තෙල් හා ගෑස් සම්බන්ධව සුවිශේෂී එකඟතාවන් රැසකට එළැඹුණු බවයි.
ලෝකයේ විශාලතම ගෑස් සමාගමක් වන රුසියානු ගෑස්ප්රොම් ජාත්යන්තර සමාගමේ උප සභාපති වැලෙරි ගුලේයෙව්, ශ්රී ලංකා රුසියානු තානාපති උදයංග වීරතුංග මහතා ඇතුළු පිරිසක් මේ සාකච්ඡාව සඳහා සහභාගි වූහ.
මේ සාකච්ඡාව තුළදී ශ්රී ලංකාවේ උසස් පෙළ සමත් සිසුන් සඳහා ශිෂ්යත්ව පිරිනැමීමටත් එකඟ වී තිබෙන අතර තෙල් ගවේෂණය සහ තෙල් නිෂ්පාදිත ද්රව්ය ආශ්රිතව ශ්රී ලාංකික උපාධිධාරීන් එක්කර ගැනීමට කැමැත්ත පළ කර තිබේ.
මෙම සංචාරයේදී 2016 වසරේදී සංචාරකයන් මිලියන 2.5 ක් ගෙන්වා ගැනීමේ ඉලක්කය සඳහා සහාය ලබාදීමටද රුසියානු රජය සහාය පළකර තිබේ.
හෝටල් කර්මාන්ත ක්ෂේත්රයේ ආයෝජනයන් සඳහාත්, මෙරට සංචාරක ව්යාපාරයේ වර්ධනය සඳහා ඩොලර් මිලියන 30 ක පමණ ආයෝජන සිදුකිරීමටද කැමැත්ත රුසියානු රජය පළ කර ඇත.
මේ සංචාරයේදී රුසියානු විදේශ කටයුතු පිළිබඳ නියෝජ්ය ඇමැති ඇලෙක්සෙයී බරොදාවිකිත් මහතා සමඟ විශේෂ සාකච්ඡාවක් මොස්කව් නුවරදී පවත්වා තිබේ. එහිදී රුසියාවේ ශ්රී ලංකාව පිළිබඳ විදේශ ප්රතිපත්තිය තවදුරටත් ශක්තිමත් කරමින් දෙරට අතර මිත්රත්වය තහවුරු කිරීමටත් සෑම විටම සහාය පළ කරන බවටත් ප්රකාශ කර තිබේ.
http://www.dinamina.lk/2011/11/03/_art.asp?fn=n1111036
Milestone in oil exploration bid
Athapattu BANDARA
The recent four-day visit of Petroleum Industries Minister Susil Premajayantha to Russia marked a milestone in the efforts of oil exploration in Sri Lanka with several crucial agreements in oil exploration off the Mannar coast and while strengthening bilateral relationships between the two countries.
Russia’s biggest energy company Gazprom has agreed to support Sri Lanka in oil exploration and to help reach the expected economic development in the country.
Gazprom Vice Chairman Valleri Gulyev expressed the company's willingness to carry out oil exploration in the Mannar Basin when he met Minister Premajayantha at a meeting. Gazprom also agreed to dispatch a team of experts on oil exploration to Sri Lanka within three weeks following the discussion. The minister visited Russia to hold discussions on oil exploration with the authorities of the worlds biggest gas extractor, Gazprom and attend the first session of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) at Moscow following a special invitation of the Russian Government's Energy Ministry.
Gulyev said the company would send a group of experts to Sri Lanka for a study on oil exploration. He has also assured to set up an oil refinery in Sri Lanka.
Gazprom further agreed to offer scholarships for Sri Lankan students who get through GCE A/L examination and enlist Sri Lankan graduates in the proceedings of oil exploration in Sri Lanka.
To make the government's bid a reality by increasing the tourist arrivals up to 2.5 million by 2016, Gazprom promised to assist Sri Lanka by promoting Russian tourists to visit Sri Lanka.
He said Gazprom will assist Russian investors to invest US$ 30 million in Sri Lanka's tourism industry in the coming years.
The minister also met Russian Foreign Affairs Deputy Minister Aleksei Barodawki. He also pledged Russians support to strengthen amicable relationships between both countries maintained for many years.
Sri Lankan's Ambassador to Russia Udayanga Weerathunga, oil exploration consultant Saliya Wickramasuriya and Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau Deputy Director Rumy Jaufer also attended the meeting.
http://www.dailynews.lk/2011/11/03/news04.asp
World’s largest gas extractor Gazprom to join Lanka’s search
By Ifham Nizam
The largest extractor of natural gas in the world, Russian company Gazprom has expressed its intention to join the gas drilling in the Mannar basin, Petroleum Industries Ministry said.
A group of technical specialist will arrive in Sri Lanka shortly for further discussions.
Petroleum Industries Minister Susil Premajayantha who participated at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in Moscow last week had bilateral discussions with the Gazprom company representatives.
According to Ministry officials positive decisions were being taken following number of discussions on the matter.
Sri Lanka had the advantage of reducing fossil fuel costs with the finding of gas in the Mannar basin and certainly it would become a major relief to the energy sector in the country, a senior official said.
Public Utilities Commission Chairman Dr. Jayatissa De Costa told ‘The Island’ yesterday that gas was there in Sri Lanka but it would take at least two years to commercially extract it.
Dr. Costa believes that if Sri Lanka could increase the renewable energy sources from six per cent to 15 per cent, certainly the relief could be passed on to the consumers.
කන්දකුලියේ කෝටි 10 ක රජයේ ඉඩමක් අයෙක් බලෙන් අල්ලාගෙන
ප්රියදර්ශන ලියනගේ
රුපියල් කෝටි දහයකට අධික වාණිජ වටිනාකමකින් යුත් පුත්තලම දිස්ත්රික්කයේ කන්දකුලිය ග්රාම සේවක වසම තුළ පිහිටි රජයට අයත් ඉඩම් අක්කර 64 ක් නීති විරෝධී ලෙස එක් පුද්ගලයකු විසින් අත්පත් කර ගෙන ඇතැයි ඉඩම් අමාත්යාංශ අභ්යන්තර ආරංචි මාර්ග සඳහන් කරයි.
ඉඩම් හා ඉඩම් සංවර්ධන අමාත්යාංශයට ලැබුණු තොරතුරක් මත සිදුකරනු ලැබූ හදිසි පරීක්ෂණයකදී මේ බව අනාවරණය කොට ගෙන තිබේ. මෙම ඉඩම වෙරළ තීරයට සමීපව පිහිටා ඇත.
මේ පිළිබඳව ඉඩම් හා ඉඩම් සංවර්ධන අමාත්ය ජනක බණ්ඩාර තෙන්නකෝන් මහතාගෙන් ඊයේ (2 දා) විමසූ විට ඇමැතිවරයා සඳහන් කළේ මෙම ඉඩම අනවසරයෙන් අල්ලාගත් පුද්ගලයකුට විරුද්ධව නඩු පැවරීමට රජය කටයුතු යොදා ඇති බවයි. රජය සන්තක ඉඩම් ආපසු පවරා ගැනීමේ වැඩපිළිවෙළ යටතේ මේ ඉඩම රජයට පවරා ගන්නා බව සඳහන් කළ ඇමැතිවරයා හොර ඉඩම් ඔප්පු සකස් කොට නීති විරෝධී ලෙස අල්ලාගෙන භුක්ති විඳින රජයේ ඉඩම් සොයා සිදුකරන පරීක්ෂණ අඛණ්ඩව ඉදිරියටත් සිදුකරන බවද පැවසීය.
http://www.divaina.com/2011/11/03/news08.html
රුපියල් කෝටි දහයකට අධික වාණිජ වටිනාකමකින් යුත් පුත්තලම දිස්ත්රික්කයේ කන්දකුලිය ග්රාම සේවක වසම තුළ පිහිටි රජයට අයත් ඉඩම් අක්කර 64 ක් නීති විරෝධී ලෙස එක් පුද්ගලයකු විසින් අත්පත් කර ගෙන ඇතැයි ඉඩම් අමාත්යාංශ අභ්යන්තර ආරංචි මාර්ග සඳහන් කරයි.
ඉඩම් හා ඉඩම් සංවර්ධන අමාත්යාංශයට ලැබුණු තොරතුරක් මත සිදුකරනු ලැබූ හදිසි පරීක්ෂණයකදී මේ බව අනාවරණය කොට ගෙන තිබේ. මෙම ඉඩම වෙරළ තීරයට සමීපව පිහිටා ඇත.
මේ පිළිබඳව ඉඩම් හා ඉඩම් සංවර්ධන අමාත්ය ජනක බණ්ඩාර තෙන්නකෝන් මහතාගෙන් ඊයේ (2 දා) විමසූ විට ඇමැතිවරයා සඳහන් කළේ මෙම ඉඩම අනවසරයෙන් අල්ලාගත් පුද්ගලයකුට විරුද්ධව නඩු පැවරීමට රජය කටයුතු යොදා ඇති බවයි. රජය සන්තක ඉඩම් ආපසු පවරා ගැනීමේ වැඩපිළිවෙළ යටතේ මේ ඉඩම රජයට පවරා ගන්නා බව සඳහන් කළ ඇමැතිවරයා හොර ඉඩම් ඔප්පු සකස් කොට නීති විරෝධී ලෙස අල්ලාගෙන භුක්ති විඳින රජයේ ඉඩම් සොයා සිදුකරන පරීක්ෂණ අඛණ්ඩව ඉදිරියටත් සිදුකරන බවද පැවසීය.
http://www.divaina.com/2011/11/03/news08.html
පාරිභෝගික අධිකාරියට කෝටි 7ක ආදායමක්
විජයානි එදිරිසිංහ
පාරිභෝගික අධිකාරිය පසුගිය මාස දහය තුළ සිදුකළ වැටලීම්වලින් උපයාගත් මුදල රුපියල් කෝටි 07 දක්වා වැඩිවී තිබේ.
පාරිභෝගික අධිකාරිය ප්රථම වරට මෙතරම් විශාල මුදලක් උපයාගත් ප්රථම අවස්ථාව මෙය වෙයි. ජනවාරි මාසයේ සිට ඔක්තෝබර් දක්වා සිදුකර ඇති වැටලීම් සංඛ්යාව 27123 කි. මීට පෙර පාරිභෝගික අධිකාරිය උපයාගත් වැඩිම මුදල රුපියල් කෝටි දෙකකි.
පසුගිය වර්ෂය හා සසඳන විට 248% කින් දඩ ආදායම වැඩි වී තිබෙන බව සමුපකාර හා අභ්යන්තර වෙළඳ කටයුතු පිළිබඳ ඇමැති ජොන්ස්ටන් ප්රනාන්දු මහතා පැවැසීය.
වගකීම් සහතික නොමැතිව භාණ්ඩ අලෙවි කිරීම, කල් ඉකුත් වූ භාණ්ඩ, වැඩි මිලට භාණ්ඩ විකිණීම, භාණ්ඩ සඟවා තැබීම, භාණ්ඩවල මිල ප්රදර්ශනය නොකිරීම, නියමිත බරට භාණ්ඩ නොතිබීම ඇතුළු ව්යාපාරිකයන් සිදුකරන වැරැදි විශාල ප්රමාණයක් සම්බන්ධව වැටලීම් සිදු කෙරුණි.
දිවයින පුරා වැටලීම් කණ්ඩායම් පනහකට වැඩි ප්රමාණයක් වැටලීම් සිදු කර තිබේ.
මේ වසර අවසානය වන විට වැටලීම් තවදුරටත් පුළුල් කරන අතර දඩ ප්රමාණය රුපියල් කෝටි දහය දක්වා වැඩිකර ගැනීම පාරිභෝගික අධිකාරියේ අපේක්ෂාවයි
http://www.dinamina.lk/2011/11/03/_art.asp?fn=n11110314
පාරිභෝගික අධිකාරිය පසුගිය මාස දහය තුළ සිදුකළ වැටලීම්වලින් උපයාගත් මුදල රුපියල් කෝටි 07 දක්වා වැඩිවී තිබේ.
පාරිභෝගික අධිකාරිය ප්රථම වරට මෙතරම් විශාල මුදලක් උපයාගත් ප්රථම අවස්ථාව මෙය වෙයි. ජනවාරි මාසයේ සිට ඔක්තෝබර් දක්වා සිදුකර ඇති වැටලීම් සංඛ්යාව 27123 කි. මීට පෙර පාරිභෝගික අධිකාරිය උපයාගත් වැඩිම මුදල රුපියල් කෝටි දෙකකි.
පසුගිය වර්ෂය හා සසඳන විට 248% කින් දඩ ආදායම වැඩි වී තිබෙන බව සමුපකාර හා අභ්යන්තර වෙළඳ කටයුතු පිළිබඳ ඇමැති ජොන්ස්ටන් ප්රනාන්දු මහතා පැවැසීය.
වගකීම් සහතික නොමැතිව භාණ්ඩ අලෙවි කිරීම, කල් ඉකුත් වූ භාණ්ඩ, වැඩි මිලට භාණ්ඩ විකිණීම, භාණ්ඩ සඟවා තැබීම, භාණ්ඩවල මිල ප්රදර්ශනය නොකිරීම, නියමිත බරට භාණ්ඩ නොතිබීම ඇතුළු ව්යාපාරිකයන් සිදුකරන වැරැදි විශාල ප්රමාණයක් සම්බන්ධව වැටලීම් සිදු කෙරුණි.
දිවයින පුරා වැටලීම් කණ්ඩායම් පනහකට වැඩි ප්රමාණයක් වැටලීම් සිදු කර තිබේ.
මේ වසර අවසානය වන විට වැටලීම් තවදුරටත් පුළුල් කරන අතර දඩ ප්රමාණය රුපියල් කෝටි දහය දක්වා වැඩිකර ගැනීම පාරිභෝගික අධිකාරියේ අපේක්ෂාවයි
http://www.dinamina.lk/2011/11/03/_art.asp?fn=n11110314
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Navy assists study on climate change, coastal hazards
The Sri Lanka Navy recently facilitated a scientific study, on north-easterly monsoonal climate changes and coastal hazards by a group of Sri Lankan Scientists attached to the Geological Survey and Mines Bureau (GSMB) and the world renowned Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, USA.
The study involved collection of sea-bed samplings using a vibro-core to trap samples of sediments at the bottom of the sea up to 100m water depth in the eastern seas and survey and drilling in lagoons/estuaries from South-East to North-East of the country.
Navy headquarters said that it was the first such scientific study conducted here with the involvement of the US institution.
The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute supplied the equipment and partly-funded the study with GSMB, whilst the Navy provided SLNS Samudra (ex-US Coast Guard Cutter Courageous), P 464 (an Israeli built Fast Attack Craft)and several Inshore Patrol Craft (IPCs) to access areas of interests to collect samples.
The analysis of the data would reveal the effect of NE monsoons over the sedimentation, its wind patterns and changes with relation to the vegetation, the frequency of tsunami effects in the eastern coast broaden our understanding on climate in this relatively unexplored field of study, an SLN spokesman said.
http://www.island.lk/index.php?page_cat=article-details&page=article-details&code_title=38191
The study involved collection of sea-bed samplings using a vibro-core to trap samples of sediments at the bottom of the sea up to 100m water depth in the eastern seas and survey and drilling in lagoons/estuaries from South-East to North-East of the country.
Navy headquarters said that it was the first such scientific study conducted here with the involvement of the US institution.
The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute supplied the equipment and partly-funded the study with GSMB, whilst the Navy provided SLNS Samudra (ex-US Coast Guard Cutter Courageous), P 464 (an Israeli built Fast Attack Craft)and several Inshore Patrol Craft (IPCs) to access areas of interests to collect samples.
The analysis of the data would reveal the effect of NE monsoons over the sedimentation, its wind patterns and changes with relation to the vegetation, the frequency of tsunami effects in the eastern coast broaden our understanding on climate in this relatively unexplored field of study, an SLN spokesman said.
http://www.island.lk/index.php?page_cat=article-details&page=article-details&code_title=38191
ගල්ගමුවේ ඇතාට අසාධ්යයි
සීගිරිය විශේෂ දඹුල්ල ප්රදීප් ගුණවර්ධන
කැකිරාව නගරය කැළඹූ ගල්ගමුවේ ඇතා නමින් හඳුන්වන අන්ධ ඇතාගේ ශරීරයේ ඇති තුවාල හේතුවෙන් දැඩි අසාධ්ය තත්ත්වයෙන් පසුවන බව වනජීවී පශු වෛද්යවරු ඊයේ (01) පස්වරුවේ පැවසූහ. මෙම ඇතාට ප්රතිකාර කිරීම සඳහා වනජීවී දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවේ සිටින පශු වෛද්යවරුන් හයදෙනාගෙන් සිව්දෙනෙක්ම ඇතා සිටින කලාවැව ඉස්මත්තට පැමිණ ප්රතිකාර කටයුතු කරති.
ඇතාගේ සිරුර පුරා ඇති තුවාල පැසවීම හේතුවෙන් ආහාර ගැනීම සහ ජලය ගැනීම පවා නවතා ඇතැයි වනජීවී නියෝජ්ය අධ්යක්ෂ වෛද්ය තාරක ප්රසාද් මහතා පැවසීය. වෛද්යවරුන් වන වනජීවී නියෝජ්ය අධ්යක්ෂ (සෞඛ්ය) වෛද්ය තාරක ප්රසාද්, පශු වෛද්යවරුන් වන ඩබ්ලිව්. ඒ. ධර්මකීර්ති, චන්දන ජයසිංහ, විජිත පෙරේරා යන මහත්වරුන් ඇතුළු වනජීවී නිලධාරීහු 32ක් මෙම ඇතාගේ ජීවිතය බේරාගැනීම සඳහා දැඩි වෙහෙසක් දරමින් සිටිති.
දැඩි වර්ෂා මැද්දේ මෙම පිරිස ඇතාට වට්ටක්කා, පැණිකොමඩු හා අඹ රැගෙන ගොස් ඒවාට ප්රතිජීවක ඖෂධ එන්නත්කර ඇතාට ආහාර පිණිස ලබාදෙන අයුරු දැක ගැනීමට හැකිවිය. තුවාලවලින් දැනෙන දැඩි වේදනාව නිසා ඇතා දරුණුවී සිටියි. ඇතාගේ තත්ත්වය පිළිබඳව තවදුරටත් විමසිල්ලෙන් සිටින බව වෛද්යවරු කියති.
http://www.dinamina.lk/2011/11/02/_art.asp?fn=n11110210
කැකිරාව නගරය කැළඹූ ගල්ගමුවේ ඇතා නමින් හඳුන්වන අන්ධ ඇතාගේ ශරීරයේ ඇති තුවාල හේතුවෙන් දැඩි අසාධ්ය තත්ත්වයෙන් පසුවන බව වනජීවී පශු වෛද්යවරු ඊයේ (01) පස්වරුවේ පැවසූහ. මෙම ඇතාට ප්රතිකාර කිරීම සඳහා වනජීවී දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවේ සිටින පශු වෛද්යවරුන් හයදෙනාගෙන් සිව්දෙනෙක්ම ඇතා සිටින කලාවැව ඉස්මත්තට පැමිණ ප්රතිකාර කටයුතු කරති.
ඇතාගේ සිරුර පුරා ඇති තුවාල පැසවීම හේතුවෙන් ආහාර ගැනීම සහ ජලය ගැනීම පවා නවතා ඇතැයි වනජීවී නියෝජ්ය අධ්යක්ෂ වෛද්ය තාරක ප්රසාද් මහතා පැවසීය. වෛද්යවරුන් වන වනජීවී නියෝජ්ය අධ්යක්ෂ (සෞඛ්ය) වෛද්ය තාරක ප්රසාද්, පශු වෛද්යවරුන් වන ඩබ්ලිව්. ඒ. ධර්මකීර්ති, චන්දන ජයසිංහ, විජිත පෙරේරා යන මහත්වරුන් ඇතුළු වනජීවී නිලධාරීහු 32ක් මෙම ඇතාගේ ජීවිතය බේරාගැනීම සඳහා දැඩි වෙහෙසක් දරමින් සිටිති.
දැඩි වර්ෂා මැද්දේ මෙම පිරිස ඇතාට වට්ටක්කා, පැණිකොමඩු හා අඹ රැගෙන ගොස් ඒවාට ප්රතිජීවක ඖෂධ එන්නත්කර ඇතාට ආහාර පිණිස ලබාදෙන අයුරු දැක ගැනීමට හැකිවිය. තුවාලවලින් දැනෙන දැඩි වේදනාව නිසා ඇතා දරුණුවී සිටියි. ඇතාගේ තත්ත්වය පිළිබඳව තවදුරටත් විමසිල්ලෙන් සිටින බව වෛද්යවරු කියති.
http://www.dinamina.lk/2011/11/02/_art.asp?fn=n11110210
Next COPE report will include all public enterprises
Disna MUDALIGE
The Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) will release its latest report after examining and inquiring account reports of all 249 public enterprises in the country for the first time in COPE history, COPE chairman and Human Resources Senior Minister D E W Gunasekera told the Daily News yesterday.
He said that the Committee anticipates to complete the inquiries on all public enterprises by tomorrow. He said that all state institutions, except the ministries and departments, were scrutinized for corruption, malpractices and frauds.
The Heads of the institutions were summoned before the COPE for inquiries on account reports submitted to COPE by the Auditor General. He observed that the report will be presented to Parliament before the commencement of budget debate. This will be the biggest COPE report released up to now. The COPE comprises 15 government members and 15 opposition members and acts as an independent body. He observed that the government will take appropriate steps after studying the content of the report.
http://www.dailynews.lk/2011/11/02/news03.asp
The Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) will release its latest report after examining and inquiring account reports of all 249 public enterprises in the country for the first time in COPE history, COPE chairman and Human Resources Senior Minister D E W Gunasekera told the Daily News yesterday.
He said that the Committee anticipates to complete the inquiries on all public enterprises by tomorrow. He said that all state institutions, except the ministries and departments, were scrutinized for corruption, malpractices and frauds.
The Heads of the institutions were summoned before the COPE for inquiries on account reports submitted to COPE by the Auditor General. He observed that the report will be presented to Parliament before the commencement of budget debate. This will be the biggest COPE report released up to now. The COPE comprises 15 government members and 15 opposition members and acts as an independent body. He observed that the government will take appropriate steps after studying the content of the report.
http://www.dailynews.lk/2011/11/02/news03.asp
Safe driving on Expressways
T. Perinpanayagam
Driving on expressways is easiest and comfortable. Drivers travel at a much higher speed than on normal roads. Drivers who have never driven on the expressways will find it a new experience. Accidents on the expressways are due to driving at high speed without considering their safety and that of other road users,
Drivers need to be alert and positive in any emergency encountered while driving on expressways. Expressways are not the place for high speed driving. Expressways are built for the convenience of all drivers. Remember the following factors when travelling on expressways.
Read full article: http://www.dailynews.lk/2011/11/02/fea03.asp
Driving on expressways is easiest and comfortable. Drivers travel at a much higher speed than on normal roads. Drivers who have never driven on the expressways will find it a new experience. Accidents on the expressways are due to driving at high speed without considering their safety and that of other road users,
Drivers need to be alert and positive in any emergency encountered while driving on expressways. Expressways are not the place for high speed driving. Expressways are built for the convenience of all drivers. Remember the following factors when travelling on expressways.
Read full article: http://www.dailynews.lk/2011/11/02/fea03.asp
මහා භාණ්ඩාගාරයෙන් මුදල් නොලැබී ගොවි විශ්රාම වැටුප් ගෙවීම නතර කරයි
හොරණ - විධුර විජයනාථ
මහා භාණ්ඩාගාරයෙන් මුදල් නොලැබීම හේතුවෙන් ගොවීන්ට ලැබෙන ගොවි විශ්රාම වැටුප ඊයේ (01 දා) සිට නතර කර ඇත. මේ බව ගොවි විශ්රාම වැටුප් ගෙවන සියලුම තැපැල් කාර්යාල වෙත කෘෂිකර්ම මණ්ඩලය විසින් දැනුම් දී ඇත. ගොවි විශ්රාම වැටුපට දායක වූවන්හට මෙම විශ්රාම වැටුප සෑම මසකම මුල් සතිය තුළදී ගෙවනු ලැබිණි.
මේ වන විට ගොවි විශ්රාම වැටුප් අරමුදලට දායක වී සිටින මුළු සාමාජික සංඛ්යාව ලක්ෂ නවයකට ආසන්න වෙයි. ඉන් පුද්ගලයන් ලක්ෂයකට පමණ මේ වන විට විශ්රාම වැටුප හිමිවෙමින් තිබිණි.
මහා භාණ්ඩාගාරයෙන් මසකට කෝටි 15 ක පමණ මුදලක් ගොවි විශ්රාම වැටුප සඳහා වැයකර ඇත.
එම මුදල් මුල් කාලයේදී ගොවි විශ්රාම වැටුප් අරමුදලෙන් ගෙවා ඇතත් අනතුරුව එම අරමුදලෙහි මුදල් නොමැති වූ පසුව මහා භාණ්ඩාගාරයෙන් මුදල් ගෙවා ඇත.
පසුගිය කාලයේදී කෘෂිකර්ම පර්යේෂණ සහකාර නිලධාරීන් හරහා ගම්වල සිටින බොහෝ ගොවීන් මෙම අරමුදලට දායක කරගත් අතර ගෙවීම් නතර කිරීමත් සමඟ මේ අලුත් සාමාජිකයෝ දැඩි අපහසුතාවකට මුහුණපා සිටිති.
http://www.divaina.com/2011/11/02/news08.html
මහා භාණ්ඩාගාරයෙන් මුදල් නොලැබීම හේතුවෙන් ගොවීන්ට ලැබෙන ගොවි විශ්රාම වැටුප ඊයේ (01 දා) සිට නතර කර ඇත. මේ බව ගොවි විශ්රාම වැටුප් ගෙවන සියලුම තැපැල් කාර්යාල වෙත කෘෂිකර්ම මණ්ඩලය විසින් දැනුම් දී ඇත. ගොවි විශ්රාම වැටුපට දායක වූවන්හට මෙම විශ්රාම වැටුප සෑම මසකම මුල් සතිය තුළදී ගෙවනු ලැබිණි.
මේ වන විට ගොවි විශ්රාම වැටුප් අරමුදලට දායක වී සිටින මුළු සාමාජික සංඛ්යාව ලක්ෂ නවයකට ආසන්න වෙයි. ඉන් පුද්ගලයන් ලක්ෂයකට පමණ මේ වන විට විශ්රාම වැටුප හිමිවෙමින් තිබිණි.
මහා භාණ්ඩාගාරයෙන් මසකට කෝටි 15 ක පමණ මුදලක් ගොවි විශ්රාම වැටුප සඳහා වැයකර ඇත.
එම මුදල් මුල් කාලයේදී ගොවි විශ්රාම වැටුප් අරමුදලෙන් ගෙවා ඇතත් අනතුරුව එම අරමුදලෙහි මුදල් නොමැති වූ පසුව මහා භාණ්ඩාගාරයෙන් මුදල් ගෙවා ඇත.
පසුගිය කාලයේදී කෘෂිකර්ම පර්යේෂණ සහකාර නිලධාරීන් හරහා ගම්වල සිටින බොහෝ ගොවීන් මෙම අරමුදලට දායක කරගත් අතර ගෙවීම් නතර කිරීමත් සමඟ මේ අලුත් සාමාජිකයෝ දැඩි අපහසුතාවකට මුහුණපා සිටිති.
http://www.divaina.com/2011/11/02/news08.html
බලාගාර ප්රදේශවලට තාමත් තද වැසි නෑ
ශිරාන් රණසිංහ
විදුලි බලාගාර ආශ්රිත ජල පෝෂක ප්රදේශවලට තවමත් තද වැසි පතිත නොවන නිසා ජල විදුලි බලාගාරවල විදුලි නිෂ්පාදනය සියයට විසිපහ මට්ටමේම තවමත් ඇතැයි විදුලිබල මණ්ඩලය පවසයි.
රට පුරා බොහෝ ප්රදේශවලට තද වැසි පතිත වුවත් විදුලි බලාගාර ආශ්රිත ප්රදේශවලට වැසි නොවැටීම නිසා තවමත් ඩීසල් විදුලි බලාගාරවලින් විදුලිය වැඩි වශයෙන් නිපදවීමට සිදුව ඇතැයි ද විදුලිබල මණ්ඩලය පෙන්වා දෙයි.
මේ වන විට ඩීසල් විදුලි බලාගාරවලින් විදුලිය නිපදවීම හා පෞද්ගලික ඩීසල් බලාගාරවලින් විදුලිය ලබාගැනීමට සිදුව තිබීමෙන් දිනකට විදුලිබල මණ්ඩලයට රුපියල් කෝටි දොළහක පාඩුවක් සිදුවන බවට ගණන් බලා ඇත.
කෙසේ වෙතත් ඉදිරි සති දෙක තුන තුළ ජල විදුලි බලාගාර ප්රදේශවලට වැසි වැටෙනු ඇතැයි කාලගුණ විද්යා දෙපාර්තමේන්තුව පවසයි.
http://www.divaina.com/2011/11/02/news13.html
විදුලි බලාගාර ආශ්රිත ජල පෝෂක ප්රදේශවලට තවමත් තද වැසි පතිත නොවන නිසා ජල විදුලි බලාගාරවල විදුලි නිෂ්පාදනය සියයට විසිපහ මට්ටමේම තවමත් ඇතැයි විදුලිබල මණ්ඩලය පවසයි.
රට පුරා බොහෝ ප්රදේශවලට තද වැසි පතිත වුවත් විදුලි බලාගාර ආශ්රිත ප්රදේශවලට වැසි නොවැටීම නිසා තවමත් ඩීසල් විදුලි බලාගාරවලින් විදුලිය වැඩි වශයෙන් නිපදවීමට සිදුව ඇතැයි ද විදුලිබල මණ්ඩලය පෙන්වා දෙයි.
මේ වන විට ඩීසල් විදුලි බලාගාරවලින් විදුලිය නිපදවීම හා පෞද්ගලික ඩීසල් බලාගාරවලින් විදුලිය ලබාගැනීමට සිදුව තිබීමෙන් දිනකට විදුලිබල මණ්ඩලයට රුපියල් කෝටි දොළහක පාඩුවක් සිදුවන බවට ගණන් බලා ඇත.
කෙසේ වෙතත් ඉදිරි සති දෙක තුන තුළ ජල විදුලි බලාගාර ප්රදේශවලට වැසි වැටෙනු ඇතැයි කාලගුණ විද්යා දෙපාර්තමේන්තුව පවසයි.
http://www.divaina.com/2011/11/02/news13.html
බාල පෙට්රල් වාහන සඳහා? (2 items)
බාල පෙට්රල් යළි වෙළෙඳපොළට මුදාහැරීමේ සූදානමක්!
ශිරාන් රණසිංහ
කොලොන්නාව තෙල් ටැංකිවල රඳවා තබාගෙන සිටින බාල පෙට්රල් තොගය යළි කලවම් කර වෙළෙඳපොළට මුදාහැරීමේ සූදානමක් ඇතැයි තෙල් සංස්ථා අභ්යන්තර ආරංචි මාර්ග සඳහන් කරයි.
පෙට්රල් මෙටි්රක් ටොන් විසිදහසකින් දෙදහසක් පමණ වෙළෙඳපොළට මුදාහැරීමෙන් පසු වාහන අතරමඟ නතර වූ නිසා ඉතිරි පෙට්රල් ප්රමාණය ගබඩා කිරීමට තෙල් සංස්ථාවට සිදුවිය.
අදාළ පෙට්රල් තොගය සැපයූ සමාගමෙන් අලාභය අයකරගන්නා බවට ඛනිජ තෙල් අමාත්යාංශය නිවේදනය කළ ද මේ වන විට පෙට්රල්වල එතනෝල් ප්රමාණය සාන්ද්රණය කර යළි වෙළෙඳපොළට මුදාහැරීමට සංස්ථාව පියවර ගනිමින් තිබෙන බව ද එහි නිලධාරීහු පවසති.
http://www.divaina.com/2011/11/02/news15.html
බාල පෙට්රල් වාහන සඳහා යෙදවීමට තෙල් සංස්ථාවෙන් අනුමැතියක් නැහැ
ආන්දෝලනයට තුඩුදුන් පෙට්රල් මෙට්රික් ටොන් 2600 මොනම ආකාරයකින්වත් වාහන සඳහා යෙදවීමට තෙල් සංස්ථාවේ අනුමැතිය නොලැබෙනු ඇත. එම පෙට්රල් තොගය විදුලි නිෂ්පාදනයට හෝ වෙනත් කර්මාන්ත සඳහා යොදා ගත හැකි බව ඛනිජ තෙල් කර්මාන්ත අමාත්යාංශය පත් කළ කමිටුව නිර්දේශ කර තිබේ.
http://www.dinamina.lk/2011/11/02/_art.asp?fn=n11110211
ශිරාන් රණසිංහ
කොලොන්නාව තෙල් ටැංකිවල රඳවා තබාගෙන සිටින බාල පෙට්රල් තොගය යළි කලවම් කර වෙළෙඳපොළට මුදාහැරීමේ සූදානමක් ඇතැයි තෙල් සංස්ථා අභ්යන්තර ආරංචි මාර්ග සඳහන් කරයි.
පෙට්රල් මෙටි්රක් ටොන් විසිදහසකින් දෙදහසක් පමණ වෙළෙඳපොළට මුදාහැරීමෙන් පසු වාහන අතරමඟ නතර වූ නිසා ඉතිරි පෙට්රල් ප්රමාණය ගබඩා කිරීමට තෙල් සංස්ථාවට සිදුවිය.
අදාළ පෙට්රල් තොගය සැපයූ සමාගමෙන් අලාභය අයකරගන්නා බවට ඛනිජ තෙල් අමාත්යාංශය නිවේදනය කළ ද මේ වන විට පෙට්රල්වල එතනෝල් ප්රමාණය සාන්ද්රණය කර යළි වෙළෙඳපොළට මුදාහැරීමට සංස්ථාව පියවර ගනිමින් තිබෙන බව ද එහි නිලධාරීහු පවසති.
http://www.divaina.com/2011/11/02/news15.html
බාල පෙට්රල් වාහන සඳහා යෙදවීමට තෙල් සංස්ථාවෙන් අනුමැතියක් නැහැ
ආන්දෝලනයට තුඩුදුන් පෙට්රල් මෙට්රික් ටොන් 2600 මොනම ආකාරයකින්වත් වාහන සඳහා යෙදවීමට තෙල් සංස්ථාවේ අනුමැතිය නොලැබෙනු ඇත. එම පෙට්රල් තොගය විදුලි නිෂ්පාදනයට හෝ වෙනත් කර්මාන්ත සඳහා යොදා ගත හැකි බව ඛනිජ තෙල් කර්මාන්ත අමාත්යාංශය පත් කළ කමිටුව නිර්දේශ කර තිබේ.
http://www.dinamina.lk/2011/11/02/_art.asp?fn=n11110211
Delft animals endangered by polythene
Priyanka KURUGALA
The indiscriminate use of polythene and plastic material has threatened the lives of animals such as cattle, goats, donkeys and horses in the Delft Islands, which have been their habitat over a long period of time.
Polythene and plastic are strewn over many parts of the islands.
The animals consume these along with the grass leading to their untimely death, the OIC said.
The Police have taken action to find solutions to this and save the animals of Delft, he said.
There are 54 pits in the Delft island. These pits have been dug by the authorities to collect water for animals to drink during the dry season. Some of the pits were dug by the Dutch about 300 years ago. However until recently, these pits were filled with animal waste, mud and other bio waste. The Police cleared these pits through a shramadana campaign, he said.
Under the guidance of the Police a Dengue eradication programme was also held very successfully, on Delft he said.
http://www.dailynews.lk/2011/11/02/news15.asp
The indiscriminate use of polythene and plastic material has threatened the lives of animals such as cattle, goats, donkeys and horses in the Delft Islands, which have been their habitat over a long period of time.
Undigested polythene found in a carcass
Carcasses of these animals are often found across the islands with undigested polythene in their stomachs, Delft Police OIC ENP Ekanayake said.
Carcasses of these animals are often found across the islands with undigested polythene in their stomachs, Delft Police OIC ENP Ekanayake said.
Polythene and plastic are strewn over many parts of the islands.
The animals consume these along with the grass leading to their untimely death, the OIC said.
The Police have taken action to find solutions to this and save the animals of Delft, he said.
There are 54 pits in the Delft island. These pits have been dug by the authorities to collect water for animals to drink during the dry season. Some of the pits were dug by the Dutch about 300 years ago. However until recently, these pits were filled with animal waste, mud and other bio waste. The Police cleared these pits through a shramadana campaign, he said.
Under the guidance of the Police a Dengue eradication programme was also held very successfully, on Delft he said.
http://www.dailynews.lk/2011/11/02/news15.asp
Fifty brands of sex drugs in market
Nadira GUNATILLEKE
Health Ministry warns the public against using unregistered sexual stimulants without medical advice which can cause instant heart attacks and strokes.
There are over 50 brands of sexual stimulative drugs in the local market but only six brands are safe to use and registered with the Cosmetic Devices and Drugs Control Authority (CDDCA), a Health Ministry spokesman said.
According to the spokesman CDDA will take legal action if any private pharmacy sells unregistered sexual stimulative drugs or sell such drugs without prescriptions. Sexual stimulative drugs instantly and rapidly increase blood pressure and heart rate. If taken without medical advice, such drugs can cause sudden heart attacks and strokes in persons who use them.
Usually persons use high doses of such drugs to achieve better results quickly. But doctors prescribe a certain dose of a safe and registered drug only after thoroughly examining the other medical conditions of the persons such as high blood pressure, diabetes etc and the age of the persons, he said.
Long-term use of sexual stimulative drugs cause many other complications such as depression, insomnia, digestive problems, weight loss, headaches, nervousness, restlessness, loss of appetite, abdominal pain, severe fatigue, dizziness, nausea, vomiting and skin rashes etc. Such drugs contain a chemical named `Sildenafil' which is harmful to health, he added.
But due to various myths and fabricated concepts about sexual intercourse, a large number of people use dangerous sexual stimulative drugs in high doses. They buy such drugs from private pharmacies which sell them under 'members only' policy. Legal action will be taken against all such pharmacies, he said.
http://www.dailynews.lk/2011/11/02/news14.asp
Health Ministry warns the public against using unregistered sexual stimulants without medical advice which can cause instant heart attacks and strokes.
There are over 50 brands of sexual stimulative drugs in the local market but only six brands are safe to use and registered with the Cosmetic Devices and Drugs Control Authority (CDDCA), a Health Ministry spokesman said.
According to the spokesman CDDA will take legal action if any private pharmacy sells unregistered sexual stimulative drugs or sell such drugs without prescriptions. Sexual stimulative drugs instantly and rapidly increase blood pressure and heart rate. If taken without medical advice, such drugs can cause sudden heart attacks and strokes in persons who use them.
Usually persons use high doses of such drugs to achieve better results quickly. But doctors prescribe a certain dose of a safe and registered drug only after thoroughly examining the other medical conditions of the persons such as high blood pressure, diabetes etc and the age of the persons, he said.
Long-term use of sexual stimulative drugs cause many other complications such as depression, insomnia, digestive problems, weight loss, headaches, nervousness, restlessness, loss of appetite, abdominal pain, severe fatigue, dizziness, nausea, vomiting and skin rashes etc. Such drugs contain a chemical named `Sildenafil' which is harmful to health, he added.
But due to various myths and fabricated concepts about sexual intercourse, a large number of people use dangerous sexual stimulative drugs in high doses. They buy such drugs from private pharmacies which sell them under 'members only' policy. Legal action will be taken against all such pharmacies, he said.
http://www.dailynews.lk/2011/11/02/news14.asp
Clidemia Hirta - Invasive Plant (2 items)
Invasive plant threatening eco system
By Maheesha Mudugamuwa
A fast growing invasive plant, spreading through country’s wet zone, has become a severe threat to the eco system, a study has revealed.
Sajeewa Chamikara of the Environment Conservation Trust (ECT) said that one such plant was known as Koster’s Curse with the scientific name Clidemia hirta. It was also known as ‘Katakalu Bovitiya, ‘Boo Bovitiya’ and ‘Kaka Bovitiya’.
‘Boo Bovitiya’ is an invasive shrub native to the South America, belonging to Melastomataceae family and it is one of the world’s worst alien invasive plants and is among the world’s ten dangerous plants.
Introduced probably as an ornamental plant and naturalized in several tropical countries, including Sri Lanka, It would have been introduced to the country in 1984.
Chamikara said that the Propagation is mainly due to the seeds spread by birds and it grows like a bush blocking sunlight from other plants below it.
"It has begun to spread like wildfire in Sri Lanka and also threatens wildlife like elephants" Chamikara said.
He mentioned that so far Colombo, Gampaha, Kalutara, Kegalle, Ratnapura, Galle, Matara, Kandy, Matale and Nuwara Eliya have been identified as the districts where ‘Boo Bovitiya’ has been spreading at an alarming rate. It has already invaded the Sinharaja Forest, Adam’s Peak and the Knuckles Range.
Chamikara stressed that the duty of destroying and controlling the spread of ‘Boo Bovitiya’ is in the hands of the Forest Department and the Department of Wildlife Conversation (DWLC).
"It is very important to educate villagers that this dangerous plant needs to be eliminated. It is easy to uproot and should be burnt," he said.
Meanwhile, Deputy Conservator of the Forest Department A. Sathurusinghe said that a number of invasive plants, which could harm the eco system had been identified and more awareness programmes would be launched from next year.
"A project proposal on eradicating invasive species from our country has already been completed and we will be looking for funding for the project. We hope to be able to start it next year." Sathurusinghe added.
http://www.island.lk/index.php?page_cat=article-details&page=article-details&code_title=38195
Threat by invasive plant
Disna MUDALIGE
One of the world's worst alien invasive plants known as Boo Bovitiya (Koster's Curse) which resembles local bovitiya varieties, has been fast invading the country's wet land, recent studies conducted by a team of environmentalists of the Environment Trust Fund (ETF) have revealed.
Boo Bovitiya
ETF Director, Sajeewa Chamikara pointed out that this plant has been called in numerous local names such as Kata Kalu Bovitiya, Rubber Bovitiya, Nylon Bovitiya, Kaak Bovitiya and Boo Bovitiya due to its widespread over the wet land. This species scientifically named as 'Clidemia hirta' is among the first 100 of the world's most dangerous invasive species.
It has become a threat to the spread of indigenous plant species and understorey layer of forests. The thin cover of this species covers the sun light that falls on the other understorey plant varieties. Chamikara stressed the need of immediate intervention of the authorities to remove this plant considering the threat it has posed to natural eco-systems.
It is believed that this plant was introduced to the country as an ornamental plant during 1890s. Studies have confirmed that this plant has been spreading fast in Colombo, Gampaha, Kalutara, Kegalle, Ratnapura, Galle, Matara, Kandy, Matale and Nuwara Eliya districts.
Chamikara said that dense shrubs of this species can be observed in the Sinharaja rain forest and Sri Pada forest reserve. In addition, it can be profoundly observed in many wetland forests. It spreads fast in forest gaps, cleared due to various reasons such as cultivation, construction of roads and other tourism and development projects. It has spread as a thick cover in many lanes in Attalamettuwa forest area which belongs to the Knuckles forest reserve.
http://www.dailynews.lk/2011/11/02/news41.asp
By Maheesha Mudugamuwa
A fast growing invasive plant, spreading through country’s wet zone, has become a severe threat to the eco system, a study has revealed.
Sajeewa Chamikara of the Environment Conservation Trust (ECT) said that one such plant was known as Koster’s Curse with the scientific name Clidemia hirta. It was also known as ‘Katakalu Bovitiya, ‘Boo Bovitiya’ and ‘Kaka Bovitiya’.
‘Boo Bovitiya’ is an invasive shrub native to the South America, belonging to Melastomataceae family and it is one of the world’s worst alien invasive plants and is among the world’s ten dangerous plants.
Introduced probably as an ornamental plant and naturalized in several tropical countries, including Sri Lanka, It would have been introduced to the country in 1984.
Chamikara said that the Propagation is mainly due to the seeds spread by birds and it grows like a bush blocking sunlight from other plants below it.
"It has begun to spread like wildfire in Sri Lanka and also threatens wildlife like elephants" Chamikara said.
He mentioned that so far Colombo, Gampaha, Kalutara, Kegalle, Ratnapura, Galle, Matara, Kandy, Matale and Nuwara Eliya have been identified as the districts where ‘Boo Bovitiya’ has been spreading at an alarming rate. It has already invaded the Sinharaja Forest, Adam’s Peak and the Knuckles Range.
Chamikara stressed that the duty of destroying and controlling the spread of ‘Boo Bovitiya’ is in the hands of the Forest Department and the Department of Wildlife Conversation (DWLC).
"It is very important to educate villagers that this dangerous plant needs to be eliminated. It is easy to uproot and should be burnt," he said.
Meanwhile, Deputy Conservator of the Forest Department A. Sathurusinghe said that a number of invasive plants, which could harm the eco system had been identified and more awareness programmes would be launched from next year.
"A project proposal on eradicating invasive species from our country has already been completed and we will be looking for funding for the project. We hope to be able to start it next year." Sathurusinghe added.
http://www.island.lk/index.php?page_cat=article-details&page=article-details&code_title=38195
Threat by invasive plant
Disna MUDALIGE
One of the world's worst alien invasive plants known as Boo Bovitiya (Koster's Curse) which resembles local bovitiya varieties, has been fast invading the country's wet land, recent studies conducted by a team of environmentalists of the Environment Trust Fund (ETF) have revealed.
Boo Bovitiya
ETF Director, Sajeewa Chamikara pointed out that this plant has been called in numerous local names such as Kata Kalu Bovitiya, Rubber Bovitiya, Nylon Bovitiya, Kaak Bovitiya and Boo Bovitiya due to its widespread over the wet land. This species scientifically named as 'Clidemia hirta' is among the first 100 of the world's most dangerous invasive species.
It has become a threat to the spread of indigenous plant species and understorey layer of forests. The thin cover of this species covers the sun light that falls on the other understorey plant varieties. Chamikara stressed the need of immediate intervention of the authorities to remove this plant considering the threat it has posed to natural eco-systems.
It is believed that this plant was introduced to the country as an ornamental plant during 1890s. Studies have confirmed that this plant has been spreading fast in Colombo, Gampaha, Kalutara, Kegalle, Ratnapura, Galle, Matara, Kandy, Matale and Nuwara Eliya districts.
Chamikara said that dense shrubs of this species can be observed in the Sinharaja rain forest and Sri Pada forest reserve. In addition, it can be profoundly observed in many wetland forests. It spreads fast in forest gaps, cleared due to various reasons such as cultivation, construction of roads and other tourism and development projects. It has spread as a thick cover in many lanes in Attalamettuwa forest area which belongs to the Knuckles forest reserve.
http://www.dailynews.lk/2011/11/02/news41.asp
Forty five lightning deaths so far
Disna MUDALIGE
Lightning has claimed over 45 lives so far this year, Meteorology Department Duty Forecaster P G Yasaratne told the Daily News. He said that 10 persons had died last month alone after being struck by lightning. He requested the public to avoid open spaces and to take necessary precautions to prevent lightning accidents. He forecasts that thunder showers would develop over most parts of the island during the afternoon and night.
Heavy falls are likely in Eastern, Northern, North Central and Uva Provinces and along the Southern Coastal stretch during the morning too.
Meanwhile, Disaster Management Centre Assistant Director Pradeep Kodippili said that no report of a flood threat or inundation of roads was reported so far despite the heavy rainfall experienced in the country.
It was reported that the water levels of reservoirs had been rising with the rains experienced in catchment areas.
The National Building Research Organization (NBRO) requested the people residing near slopes and commuters using hill side roads to be vigilant of falling rocks during the rains. NBRO Geologist R M S Bandara said that the threat of rock falling is still persistent in Alagumale hill in Matale.
Residents in 11 houses have been evacuated in this area. Minor incidents of rocks falling had also been reported near the Belihuloya Rest House in Balangoda on Wednesday.
He observed that rock falls could occur with the intense rainfall experienced during the inter monsoonal period.
http://www.dailynews.lk/2011/11/02/news12.asp
Lightning has claimed over 45 lives so far this year, Meteorology Department Duty Forecaster P G Yasaratne told the Daily News. He said that 10 persons had died last month alone after being struck by lightning. He requested the public to avoid open spaces and to take necessary precautions to prevent lightning accidents. He forecasts that thunder showers would develop over most parts of the island during the afternoon and night.
Heavy falls are likely in Eastern, Northern, North Central and Uva Provinces and along the Southern Coastal stretch during the morning too.
Meanwhile, Disaster Management Centre Assistant Director Pradeep Kodippili said that no report of a flood threat or inundation of roads was reported so far despite the heavy rainfall experienced in the country.
It was reported that the water levels of reservoirs had been rising with the rains experienced in catchment areas.
The National Building Research Organization (NBRO) requested the people residing near slopes and commuters using hill side roads to be vigilant of falling rocks during the rains. NBRO Geologist R M S Bandara said that the threat of rock falling is still persistent in Alagumale hill in Matale.
Residents in 11 houses have been evacuated in this area. Minor incidents of rocks falling had also been reported near the Belihuloya Rest House in Balangoda on Wednesday.
He observed that rock falls could occur with the intense rainfall experienced during the inter monsoonal period.
http://www.dailynews.lk/2011/11/02/news12.asp
Beauty Salon Inspection begins (2 items)
රූපලාවන්යාගාර පරීක්ෂාව ඇරැඹේ
සිරිමන්ත රත්නසේකර
දිවයින පුරා ඇති රූපලාවන්ය මධ්යස්ථාන සහ කොණ්ඩා කැපීමේ ස්ථාන ඊයේ (01 වැනිදා) සිට පරීක්ෂා කිරීමට විලවුන් උපකරණ හා ජාතික ඖෂධ නියාමන අධිකාරිය විසින් ආරම්භ කර ඇත.
අදාළ ස්ථාන මහජන සෞඛ්යයට හිතකර ලෙස පවත්වාගෙන යැම පිළිබඳව උපදෙස් ලබාදීමටත් ඔවුන් විසින් භාවිත කරන රූපලාවන්ය ද්රව්ය මෙරට ලියාපදිංචි කර ඇද්ද යන්න හා මිනිස් සිරුරට අහිතකර ද්රව්ය සහිත රූපලාවන්ය ද්රව්ය භාවිතය වැළැක්වීම සඳහා මෙම පරීක්ෂා කිරීම් සිදුකරන බව එම අධිකාරිය පවසයි.
මෙරට රූපලාවන්ය මධ්යස්ථාන පනස් හත්දහසක් හා කොණ්ඩ කපන ස්ථාන විශාල සංඛ්යාවක් පවතින බවත් එම අධිකාරිය සඳහන් කරයි.
මෙම පරීක්ෂා කිරීම් මෙම මාසය පුරාම ක්රියාත්මක කරන බවත් පළාත් සෞඛ්ය අධ්යක්ෂවරු, ප්රාදේශීය සෞඛ්ය සේවා අධ්යක්ෂවරු, වෛද්ය නිලධාරීවරු ආහාර හා ඖෂධ පරීක්ෂකවරු පරීක්ෂණ කටයුතු සිදුකරන බවත් විලවුන් උපකරණ හා ජාතික ඖෂධ නියාමන අධිකාරිය සඳහන් කරයි.
http://www.divaina.com/2011/11/02/news29.html
Probe on beauty salons begins
Nadira GUNATILLEKE
The Cosmetic Devices and Drugs Control Authority began inspecting beauty salons and barber salons in the Colombo district yesterday. The inspections will continue throughout this month. There are over 57,000 salons operating in Sri Lanka, a Health Ministry spokesman said.
According to the spokesman, the main objective of inspecting beauty salons and barber salons is to streamline their services and to ensure the safety and well-being of the public who patronize these salons to obtain beauty treatment and hair cuts.
"Salons throughout the country will be inspected by Regional Directors of Health Services and provincial Health Directors. They have been given powers to carry out inspections," he said.
The Health Ministry took this decision after the recent death of a female school teacher after undergoing a facial at a beauty salon in Negombo. There are a number of beauty salons scattered countrywide but some are run by unqualified personnel. It is discovered that some salons use unregistered and expired products for beauty treatment.
'A person can die within 20 minutes if he or she gets an allergy by using expired, unregistered and low quality chemicals, he added.
Women should be careful when obtaining services of beauty salons and parlours and check the standards of their staff and products used in beauty treatment to avoid any health complications, the spokesman said.
http://www.dailynews.lk/2011/11/02/news30.asp
සිරිමන්ත රත්නසේකර
දිවයින පුරා ඇති රූපලාවන්ය මධ්යස්ථාන සහ කොණ්ඩා කැපීමේ ස්ථාන ඊයේ (01 වැනිදා) සිට පරීක්ෂා කිරීමට විලවුන් උපකරණ හා ජාතික ඖෂධ නියාමන අධිකාරිය විසින් ආරම්භ කර ඇත.
අදාළ ස්ථාන මහජන සෞඛ්යයට හිතකර ලෙස පවත්වාගෙන යැම පිළිබඳව උපදෙස් ලබාදීමටත් ඔවුන් විසින් භාවිත කරන රූපලාවන්ය ද්රව්ය මෙරට ලියාපදිංචි කර ඇද්ද යන්න හා මිනිස් සිරුරට අහිතකර ද්රව්ය සහිත රූපලාවන්ය ද්රව්ය භාවිතය වැළැක්වීම සඳහා මෙම පරීක්ෂා කිරීම් සිදුකරන බව එම අධිකාරිය පවසයි.
මෙරට රූපලාවන්ය මධ්යස්ථාන පනස් හත්දහසක් හා කොණ්ඩ කපන ස්ථාන විශාල සංඛ්යාවක් පවතින බවත් එම අධිකාරිය සඳහන් කරයි.
මෙම පරීක්ෂා කිරීම් මෙම මාසය පුරාම ක්රියාත්මක කරන බවත් පළාත් සෞඛ්ය අධ්යක්ෂවරු, ප්රාදේශීය සෞඛ්ය සේවා අධ්යක්ෂවරු, වෛද්ය නිලධාරීවරු ආහාර හා ඖෂධ පරීක්ෂකවරු පරීක්ෂණ කටයුතු සිදුකරන බවත් විලවුන් උපකරණ හා ජාතික ඖෂධ නියාමන අධිකාරිය සඳහන් කරයි.
http://www.divaina.com/2011/11/02/news29.html
Probe on beauty salons begins
Nadira GUNATILLEKE
The Cosmetic Devices and Drugs Control Authority began inspecting beauty salons and barber salons in the Colombo district yesterday. The inspections will continue throughout this month. There are over 57,000 salons operating in Sri Lanka, a Health Ministry spokesman said.
According to the spokesman, the main objective of inspecting beauty salons and barber salons is to streamline their services and to ensure the safety and well-being of the public who patronize these salons to obtain beauty treatment and hair cuts.
"Salons throughout the country will be inspected by Regional Directors of Health Services and provincial Health Directors. They have been given powers to carry out inspections," he said.
The Health Ministry took this decision after the recent death of a female school teacher after undergoing a facial at a beauty salon in Negombo. There are a number of beauty salons scattered countrywide but some are run by unqualified personnel. It is discovered that some salons use unregistered and expired products for beauty treatment.
'A person can die within 20 minutes if he or she gets an allergy by using expired, unregistered and low quality chemicals, he added.
Women should be careful when obtaining services of beauty salons and parlours and check the standards of their staff and products used in beauty treatment to avoid any health complications, the spokesman said.
http://www.dailynews.lk/2011/11/02/news30.asp
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Electricity tariff hike (2 posts)
Electricity tariff hike in January
Small domestic consumer the target?
By Ifham Nizam
The Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) officials argue that going by the present losses, a tariff hike of between 10 and 20 per cent is needed for their debt ridden institution to break even. However, there are moves from a number of quarters to minimise the percentage of the hike.
Senior CEB sources told The Island yesterday that they had no alternative but to increase tariff for those who used less than 90 units per month, if the Board was to minimise losses. "Nearly 90 per cent of the domestic use is below 90 units, thus adjustment is vital," an official said.
CEB Chairman Professor Wimaladharma Abeywickrema said that they were yet to receive recommendations from the Public Utility Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL) for a tariff revision.
He said that an increase in tariff would take place in January next year.
PUCSL officials said that a slight increase in electricity tariffs was likely as a remedy for losses incurred by the power sector.
The PUCSL is in the process of preparing the proposals to address the financial crisis faced by the CEB.
The country's power sector has recorded massive losses due to the increase in thermal power generation.
According to Power and Energy Minister Champika Ranawaka the losses of the CEB for the year have been estimated at Rs. 29 billion.
He says the amount may increase further.
PUCSL Chairman Dr. Jayatissa de Costa says any increase in the power tariffs will be quite low and would not be applied to all sectors.
Dr. de Costa says that although the Treasury could be expected to bridge the gap to address the financial crisis of the CEB, a cost effective tariff system was the solution to the problem.
http://www.island.lk/index.php?page_cat=article-details&page=article-details&code_title=38107
No power rate hikes for one year – Basil
‘CPC, CEB breaking-even no big issue with IMF’
Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapaksa however, said electricity tariffs would not be increased for at least one year.
Responding to a question raised by The Island as to whether electricity rates would be increased so that the loss making Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) would come close to breaking-even by the year’s end he said, "With rains coming down and with proper management, we can get by without raising electricity rates. I can confidently say there would be no upward revision for at least one year."
According to the US$ 2.6 billion standby facility arrangement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the government has agreed to break-even the combined books of the CEB and the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC)
Fuel prices were already increased last Sunday and with the CEB continuing to sustain heavy losses, estimated at Rs. 139 million a day, an upward revision of electricity tariffs is anticipated if the government remains committed to the IMF condition.
"The combined break-even of the CPC and CEB is not a big issue with the IMF. They (the IMF) would prefer, and so would the government, to see a turn around at these institutions," Rajapaksa said.
http://www.island.lk/index.php?page_cat=article-details&page=article-details&code_title=38108
By Ifham Nizam
The Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) officials argue that going by the present losses, a tariff hike of between 10 and 20 per cent is needed for their debt ridden institution to break even. However, there are moves from a number of quarters to minimise the percentage of the hike.
Senior CEB sources told The Island yesterday that they had no alternative but to increase tariff for those who used less than 90 units per month, if the Board was to minimise losses. "Nearly 90 per cent of the domestic use is below 90 units, thus adjustment is vital," an official said.
CEB Chairman Professor Wimaladharma Abeywickrema said that they were yet to receive recommendations from the Public Utility Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL) for a tariff revision.
He said that an increase in tariff would take place in January next year.
PUCSL officials said that a slight increase in electricity tariffs was likely as a remedy for losses incurred by the power sector.
The PUCSL is in the process of preparing the proposals to address the financial crisis faced by the CEB.
The country's power sector has recorded massive losses due to the increase in thermal power generation.
According to Power and Energy Minister Champika Ranawaka the losses of the CEB for the year have been estimated at Rs. 29 billion.
He says the amount may increase further.
PUCSL Chairman Dr. Jayatissa de Costa says any increase in the power tariffs will be quite low and would not be applied to all sectors.
Dr. de Costa says that although the Treasury could be expected to bridge the gap to address the financial crisis of the CEB, a cost effective tariff system was the solution to the problem.
http://www.island.lk/index.php?page_cat=article-details&page=article-details&code_title=38107
No power rate hikes for one year – Basil
‘CPC, CEB breaking-even no big issue with IMF’
Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapaksa however, said electricity tariffs would not be increased for at least one year.
Responding to a question raised by The Island as to whether electricity rates would be increased so that the loss making Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) would come close to breaking-even by the year’s end he said, "With rains coming down and with proper management, we can get by without raising electricity rates. I can confidently say there would be no upward revision for at least one year."
According to the US$ 2.6 billion standby facility arrangement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the government has agreed to break-even the combined books of the CEB and the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC)
Fuel prices were already increased last Sunday and with the CEB continuing to sustain heavy losses, estimated at Rs. 139 million a day, an upward revision of electricity tariffs is anticipated if the government remains committed to the IMF condition.
"The combined break-even of the CPC and CEB is not a big issue with the IMF. They (the IMF) would prefer, and so would the government, to see a turn around at these institutions," Rajapaksa said.
http://www.island.lk/index.php?page_cat=article-details&page=article-details&code_title=38108
CPC blames CEB for oil price hike
The Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) today blamed the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) for the recent hike in fuel prices and said it could no longer sustain the high cost involved in the supply of fuel for thermal power generation.
The CPC increased the price of diesel by Rs.8 a litre, petrol by Rs.12 and kerosene by Rs.10 from Sunday.
It said the price increase was imposed as a means of recovering at least a certain percentage of the losses in the supply of fuel to the CEB at subsidised rates.
CPC Chairman Harry Jayawardane said the government continued to control fuel prices in the local market despite increases in the world market.
He said the government had to depend more on thermal power for electricity generation because the capacity for hydroelectric generation had dropped drastically after the prolonged dry spell. He said the fuel prices were surging in the world market due to the crisis in Europe and the Middle-East. When asked to comment on this matter, Power and Energy Minister Patali Champika Ranawaka said the CEB had passed down the fuel price concessions given by the CPC to the industrial and public sectors by supplying electricity at lower rates.
Minister Ranawaka said electricity is sold to the export-oriented industrial sector at Rs.8 a unit despite generation costs being as high as Rs.13 a unit. He said that the public sector was also given electricity at concessionary rates.
“We give concessions to consumers who use less than 90 units a month. We charge only 60 percent of the cost from such consumers. If we are given fuel at subsidised rates, we have passed down the benefits to the industrial and public sectors. Other than that we have not got the benefit,” he said. (KB)
http://www.dailymirror.lk/news/14458-cpc-blames-ceb-for-oil-price-hike.html
The CPC increased the price of diesel by Rs.8 a litre, petrol by Rs.12 and kerosene by Rs.10 from Sunday.
It said the price increase was imposed as a means of recovering at least a certain percentage of the losses in the supply of fuel to the CEB at subsidised rates.
CPC Chairman Harry Jayawardane said the government continued to control fuel prices in the local market despite increases in the world market.
He said the government had to depend more on thermal power for electricity generation because the capacity for hydroelectric generation had dropped drastically after the prolonged dry spell. He said the fuel prices were surging in the world market due to the crisis in Europe and the Middle-East. When asked to comment on this matter, Power and Energy Minister Patali Champika Ranawaka said the CEB had passed down the fuel price concessions given by the CPC to the industrial and public sectors by supplying electricity at lower rates.
Minister Ranawaka said electricity is sold to the export-oriented industrial sector at Rs.8 a unit despite generation costs being as high as Rs.13 a unit. He said that the public sector was also given electricity at concessionary rates.
“We give concessions to consumers who use less than 90 units a month. We charge only 60 percent of the cost from such consumers. If we are given fuel at subsidised rates, we have passed down the benefits to the industrial and public sectors. Other than that we have not got the benefit,” he said. (KB)
http://www.dailymirror.lk/news/14458-cpc-blames-ceb-for-oil-price-hike.html
ඩෙංගු දඩය රුපියල් තුන්කෝටි හැට නව ලක්ෂයක්
සන්ධ්යා කරුණාරත්න
ඩෙංගු මදුරුවන් බෝවන ස්ථාන පවත්වාගෙන ගිය පුද්ගලයන් 12,825 දෙනකුට එරෙහිව නඩු පවරා රුපියල් තුන්කෝටි හැටනව ලක්ෂ හතළිස් හත්දාහක මුදලක් දඩ වශයෙන් සෞඛ්ය අමාත්යාංශය අයකර ගෙන ඇත.
පසුගිය මාස නවය තුළ රට පුරා මහජන සෞඛ්ය පරීක්ෂකවරුන් කළ වැටලීම්වල ප්රතිඵලයක් ලෙස මෙසේ දඩ මුදල් අයකර ගැනීමට හැකි වූ බව ශ්රී ලංකා මහජන සෞඛ්ය පරීක්ෂකවරුන්ගේ සංගමයේ ලේකම් සෙනරත් බණ්ඩාර මහතා පවසයි. වැඩිම නඩු ප්රමාණයක් පවරා ඇත්තේ කළුතර දිස්ත්රික්කයේ පුද්ගලයන්ට ය. එම දිස්ත්රික්කයේ 635 දෙනකුට මෙසේ නඩු පවරා ඇත. 575 ක් ලෙස ගම්පහ දිස්ත්රික්කයේ පුද්ගලයන්ට ද, 531 ක් ලෙස රත්නපුර දිස්ත්රික්කයේ පුද්ගලයන්ට ද නඩු පවරා ඇති බව ද ඒ මහතා ප්රකාශ කළේය. පසුගිය මාස දහය තුළ රට පුරා ඩෙංගු රෝගීන් 20,881 ක් ද, ඩෙංගු මරණ 145 ක් ද වාර්තා වූ බව සෞඛ්ය අමාත්යාංශයේ වසංගත රෝග විද්යා අංශය සඳහන් කරයි.
ඩෙංගු රෝගීන්ගේ වාර්තා වීම පසුගිය වසරට සාපේක්ෂව සියයට පනහකින් අඩු වී ඇති බවත් ජනාධිපති ඩෙංගු කාර්ය සාධක බලකාය ඇතුළු මහජනතාවගේ ක්රියාකාරකම්වල ප්රතිඵලයක් ලෙස මෙසේ ඩෙංගු රෝගීන්ගේ වාර්තා වීම අඩු වී ඇති බවත් සෙනරත් බණ්ඩාර මහතා පවසයි.
පවතින වර්ෂාවත් සමඟ ඩෙංගු රෝගීන්ගේ වාර්තා වීම ඉහළ යා හැකි යැයි ද ඒ නිසා තමා ජීවත් වන අවට පරිසරය පිරිසිදුව තබා ගත යුතු යැයි ද හෙතෙම කීය.
http://www.dinamina.lk/2011/11/01/_art.asp?fn=n1111018
ඩෙංගු මදුරුවන් බෝවන ස්ථාන පවත්වාගෙන ගිය පුද්ගලයන් 12,825 දෙනකුට එරෙහිව නඩු පවරා රුපියල් තුන්කෝටි හැටනව ලක්ෂ හතළිස් හත්දාහක මුදලක් දඩ වශයෙන් සෞඛ්ය අමාත්යාංශය අයකර ගෙන ඇත.
පසුගිය මාස නවය තුළ රට පුරා මහජන සෞඛ්ය පරීක්ෂකවරුන් කළ වැටලීම්වල ප්රතිඵලයක් ලෙස මෙසේ දඩ මුදල් අයකර ගැනීමට හැකි වූ බව ශ්රී ලංකා මහජන සෞඛ්ය පරීක්ෂකවරුන්ගේ සංගමයේ ලේකම් සෙනරත් බණ්ඩාර මහතා පවසයි. වැඩිම නඩු ප්රමාණයක් පවරා ඇත්තේ කළුතර දිස්ත්රික්කයේ පුද්ගලයන්ට ය. එම දිස්ත්රික්කයේ 635 දෙනකුට මෙසේ නඩු පවරා ඇත. 575 ක් ලෙස ගම්පහ දිස්ත්රික්කයේ පුද්ගලයන්ට ද, 531 ක් ලෙස රත්නපුර දිස්ත්රික්කයේ පුද්ගලයන්ට ද නඩු පවරා ඇති බව ද ඒ මහතා ප්රකාශ කළේය. පසුගිය මාස දහය තුළ රට පුරා ඩෙංගු රෝගීන් 20,881 ක් ද, ඩෙංගු මරණ 145 ක් ද වාර්තා වූ බව සෞඛ්ය අමාත්යාංශයේ වසංගත රෝග විද්යා අංශය සඳහන් කරයි.
ඩෙංගු රෝගීන්ගේ වාර්තා වීම පසුගිය වසරට සාපේක්ෂව සියයට පනහකින් අඩු වී ඇති බවත් ජනාධිපති ඩෙංගු කාර්ය සාධක බලකාය ඇතුළු මහජනතාවගේ ක්රියාකාරකම්වල ප්රතිඵලයක් ලෙස මෙසේ ඩෙංගු රෝගීන්ගේ වාර්තා වීම අඩු වී ඇති බවත් සෙනරත් බණ්ඩාර මහතා පවසයි.
පවතින වර්ෂාවත් සමඟ ඩෙංගු රෝගීන්ගේ වාර්තා වීම ඉහළ යා හැකි යැයි ද ඒ නිසා තමා ජීවත් වන අවට පරිසරය පිරිසිදුව තබා ගත යුතු යැයි ද හෙතෙම කීය.
http://www.dinamina.lk/2011/11/01/_art.asp?fn=n1111018
Rogue jumbo under control
Chamikara Weerasinghe
The lone tusker with gunshot wounds that played havoc on the village streets of Kekirawa causing fear among the villagers, has been driven to Kalawewa forest by blocking its path, the Wildlife Department said yesterday.
The animal’s movements are currently under surveillance by Wildlife officers and elephant controllers, said Elephant Conservation Deputy Director of Wildlife Conservation Department, W S K Pathiratna.
The Department has sent a team of veterinarians to treat the animal’s wounds. However, the jumbo cannot be tranquilized to treat its wounds because it could bring death to the animal.
“If we tranquilized him now, the animal is unlikely to recover from its effects,” said Pathiratna.
The elephant, known among the villagers as Galgamuwe ‘Dala Poottuwa,’ strayed into the main Kekirawa-Dambulla road from the Kailapathana area causing panic in the area.
‘It had reportedly damaged nearly 50 vehicles and a house,’ he said.
“Elephant controllers are waiting until the animal calms down and collapses owing to injuries to treat its wounds,” said Pathiratna. “The eyesight of the tusker is also weak. This could be due to a gunshot wound it had suffered,” he said.
http://www.dailynews.lk/2011/11/01/news31.asp
The lone tusker with gunshot wounds that played havoc on the village streets of Kekirawa causing fear among the villagers, has been driven to Kalawewa forest by blocking its path, the Wildlife Department said yesterday.
The animal’s movements are currently under surveillance by Wildlife officers and elephant controllers, said Elephant Conservation Deputy Director of Wildlife Conservation Department, W S K Pathiratna.
The Department has sent a team of veterinarians to treat the animal’s wounds. However, the jumbo cannot be tranquilized to treat its wounds because it could bring death to the animal.
“If we tranquilized him now, the animal is unlikely to recover from its effects,” said Pathiratna.
The elephant, known among the villagers as Galgamuwe ‘Dala Poottuwa,’ strayed into the main Kekirawa-Dambulla road from the Kailapathana area causing panic in the area.
‘It had reportedly damaged nearly 50 vehicles and a house,’ he said.
“Elephant controllers are waiting until the animal calms down and collapses owing to injuries to treat its wounds,” said Pathiratna. “The eyesight of the tusker is also weak. This could be due to a gunshot wound it had suffered,” he said.
http://www.dailynews.lk/2011/11/01/news31.asp
Running the economy: Sanity, vanity or reality
Dr Anila goes on rampage: takes govt. head on regarding policy issues
In a no holds barred address, delivered in an unbridled spirit of candour spanning 47 uninterrupted minutes where she virtually kept a 1,200-plus spellbound audience virtually at the edge of their seats in pin drop silence, the single largest conference audience in this country to date which no Colombo five star could hold, comprising mainly Fellow and Associate Members of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka, laced with erudition and statistics from her retentive memory, and at times sending them into raptures with caustic wit, biting satire and anecdote, she dared the government to address policy related issues, ranging from arrival targets for the tourism industry vis-a-vis dollar earnings to grandiose proclamations of high external reserves based commercial borrowings at high interest rates.
By Ravi Ladduwahetty
Retired Central Bank Assistant Governor and outspoken Economist Dr Anila Dias Bandaranaike, recently, took on the government on policy related issues in post war Sri Lanka, adding that: "The country’s development potential is unlimited but we need to develop it with wisdom and balance."
Addressing the 32nd National Conference of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka at the Waters Edge under the theme: Sanity, Vanity and Reality, she conceded that Sri Lanka’s economic indicators had improved leaps and bounds over the last 40 years, but underscored the significance of sorting our regional disparities in economic growth.
Vanity or Sanity: Show-casing Sri Lanka as "Emerging Wonder of Asia"
"Can 20 million people and environment cope with 2.5 million tourists?" She asked and challenged the government to say why it was targeting numbers and not dollar earnings.
She also had the audience in cascades of laughter when she said that the projected 2.5 million tourist arrivals was based on the figure touted by a loyalist out to President Mahinda Rajapaksa as the ideal targeted number and the target figure was based on that.
"It is true that Sri Lanka is the emerging wonder of Asia. But I don’ t approve the way that the country is being showcased. It does not matter whether there are 100 or 1000 tourists, but what matters is not the quantum of tourists but the dollars. It is as simple as that.
There are around 800,000 tourist arrivals and 2.5 million arrivals would mean that the resources would have to be tripled; the buses, the food, which will mean more imports. Forty to fifty buses together, on these narrow roads, will mean that if one gets stuck, all will be stuck! The construction cost of a hotel room is around a million dollars. Can we imagine 2.5 million tourists in our food courts at Polonnaruwa , the Gal Vihara and Ritigala Forest Hermitage ? This is mind boggling on our narrow roads.
"At current migration labour force entry rates, are 500,000 jobs in tourism by 2016 realistic? The current labour force in the tourism industry is 100,000. With people migrating at a rate, who is going to give the 500,000 jobs ? Who is going to give the jobs for the economy to grow at 9%?
"Also targets for BPO, IT sectors as envisaged? The second international airport at Mattala, do we need it ? Of the second seaport at Hambantota, we heard about that rock and that the first ship has come in but now, there is deafening silence in the newspapers about further ships coming in. Then, international sports venues- Sooriyawewa, Pallekelle, Dambulla and there is a Nittambuwa sports complex also in the offing, but Sri Lanka Cricket has no money to pay salaries. "There is also talk of the Upper Kotmale Hydro Power project and filling up the Kotmale reservoir. Can’t we wait at least a unit of electricity is generated from it? Now the government has to evaluate the true benefits versus colossal costs to Sri Lanka and that has to be recognized. We need to be careful about the hype versus performance. We are gassing about gas now even before finding whether it is commercially viable. It is time that we walked the talk for credibility.
"If we are showcasing Sri Lanka as the emerging wonder of Asia, this is too much egoistic talk versus hard reality. This is vanity versus sanity which needs clarity, otherwise it will be inanity!!," she quipped amidst a round of applause from the audience, buttressed with cascades of laughter.
Past reality and future Sanity:
National Policy Targets and Performance:
"Can we expect private investment with the expanding role of state and armed forces in the economy? Can we achieve investment and growth targets on low credibility with investors? Can we reduce budget deficits and maintain debt trends? Can the Central Bank of Sri Lanka intervene to maintain current interest and exchange rates and also sustain growth targets?
"The government boasted of US$ 8 billion in external reserves which was mostly from commercial borrowings," she said, amidst ripples of laughter and amusement among the entire audience.
So, the question is: Vanity or Sanity?
"Are we on a balanced path to our medium term goals? Is it sustainable that our country is going today? Can sanity overcome the vanity to rectify these issues? The private sector also needs to look at these issues loud and clear and ask the government where the consistency is.
"Will the sanity overcome vanity where credibility is offered to all the stakeholders? Unless the government gets off its high horse and restores credibility, the required investments will not come in. Will vanity become sanity where the realistic performance will not be measured when it comes to performance? It is true that there are the positives and the negatives. It is very seldom that I see or hear any government official talking of the negatives. What we hear is that it is gung-ho on all fronts and that all is right everywhere.
"There is a lot of hype. We must be balanced to see the positives and the negatives as well.
She said: "Twenty five years ago, before that watershed year, and the last year, going by the statistics of the Central Bank Annual Report, let us see the future whether it is vanity or sanity. The highest investment which has been achieved to date that has been achieved during the days of the accelerated Mahaweli program which was 28% of GDP. We were at 29% last year and we are trying to bring it to the mid thirties. We are also trying to reduce the budget deficit drastically. Debt to GDP reduced from 80% to 67% and external debt to be reduced to manageable levels to 12-15%
"The targets are based on post conflict optimism, and I think it is rightly so, with investment led, infrastructure led and consumption led development may generate revenue to meet government expenditure and debt servicing.
"One thing is that we have not got the kind of investment that we need and I asked Deputy Governor of the Central Bank Mr. Dharma Dheerasinghe and he said that it will come. It is nowhere near the thirties yet. Last year there was the growth of 8% and I would not be surprised if it is 8.5% this year because, it was on a low base.
"Taking into consideration, the post 2009 era, there is a lot of construction, be it roads, hospitals, schools, there is domestic tourism, there is investment coming, there is the cultivation of the lands which were not hitherto cultivated in the North and the East due to the hostilities coming back into practice and the demands of that part of the country also have to be met. The immediate growth has to be high. So, achieving 8% is where it should be. But the problem and the challenge will be in 2012 where the low base is no more. So, we have to have this investments for GDP growth to be between 8.5%- 9% or 10% We will also have to remember that inflation could also set in.
"Yesterday, there was a clarion call to invest. All the government policy documents say: " Invest, invest, invest"!! But the government has an expanding role. The Government did not open Sri Lankan Airlines, Shell Gas or Sri Lanka Insurance Corporation to the private sector. They took it on themselves and now we have the government expecting the armed forces to run Janawan Halas all along the A 9 highway, to selling vegetables, to running commercial transport with the Navy and the Air Force and the latest I saw was a shoot of shops at Kilinochchi run by the Army . So, there is a little inconsistency there of the signals that the government is emitting. I don’t see the private sector also asking these questions loud and clear.
"So, the question is, can we achieve the requisite investments and growth targets on low credibility? We have to have that credibility. One is the government’s foothold in economic activity. Secondly, where the government also has adopted a very stubborn stance in the manner it is handling the Western world, which is also very hypocritical in the manner that they are attacking Sri Lanka, not that we have not done anything wrong. We have to build that confidence.
"The third point I want to make is the high external reserves. How can we boast of US$ 8 billion reserves which is said to be sufficient to fund six months of imports when they are based on commercial borrowings? I was at an earlier conference where the International Monetary Fund Representative Koshi Mathai stoutly defended Sri Lanka’s External Reserves. Three days later I saw in the newspaper that the IMF had taken a new turn in spelling out that they were non borrowed reserves. Then comes the question of how it is going to be sustained.
"Then on the budget deficit and maintaining the debt servicing targets. Employment opportunities are expanding but the private sector is also not expanding enough to absorb them. State employment will mean salary bill, pension bill and other perks such as transport etc. All that costs the government money and with the current borrowing trends, is it practical in terms of reducing the budget deficit and reducing debt? The Central Bank will be doing magic by keeping all these things going! How sustainable is this and how long can you go on?
"My point is that the Central Bank needs to maintain the exchange rates and the interest rates for the maintaining of stability, but, can you also sustain the growth targets with the same levels. One needs exceptional arithmetic for it to work it in the short term. You want investment to grow at 34% and for that, investment goods have to come in which would also mean that the investment bill is also going to grow. That would also mean that there will be pressure on the exchange rates to depreciate.
"The targeted 34% for investment will also mean that there will be demand for credit, which would mean that there will be pressure on the interest rates. So, the question would be how does one maintain the interest rates and the exchange rates at the current levels with the 9% economic growth and the 34% Investments of GDP without also simultaneously managing the inflation. If the government can manage that, I will pull my hat off to them!"
Earlier, she said: "We need to take into account the economic backdrop that we take our food, our housing, our clothing and our shelter along with the other economic services such as our transportation, communication and finance while having the ability of helping the environment
"In addition to that, we also have to think about intellectual well being, having the opportunity and access our educational, professional, aesthetic and cultural pursuits that would enable us to achieve our potential and through that, having the access to employment for a professional career where we can achieve our potential and at the same time, not forgetting that, as human beings we should be able to enjoy our music, theatre, drama, reading and those aspects of human well being .
"As for emotional wellbeing, we need to be comfortable that the society we live in is a physically safe environment and the Police and who ever who is supposed to look after us is doing their jobs and that we are allowed to be free in our thoughts, our speech and our beliefs leaving us to enjoy not only our physical but mental health as well.
"So, I would like to stress that the human well being is just broader than simple material needs and includes intellectual simulation and emotional security. I think that in this point of Sri Lanka’s history, we need to look at this from a broader perspective.
" So, the reality is, what resources in our country that will enable us to uplift the quality of the lives of our people on all these fronts. We are an island nation. A nation with no bounds of natural security with the sea around us; we have the harbours and the beaches which are being turned into commercial ports, ocean resources, not only the fishing but the minerals, wind power and above all, a very strategic location which encompasses the main routes maritime routes of the world and we are next to one of the economic super powers and a regional super power- India.
"Land wise, mostly arable and flat with accessible mountains conveniently placed at the middle of the country and with plentiful water and I can assure you that the dry zone has more water than most parts of the world.
"We have now 30 years of terrorism behind us and now we have all the opportunities to surge forward. In that process, we have to stress for balance and we have it so good. We need to achieve that potential by efficient and honest efforts. "
Responding to the comments made by Chief Guest -Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa the previous night, about the need to eradicate corruption, she said : " We need to make sure that we don’t fall into the same trap like some of the large financial organizations of the western world. We also need to safeguard that rich multicultural heritage while maintaining our unity in our diversity and be Sri Lankans and not be divided on ethnic and / or religious grounds and as one voice while enjoying the fabulous environment that we are privy to. We also need to enjoy and preserve life with leisure with family and community for contentment. We need to have time for leisure and for the family and the community. Earnings, the big bucks with the material well being is not going to satisfy our lives. There is much more to life - family community and contentment.
Where are we today?
" I am told that I will be addressing an audience whose average ages are 30 plus and I am talking about an era where most of you were seeing the world. We have moved away from that era. Firstly, from the perspective of material gains. We are now living in a country where 90% of the households live in houses either owned by them or free of rent and permanent; This, in sharp contrast, to 40 years ago, where the number of people living in their houses were just 40-50%. The others did not have their own accommodation. Access to sanitation, safe water and electricity is between 85 and 90%, compared to electricity under 10% forty years ago where only half of the people had access to safe water at that time.
"Forty years ago, at the time I was a schoolgirl, hardly anyone had a telephone. But today, we have moved on, but we have to remember that 10-15% or 2 million of the population don’t have access to welfare. Last year, Samurdhi provided 1.6 million people Rs. 9 billion in welfare where as 1.8 million people brought in Rs. 465 billion foreign remittances. Samurdhi translates to around Rs. 500 per month per person while the migrant workers’ remittances translated to Rs. 20,000 per month per family.
"The National Numbers look good but the issue is the regional disparities. The Western Province is different to the other provinces. A quarter of the population produced half of the economic output in 2010 which is equal to the rest of the country. That translated to multi- household expenditure last year was Rs. 42,000 in the western province which also means that only 4% of the people live below the poverty line in the Western Province, she said.
"There was infant mortality going down drastically and life expectancy going up, and the dependency ratios has also go down," she said
National Priorities in our Quest for Balance
" What we need to achieve is our potential by ethical means. What we need is to safeguard our rich multicultural heritage, maintain – unity in our diversity, preserve our natural environment, share – leisure with family and community and while enjoy living in harmony and health Our Country’s potential is unlimited – Develop it with wisdom and balance!"
Our country today- the reality- Development Model targets well being
"Our country today provides for infrastructure to improve regional economic access, focuses on "Hubs" in Services sector to grow, advocates private participation in development, encourages foreign employment to raise foreign earnings and reduce unemployment, overlooks environmental implications of chosen path and pushes chosen path by discouraging alternate views.
"Of the education statistics, it was only 30% who passed up to GCE A Levels forty years ago which has increased to 70% now and we have to increase that to 100% With that said, our employment has gone down to 5%. In 2010, 61% were eligible for university, but only 10% could enter Free State Universities. Opinion divided on Private Universities. The state provided 14 % of employment in 2010 which accounted for 800,000 people and 1.8 million migrant workers equal about 20% of labour force. The private sector has not generated new jobs and that is an issue for you guys. The reason for the reduction of the employment is due to the state and the outside world generated employment and not Sri Lanka’s private sector. So, these are the questions that we need to ask ourselves.
Current Reality – Emotional Well-being
"Terrorism no longer a threat with the conflict in the North and the East being over and our personal security threats were also over, but there is inadequate trained professionals such as psychologists, psychiatrists and counselors to treat post conflict mental trauma.
" Ten days ago, we have seen political rivals of the same party where they almost killed each other and one was killed. Rising political thuggery, gun culture, underworld violence – do police, courts protect citizens under this culture? Those are issues that we have to grapple with.
"Of balanced language policy, President Rajapaksa has said that he wants a tri-lingual society as soon as possible but there is no minority rights in practice – for official letters, notices, court proceedings are not processed in a manner that the people do not have it in the language they deal with. There were also instances where I have been to official venues where the medium of instruction was in Sinhalese.
" I was in a Court in Fort where there were large numbers of members of the minority and all the notices in the Courts were in Sinhalese. There is a dearth in the communication in presenting the language that the people understand and communicate.
"True that the Government is doing a lot on reconciliation issues but there is perceived apathy on reconciliation issues. There is still a large and excessive Army presence in Jaffna , and there is weak inclusivity in North development. There is a 30 member team of officials for the development of Jaffna District, but there is not a single Tamil speaking person in that. This is true and perceptions matter.
"Of the freedom of speech, we know how the media officers and media personnel have been attacked when there is criticism of the state. Sri Lanka has to live with it. It is not good to ask the Government as to whether they have double standards. Sri Lanka has to answer a lot on its media at various international fora from various western powers at various intervals . I don’t think that we were diplomatic in the manner that we handled it, but all we had to say was, the terrorists were our own people who were being used as human shields, try to minimize co-lateral damage without saying that you guys have no right to come there. If we need to see development, we have to have them on our side. That seems to sum up the reality on the emotional well being and self-defeating attitude to criticism – attacks on local media personnel and offices, poor diplomacy to counter international hypocrisy
Current Reality – Summary
= Material Well-being? - Sri Lanka is a lower-middle income country with national socio-economic indicators at upper income levels. But regional disparities high, aging burden rising
Current Reality - Structure of Economy
" We have a dramatic change in the economy from 40 years ago where the agriculture sector has declined and where the share of the sector is keeping to declining, Services increasing, as economy develops and the industrial sector has been moderate. In today’s world, one needs services in a backdrop of agriculture and industry, one needs better transportation for goods to move to markets, for goods to move to airports and ports for export, good market information for agriculture and industry to determine what goods to produce and what prices to determine, one needs also financial services to ensure that credit is available for agriculture and industry. So, services have to grow faster than agriculture and industry to fuel growth in the other two sectors.
"We have also seen the dramatic increases in household incomes quite considerably largely attributable to migrant remittances, and with that, they too, they want more and better services, better transport facilities, better education for their kids, better health services, better leisure and better holidays and people are spending much more for weddings and funerals than ever before and therefore, all these needs have to be met. Basically, these services need to be grow.
"There is the minimal change in Industry share , efficient services needed to fuel growth in other sectors, and more and better services required as household needs expand with higher incomes.
What is the reality today?
"Basically, yesterday both the President of the ICASL Sujeewa Mudalige and Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa said that we have today a development model that targets material well being. It also provides for infrastructure and provides regional economic access to sites which would circumvent the regional economic disparities.
"Of the statistics, but today, around 90% of the industry is in the western province and where a mere 10% lies in the other eight provinces. I saw in the slide presentation yesterday that there are the eight bridges between Batticaloa and Trincomalee with all the roads and all that.
"Of the specific hubs, ports and tourism, Information technology and BPOs. All these are on the national development program. I would also advocate the private sector participation in development.
"I would also like to congratulate the government in that there is a lot more focus on the environmental issues than ever before, but yet, some of the environment related issues in relation to some projects are still over looked. There was reference to a road that on the side of the Sinharaja Forest. Roads can be built anywhere, but the Sinharaja Forest is a special place. There was also another controversial road that went right through the Wilpattu National Park, which joined Puttalam to Mannar. These are just a few of the many as far as roads were concerned. There was the issue of the second airport at Mattala. There are also a few more issues to maintain our balance.
"In addition to that, we have to recognize that, however well intentioned the government is which is doing a very good job on the macro, is that push to discouraging alternate views.
" I made the references to the media and I see lots of people including former colleagues and professionals in economic policy saying: " I no longer bother to say anything or even constructive criticism because nobody is listening. I think that does not augur well for us. We have to congratulate the good and recognize the bad and talk about it constructively and not to destroy. So, that is the economic model that we are talking of.
Current Trends – Vanity or Sanity?
Emphasis on foreign employment
"Granted that there is an end to civil conflict, but there is no end to out-migration, brain and skills drain. Retirees were returning, but middle management and young skilled workers were leaving Government policy to encourage migration, with inadequate options, incomes and challenges to retain trained and untrained Sri Lankans, declining HR capacity to deliver on Sri Lanka’s post-conflict development targets and she asked whether the state and citizens balance options for and against living in Sri Lanka today.
"There is a crying need for a balance in the state – citizens balance. Why is there a mass exodus of people from this country. There is a need for sanity to recognise the pushing for the people to go to bring that Rs. 465 billion to enable the economy to grow at 9%
Vanity or sanity: Emphasis on money and material well-being
"What money can buy drives lifestyles. Monetary gains, not professional standards, drive most businesses. Non-communicable diseases linked to stress rising. Globalization and unrestrained marketing, not facts, influence food habits; also lifestyles. Energy, water and waste disposal under strain with "development"Rising noise, water, air pollution, traffic congestion with "development". Do those who make "big bucks" enjoy optimal well-being?
"On money and material well being, well, that is the wy that the world is going. We, at this stage, need to guard ourselves without merely going by monetary gain. We have seen the Enron scandals and all that. We need to guard ourselves against rising stress.
"It also does not mean that all the human beings who make the most amount of money does not necessarily have the best emotional well being. What if all the restaurants which now sell those hot hoppers and the kottus are replaced with the pizzas and the hamburgers? We must ensure that our eating habits and dressing habits are not overly influenced with the rising tides of globalization as well
Vanity or sanity: Is there balance in our use (and abuse) of resources for "development"?
"She posed the questions: "Will Vanity prevent the Sanity of valuing our non-material advantages and conserving our resources? Despite improvements in material well-being, is there balance towards achieving total human well-being? Is there balance in our use (and abuse) of resources for "development"? Will Vanity prevent the Sanity of valuing our non-material advantages and conserving our resources? Despite improvements in material well-being, is there balance towards achieving total human well-being?
How do we regain our Balance?
"The method to regain our balance, she said, was to recognize reality, avoid vanity and maintain sanity to ensure that Sri Lanka’s development will be sustainable and uplift human well-being," she concluded amidst sonorous applause from the appreciative and attentive crowd.
http://www.island.lk/index.php?page_cat=article-details&page=article-details&code_title=38100
In a no holds barred address, delivered in an unbridled spirit of candour spanning 47 uninterrupted minutes where she virtually kept a 1,200-plus spellbound audience virtually at the edge of their seats in pin drop silence, the single largest conference audience in this country to date which no Colombo five star could hold, comprising mainly Fellow and Associate Members of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka, laced with erudition and statistics from her retentive memory, and at times sending them into raptures with caustic wit, biting satire and anecdote, she dared the government to address policy related issues, ranging from arrival targets for the tourism industry vis-a-vis dollar earnings to grandiose proclamations of high external reserves based commercial borrowings at high interest rates.
By Ravi Ladduwahetty
Retired Central Bank Assistant Governor and outspoken Economist Dr Anila Dias Bandaranaike, recently, took on the government on policy related issues in post war Sri Lanka, adding that: "The country’s development potential is unlimited but we need to develop it with wisdom and balance."
Addressing the 32nd National Conference of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka at the Waters Edge under the theme: Sanity, Vanity and Reality, she conceded that Sri Lanka’s economic indicators had improved leaps and bounds over the last 40 years, but underscored the significance of sorting our regional disparities in economic growth.
Vanity or Sanity: Show-casing Sri Lanka as "Emerging Wonder of Asia"
"Can 20 million people and environment cope with 2.5 million tourists?" She asked and challenged the government to say why it was targeting numbers and not dollar earnings.
She also had the audience in cascades of laughter when she said that the projected 2.5 million tourist arrivals was based on the figure touted by a loyalist out to President Mahinda Rajapaksa as the ideal targeted number and the target figure was based on that.
"It is true that Sri Lanka is the emerging wonder of Asia. But I don’ t approve the way that the country is being showcased. It does not matter whether there are 100 or 1000 tourists, but what matters is not the quantum of tourists but the dollars. It is as simple as that.
There are around 800,000 tourist arrivals and 2.5 million arrivals would mean that the resources would have to be tripled; the buses, the food, which will mean more imports. Forty to fifty buses together, on these narrow roads, will mean that if one gets stuck, all will be stuck! The construction cost of a hotel room is around a million dollars. Can we imagine 2.5 million tourists in our food courts at Polonnaruwa , the Gal Vihara and Ritigala Forest Hermitage ? This is mind boggling on our narrow roads.
"At current migration labour force entry rates, are 500,000 jobs in tourism by 2016 realistic? The current labour force in the tourism industry is 100,000. With people migrating at a rate, who is going to give the 500,000 jobs ? Who is going to give the jobs for the economy to grow at 9%?
"Also targets for BPO, IT sectors as envisaged? The second international airport at Mattala, do we need it ? Of the second seaport at Hambantota, we heard about that rock and that the first ship has come in but now, there is deafening silence in the newspapers about further ships coming in. Then, international sports venues- Sooriyawewa, Pallekelle, Dambulla and there is a Nittambuwa sports complex also in the offing, but Sri Lanka Cricket has no money to pay salaries. "There is also talk of the Upper Kotmale Hydro Power project and filling up the Kotmale reservoir. Can’t we wait at least a unit of electricity is generated from it? Now the government has to evaluate the true benefits versus colossal costs to Sri Lanka and that has to be recognized. We need to be careful about the hype versus performance. We are gassing about gas now even before finding whether it is commercially viable. It is time that we walked the talk for credibility.
"If we are showcasing Sri Lanka as the emerging wonder of Asia, this is too much egoistic talk versus hard reality. This is vanity versus sanity which needs clarity, otherwise it will be inanity!!," she quipped amidst a round of applause from the audience, buttressed with cascades of laughter.
Past reality and future Sanity:
National Policy Targets and Performance:
"Can we expect private investment with the expanding role of state and armed forces in the economy? Can we achieve investment and growth targets on low credibility with investors? Can we reduce budget deficits and maintain debt trends? Can the Central Bank of Sri Lanka intervene to maintain current interest and exchange rates and also sustain growth targets?
"The government boasted of US$ 8 billion in external reserves which was mostly from commercial borrowings," she said, amidst ripples of laughter and amusement among the entire audience.
So, the question is: Vanity or Sanity?
"Are we on a balanced path to our medium term goals? Is it sustainable that our country is going today? Can sanity overcome the vanity to rectify these issues? The private sector also needs to look at these issues loud and clear and ask the government where the consistency is.
"Will the sanity overcome vanity where credibility is offered to all the stakeholders? Unless the government gets off its high horse and restores credibility, the required investments will not come in. Will vanity become sanity where the realistic performance will not be measured when it comes to performance? It is true that there are the positives and the negatives. It is very seldom that I see or hear any government official talking of the negatives. What we hear is that it is gung-ho on all fronts and that all is right everywhere.
"There is a lot of hype. We must be balanced to see the positives and the negatives as well.
She said: "Twenty five years ago, before that watershed year, and the last year, going by the statistics of the Central Bank Annual Report, let us see the future whether it is vanity or sanity. The highest investment which has been achieved to date that has been achieved during the days of the accelerated Mahaweli program which was 28% of GDP. We were at 29% last year and we are trying to bring it to the mid thirties. We are also trying to reduce the budget deficit drastically. Debt to GDP reduced from 80% to 67% and external debt to be reduced to manageable levels to 12-15%
"The targets are based on post conflict optimism, and I think it is rightly so, with investment led, infrastructure led and consumption led development may generate revenue to meet government expenditure and debt servicing.
"One thing is that we have not got the kind of investment that we need and I asked Deputy Governor of the Central Bank Mr. Dharma Dheerasinghe and he said that it will come. It is nowhere near the thirties yet. Last year there was the growth of 8% and I would not be surprised if it is 8.5% this year because, it was on a low base.
"Taking into consideration, the post 2009 era, there is a lot of construction, be it roads, hospitals, schools, there is domestic tourism, there is investment coming, there is the cultivation of the lands which were not hitherto cultivated in the North and the East due to the hostilities coming back into practice and the demands of that part of the country also have to be met. The immediate growth has to be high. So, achieving 8% is where it should be. But the problem and the challenge will be in 2012 where the low base is no more. So, we have to have this investments for GDP growth to be between 8.5%- 9% or 10% We will also have to remember that inflation could also set in.
"Yesterday, there was a clarion call to invest. All the government policy documents say: " Invest, invest, invest"!! But the government has an expanding role. The Government did not open Sri Lankan Airlines, Shell Gas or Sri Lanka Insurance Corporation to the private sector. They took it on themselves and now we have the government expecting the armed forces to run Janawan Halas all along the A 9 highway, to selling vegetables, to running commercial transport with the Navy and the Air Force and the latest I saw was a shoot of shops at Kilinochchi run by the Army . So, there is a little inconsistency there of the signals that the government is emitting. I don’t see the private sector also asking these questions loud and clear.
"So, the question is, can we achieve the requisite investments and growth targets on low credibility? We have to have that credibility. One is the government’s foothold in economic activity. Secondly, where the government also has adopted a very stubborn stance in the manner it is handling the Western world, which is also very hypocritical in the manner that they are attacking Sri Lanka, not that we have not done anything wrong. We have to build that confidence.
"The third point I want to make is the high external reserves. How can we boast of US$ 8 billion reserves which is said to be sufficient to fund six months of imports when they are based on commercial borrowings? I was at an earlier conference where the International Monetary Fund Representative Koshi Mathai stoutly defended Sri Lanka’s External Reserves. Three days later I saw in the newspaper that the IMF had taken a new turn in spelling out that they were non borrowed reserves. Then comes the question of how it is going to be sustained.
"Then on the budget deficit and maintaining the debt servicing targets. Employment opportunities are expanding but the private sector is also not expanding enough to absorb them. State employment will mean salary bill, pension bill and other perks such as transport etc. All that costs the government money and with the current borrowing trends, is it practical in terms of reducing the budget deficit and reducing debt? The Central Bank will be doing magic by keeping all these things going! How sustainable is this and how long can you go on?
"My point is that the Central Bank needs to maintain the exchange rates and the interest rates for the maintaining of stability, but, can you also sustain the growth targets with the same levels. One needs exceptional arithmetic for it to work it in the short term. You want investment to grow at 34% and for that, investment goods have to come in which would also mean that the investment bill is also going to grow. That would also mean that there will be pressure on the exchange rates to depreciate.
"The targeted 34% for investment will also mean that there will be demand for credit, which would mean that there will be pressure on the interest rates. So, the question would be how does one maintain the interest rates and the exchange rates at the current levels with the 9% economic growth and the 34% Investments of GDP without also simultaneously managing the inflation. If the government can manage that, I will pull my hat off to them!"
Earlier, she said: "We need to take into account the economic backdrop that we take our food, our housing, our clothing and our shelter along with the other economic services such as our transportation, communication and finance while having the ability of helping the environment
"In addition to that, we also have to think about intellectual well being, having the opportunity and access our educational, professional, aesthetic and cultural pursuits that would enable us to achieve our potential and through that, having the access to employment for a professional career where we can achieve our potential and at the same time, not forgetting that, as human beings we should be able to enjoy our music, theatre, drama, reading and those aspects of human well being .
"As for emotional wellbeing, we need to be comfortable that the society we live in is a physically safe environment and the Police and who ever who is supposed to look after us is doing their jobs and that we are allowed to be free in our thoughts, our speech and our beliefs leaving us to enjoy not only our physical but mental health as well.
"So, I would like to stress that the human well being is just broader than simple material needs and includes intellectual simulation and emotional security. I think that in this point of Sri Lanka’s history, we need to look at this from a broader perspective.
" So, the reality is, what resources in our country that will enable us to uplift the quality of the lives of our people on all these fronts. We are an island nation. A nation with no bounds of natural security with the sea around us; we have the harbours and the beaches which are being turned into commercial ports, ocean resources, not only the fishing but the minerals, wind power and above all, a very strategic location which encompasses the main routes maritime routes of the world and we are next to one of the economic super powers and a regional super power- India.
"Land wise, mostly arable and flat with accessible mountains conveniently placed at the middle of the country and with plentiful water and I can assure you that the dry zone has more water than most parts of the world.
"We have now 30 years of terrorism behind us and now we have all the opportunities to surge forward. In that process, we have to stress for balance and we have it so good. We need to achieve that potential by efficient and honest efforts. "
Responding to the comments made by Chief Guest -Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa the previous night, about the need to eradicate corruption, she said : " We need to make sure that we don’t fall into the same trap like some of the large financial organizations of the western world. We also need to safeguard that rich multicultural heritage while maintaining our unity in our diversity and be Sri Lankans and not be divided on ethnic and / or religious grounds and as one voice while enjoying the fabulous environment that we are privy to. We also need to enjoy and preserve life with leisure with family and community for contentment. We need to have time for leisure and for the family and the community. Earnings, the big bucks with the material well being is not going to satisfy our lives. There is much more to life - family community and contentment.
Where are we today?
" I am told that I will be addressing an audience whose average ages are 30 plus and I am talking about an era where most of you were seeing the world. We have moved away from that era. Firstly, from the perspective of material gains. We are now living in a country where 90% of the households live in houses either owned by them or free of rent and permanent; This, in sharp contrast, to 40 years ago, where the number of people living in their houses were just 40-50%. The others did not have their own accommodation. Access to sanitation, safe water and electricity is between 85 and 90%, compared to electricity under 10% forty years ago where only half of the people had access to safe water at that time.
"Forty years ago, at the time I was a schoolgirl, hardly anyone had a telephone. But today, we have moved on, but we have to remember that 10-15% or 2 million of the population don’t have access to welfare. Last year, Samurdhi provided 1.6 million people Rs. 9 billion in welfare where as 1.8 million people brought in Rs. 465 billion foreign remittances. Samurdhi translates to around Rs. 500 per month per person while the migrant workers’ remittances translated to Rs. 20,000 per month per family.
"The National Numbers look good but the issue is the regional disparities. The Western Province is different to the other provinces. A quarter of the population produced half of the economic output in 2010 which is equal to the rest of the country. That translated to multi- household expenditure last year was Rs. 42,000 in the western province which also means that only 4% of the people live below the poverty line in the Western Province, she said.
"There was infant mortality going down drastically and life expectancy going up, and the dependency ratios has also go down," she said
National Priorities in our Quest for Balance
" What we need to achieve is our potential by ethical means. What we need is to safeguard our rich multicultural heritage, maintain – unity in our diversity, preserve our natural environment, share – leisure with family and community and while enjoy living in harmony and health Our Country’s potential is unlimited – Develop it with wisdom and balance!"
Our country today- the reality- Development Model targets well being
"Our country today provides for infrastructure to improve regional economic access, focuses on "Hubs" in Services sector to grow, advocates private participation in development, encourages foreign employment to raise foreign earnings and reduce unemployment, overlooks environmental implications of chosen path and pushes chosen path by discouraging alternate views.
"Of the education statistics, it was only 30% who passed up to GCE A Levels forty years ago which has increased to 70% now and we have to increase that to 100% With that said, our employment has gone down to 5%. In 2010, 61% were eligible for university, but only 10% could enter Free State Universities. Opinion divided on Private Universities. The state provided 14 % of employment in 2010 which accounted for 800,000 people and 1.8 million migrant workers equal about 20% of labour force. The private sector has not generated new jobs and that is an issue for you guys. The reason for the reduction of the employment is due to the state and the outside world generated employment and not Sri Lanka’s private sector. So, these are the questions that we need to ask ourselves.
Current Reality – Emotional Well-being
"Terrorism no longer a threat with the conflict in the North and the East being over and our personal security threats were also over, but there is inadequate trained professionals such as psychologists, psychiatrists and counselors to treat post conflict mental trauma.
" Ten days ago, we have seen political rivals of the same party where they almost killed each other and one was killed. Rising political thuggery, gun culture, underworld violence – do police, courts protect citizens under this culture? Those are issues that we have to grapple with.
"Of balanced language policy, President Rajapaksa has said that he wants a tri-lingual society as soon as possible but there is no minority rights in practice – for official letters, notices, court proceedings are not processed in a manner that the people do not have it in the language they deal with. There were also instances where I have been to official venues where the medium of instruction was in Sinhalese.
" I was in a Court in Fort where there were large numbers of members of the minority and all the notices in the Courts were in Sinhalese. There is a dearth in the communication in presenting the language that the people understand and communicate.
"True that the Government is doing a lot on reconciliation issues but there is perceived apathy on reconciliation issues. There is still a large and excessive Army presence in Jaffna , and there is weak inclusivity in North development. There is a 30 member team of officials for the development of Jaffna District, but there is not a single Tamil speaking person in that. This is true and perceptions matter.
"Of the freedom of speech, we know how the media officers and media personnel have been attacked when there is criticism of the state. Sri Lanka has to live with it. It is not good to ask the Government as to whether they have double standards. Sri Lanka has to answer a lot on its media at various international fora from various western powers at various intervals . I don’t think that we were diplomatic in the manner that we handled it, but all we had to say was, the terrorists were our own people who were being used as human shields, try to minimize co-lateral damage without saying that you guys have no right to come there. If we need to see development, we have to have them on our side. That seems to sum up the reality on the emotional well being and self-defeating attitude to criticism – attacks on local media personnel and offices, poor diplomacy to counter international hypocrisy
Current Reality – Summary
= Material Well-being? - Sri Lanka is a lower-middle income country with national socio-economic indicators at upper income levels. But regional disparities high, aging burden rising
Current Reality - Structure of Economy
" We have a dramatic change in the economy from 40 years ago where the agriculture sector has declined and where the share of the sector is keeping to declining, Services increasing, as economy develops and the industrial sector has been moderate. In today’s world, one needs services in a backdrop of agriculture and industry, one needs better transportation for goods to move to markets, for goods to move to airports and ports for export, good market information for agriculture and industry to determine what goods to produce and what prices to determine, one needs also financial services to ensure that credit is available for agriculture and industry. So, services have to grow faster than agriculture and industry to fuel growth in the other two sectors.
"We have also seen the dramatic increases in household incomes quite considerably largely attributable to migrant remittances, and with that, they too, they want more and better services, better transport facilities, better education for their kids, better health services, better leisure and better holidays and people are spending much more for weddings and funerals than ever before and therefore, all these needs have to be met. Basically, these services need to be grow.
"There is the minimal change in Industry share , efficient services needed to fuel growth in other sectors, and more and better services required as household needs expand with higher incomes.
What is the reality today?
"Basically, yesterday both the President of the ICASL Sujeewa Mudalige and Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa said that we have today a development model that targets material well being. It also provides for infrastructure and provides regional economic access to sites which would circumvent the regional economic disparities.
"Of the statistics, but today, around 90% of the industry is in the western province and where a mere 10% lies in the other eight provinces. I saw in the slide presentation yesterday that there are the eight bridges between Batticaloa and Trincomalee with all the roads and all that.
"Of the specific hubs, ports and tourism, Information technology and BPOs. All these are on the national development program. I would also advocate the private sector participation in development.
"I would also like to congratulate the government in that there is a lot more focus on the environmental issues than ever before, but yet, some of the environment related issues in relation to some projects are still over looked. There was reference to a road that on the side of the Sinharaja Forest. Roads can be built anywhere, but the Sinharaja Forest is a special place. There was also another controversial road that went right through the Wilpattu National Park, which joined Puttalam to Mannar. These are just a few of the many as far as roads were concerned. There was the issue of the second airport at Mattala. There are also a few more issues to maintain our balance.
"In addition to that, we have to recognize that, however well intentioned the government is which is doing a very good job on the macro, is that push to discouraging alternate views.
" I made the references to the media and I see lots of people including former colleagues and professionals in economic policy saying: " I no longer bother to say anything or even constructive criticism because nobody is listening. I think that does not augur well for us. We have to congratulate the good and recognize the bad and talk about it constructively and not to destroy. So, that is the economic model that we are talking of.
Current Trends – Vanity or Sanity?
Emphasis on foreign employment
"Granted that there is an end to civil conflict, but there is no end to out-migration, brain and skills drain. Retirees were returning, but middle management and young skilled workers were leaving Government policy to encourage migration, with inadequate options, incomes and challenges to retain trained and untrained Sri Lankans, declining HR capacity to deliver on Sri Lanka’s post-conflict development targets and she asked whether the state and citizens balance options for and against living in Sri Lanka today.
"There is a crying need for a balance in the state – citizens balance. Why is there a mass exodus of people from this country. There is a need for sanity to recognise the pushing for the people to go to bring that Rs. 465 billion to enable the economy to grow at 9%
Vanity or sanity: Emphasis on money and material well-being
"What money can buy drives lifestyles. Monetary gains, not professional standards, drive most businesses. Non-communicable diseases linked to stress rising. Globalization and unrestrained marketing, not facts, influence food habits; also lifestyles. Energy, water and waste disposal under strain with "development"Rising noise, water, air pollution, traffic congestion with "development". Do those who make "big bucks" enjoy optimal well-being?
"On money and material well being, well, that is the wy that the world is going. We, at this stage, need to guard ourselves without merely going by monetary gain. We have seen the Enron scandals and all that. We need to guard ourselves against rising stress.
"It also does not mean that all the human beings who make the most amount of money does not necessarily have the best emotional well being. What if all the restaurants which now sell those hot hoppers and the kottus are replaced with the pizzas and the hamburgers? We must ensure that our eating habits and dressing habits are not overly influenced with the rising tides of globalization as well
Vanity or sanity: Is there balance in our use (and abuse) of resources for "development"?
"She posed the questions: "Will Vanity prevent the Sanity of valuing our non-material advantages and conserving our resources? Despite improvements in material well-being, is there balance towards achieving total human well-being? Is there balance in our use (and abuse) of resources for "development"? Will Vanity prevent the Sanity of valuing our non-material advantages and conserving our resources? Despite improvements in material well-being, is there balance towards achieving total human well-being?
How do we regain our Balance?
"The method to regain our balance, she said, was to recognize reality, avoid vanity and maintain sanity to ensure that Sri Lanka’s development will be sustainable and uplift human well-being," she concluded amidst sonorous applause from the appreciative and attentive crowd.
http://www.island.lk/index.php?page_cat=article-details&page=article-details&code_title=38100
Lanka’s youth population reaches 5.6 m
Ishara MUDUGAMUWA
Sri Lanka has recorded its largest youth population of 5.6 million this year, United Nation’s Population Fund (UPFPA) Country Representative Lene K. Christiansen told a media briefing at the Health Education Bureau. Persons under 25 of age make up 43 percent of the world’s population,
with the percentage reaching 60 percent in the least developed countries.
When young people are healthy, educated and have decent working conditions, they become a powerful force for economic development and positive change, the country representative added.
According to the UPFPA of the 5.6 million young people in the Sri Lankan population, four million are school-going and 50,000 are estimated to be enrolled in higher education.
Adolescents in Sri Lanka face lower levels of gender discrimination at home and at school relative to adolescents in the rest of South Asia.
The UPFPA emphasized that with the average age of first marriage having risen to 25 years for females and 27 years for males, pre-marital sex is becoming common.
”Yet reproductive health services only focus on married couples and neglect adolescents and youth.
Attention is also needed with regard to the position of adolescent girls in society and the increase in gender-based violence towards women”.
http://www.dailynews.lk/2011/11/01/news12.asp
Sri Lanka has recorded its largest youth population of 5.6 million this year, United Nation’s Population Fund (UPFPA) Country Representative Lene K. Christiansen told a media briefing at the Health Education Bureau. Persons under 25 of age make up 43 percent of the world’s population,
with the percentage reaching 60 percent in the least developed countries.
When young people are healthy, educated and have decent working conditions, they become a powerful force for economic development and positive change, the country representative added.
According to the UPFPA of the 5.6 million young people in the Sri Lankan population, four million are school-going and 50,000 are estimated to be enrolled in higher education.
Adolescents in Sri Lanka face lower levels of gender discrimination at home and at school relative to adolescents in the rest of South Asia.
The UPFPA emphasized that with the average age of first marriage having risen to 25 years for females and 27 years for males, pre-marital sex is becoming common.
”Yet reproductive health services only focus on married couples and neglect adolescents and youth.
Attention is also needed with regard to the position of adolescent girls in society and the increase in gender-based violence towards women”.
http://www.dailynews.lk/2011/11/01/news12.asp
Railways to earn Rs 200 m through ads
Irangika RANGE
Sri Lanka Railways has planned to earn a revenue of Rs.200 million annually through advertisements outsides train compartments.
The entire rail network will be fully wrapped in advertisements, as part of Sri Lanka Railways attempts to draw in more advertising revenue.
Scalene Holdings Pvt Ltd won the sole right to wrap up in an advertisements, the exterior of all trains for the next three years after it entered into an agreement with Sri Lanka Railways.
Scalene Holdings Pvt Ltd, CEO and Director, Anton Nelson and Sri Lanka Railways general manager, B A P Ariyaratne signed the agreement recently. This project which was initiated on a suggestion of Transport Minister Kumara Welgama implemented on the direction of Transport Deputy Minister Rohana Kumara Dissanayake.
The exterior of these trains will be multi-coloured with other accessories in bright and attractive colours.
http://www.dailynews.lk/2011/11/01/news41.asp
Sri Lanka Railways has planned to earn a revenue of Rs.200 million annually through advertisements outsides train compartments.
The entire rail network will be fully wrapped in advertisements, as part of Sri Lanka Railways attempts to draw in more advertising revenue.
Scalene Holdings Pvt Ltd won the sole right to wrap up in an advertisements, the exterior of all trains for the next three years after it entered into an agreement with Sri Lanka Railways.
Scalene Holdings Pvt Ltd, CEO and Director, Anton Nelson and Sri Lanka Railways general manager, B A P Ariyaratne signed the agreement recently. This project which was initiated on a suggestion of Transport Minister Kumara Welgama implemented on the direction of Transport Deputy Minister Rohana Kumara Dissanayake.
The exterior of these trains will be multi-coloured with other accessories in bright and attractive colours.
http://www.dailynews.lk/2011/11/01/news41.asp
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