News

Veteran Sri Lankan singer Ivor Dennis has passed away today at his residence in Seeduwa. He was 86 at the time of his death. 

According to sources the last rites of the singer will take place on Wednesday (20). 

A pupil of veteran singer and musician Sunil Shantha, he started his musical journey with the song ‘Kurulu Paradisaye’ written by Thilaka Sudarman De Silva and composed by Sunil Shantha. 

Dennis a teacher by profession, has also worked as an advisor in folk music to the State music college.

Police have arrested five suspects in connection to the clash which occurred in Tellippalai, Jaffna yesterday. One person was killed when Police was forced to open fire at a group who were attacking two policemen with swords. The deceased has been identified as 33-year-old Pakyarasa Sudarshan.

Sources say a clash had occurred between two groups near the Tellippalai church during a festival and the police officers had intervened to disperse the crowd. However, a group wielding swords had then attacked the two police officers prompting police to open fire at them. Two other persons were also reportedly injured in the shooting and had been admitted to the hospital.
 
The police have arrested 3 suspects along with the injured 2 in the hospital regarding the incident. Tellippalai police are conducting investigations into the incident while Police Special Task Force (STF) personnel have been deployed in the area to control the situation and maintain peace.

Police Media Spokesman SP Ruwan Gunasekara has refuted a news item carried in the website of Sinhalese daily Lankadeepa, which claimed that on 45 000 occasions various parties have received money from companies belonging to Arjun Aloysius and that this was revealed by the Criminal Investigations Department. 

The news had been carried recently in the Lankadeepa website owned by Wijeya Newspapers while a sister publication of it the ‘Ada’ newspaper today (18) revealed that this news was untrue. 

According to the Ada report, the news claiming that 45, 000 parties on that many occasions had taken money from Aloysius is false. It claimed, however, the Police are still carrying out further investigations into the matter.

Joint Postal Trade Union Front has refused the calls by the Postmaster General Rohana Abeyratne, to return to work unless their demands are met. Issuing a communique convenor of the front, Chinthaka Bandara said under no circumstance will the workers return to work as officials have not shown any interest in their issues. 

According to Chinthaka Bandara, convener of the Union, despite a joint ministerial communique signed by Minister Sarath Amunugama and Minister Abdul Haleem on January 12, 2018, promising to resolve the issues faced by them, no action has been taken as yet. “Again on June 1 we were told solutions will be provided in another two weeks,” he said adding that too has lapsed now.

Meanwhile 1,500 airmail sacks had piled up at the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) due to the ongoing postal work stoppage sources said. Accordingly, mail sacks were also seen piled up at the Central Mail Exchange (CME) as mail collection and distribution islandwide has come to a standstill as a result of the strike action.

Other than mail collection and distribution, postal services such as pension payments, examination payments and spot fine payments has also been totally disrupted following the strike causing severe inconvenience to the public.

However Postmaster General Rohana Abeyratne has requested all postal department employees to halt their strike action and report to work immediately. Releasing a communiquéhe urged the employees to resolve their problems and demands through discussions.
 
“The Minister of Posts, Ministry Secretary and I as the Postmaster General, agree that the demands presented by the Unions are fair,” the communique said.
 
The Postmaster General also assured that their demands will be addressed within a month. “An acceptable solution will be provided,” he said, adding that the Department should be protected from competitors by providing services to the public.
 
The strike which commenced on June 10 has reached its seventh day. According to sources of the Department of Posts, it is incurring a loss of Rs. 150 million daily as a result of the ongoing strike.

Attending a recent meeting called by Director Traffic of the Police, SP Indika Hapugoda to discuss issues faced by motorcyclists, convenor of the Ceylon Motorcyclists Association, Chirantha Amerasinghe says the officer insulted them claiming that majority of those riding motorcycles with various modifications are hoodlums who are useless to society.

The association says they are in possession of a recording where the officer says “වාහන/බයික් වෙනස් කරන්නේ සමාජයට වැඩක් නැති, කොන්ඩ ගහලා, පච්ච ගහලා කකුල් වහලා, කුඩු ගහලා යන රස්තියාදු කාරයෝ” (Those who modify cars/ bikes are tattooed drug addicts and hoodlums who are useless to society).

According to the group they had merely wanted to discuss the unfairness of the decision made to charge between Rs 50 000 - 100 000 as fines for vehicle modifications when Hapugoda had started ranting at them during the meeting held on June 12.

Despite being a high ranking officer in the Traffic Division, during the discussion, Amerasinghe says when speaking about the ‘blindspot’ Hapugoda did not know the term and another officer had to explain it to him. “How did such an officer who has no knowledge get this position” Amerasinghe questions adding that a fruitful discussion is not possible with such an officer with no knowledge about the topic.

The association has also revealed past transgressions of SP Hapugoda, who is considered and known to be a corrupt officer in the Police department. He was linked to a 2001 fundamental rights case relating to the torture of a woman heard in the Supreme Court and mentioned in the report (SCM 21/09/2001). As a result, the Police Commission had halted his promotions. (http://www.island.lk/2004/08/02/news08.html)

However, the promotion was later awarded by the Chief Justice (SCFR No 392/2004) despite the allegations against him.

In 2010 he was also caught and arrested after mining for historical artefacts at a Rajamaha Vihara in Polonnaruwa. Department sources say he was sidelined by former IGP N.K Illangakoon due to his known corrupt practices.

However, he is now said to be wielding great power within the Traffic Division and having significant influence over decisions even being made by SDIG of Traffic, Nandana Munasinghe as well.

“We question as to how an officer with such a bad track record was appointed to the position of Director Traffic,” Amerasinghe asks adding that his qualifications to hold such a post must be explained as he does not seem to have the necessary knowledge.

The association has requested the Police Commission to now commence an investigation into the officer and his conduct.

There is a conflict within the Joint Opposition regarding the 2020 presidential candidate, says Deputy Minister Nalin Bandara. He stated these attending a meeting held in Kurunegala area.

According to him, former Defense Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa and former Minister Basil Rajapaksa both are hoping to become the next presidential candidate, while MP Namal Rajapaksa does not prefer either.

He points out that there is a crisis within the Rajapaksa family and the Joint Opposition.

UNP has never acted in a way to disturb the peace among racial and religious groups, he further stated.

Source : Ada Derana

Parties are alleging that Medagoda Abayathissa thera and a group of monks are now conspiring to disrobe General Secretary of the Bodu Bala Sena Organizations, Galagodaaththe Gnanasara thera who was recently imprisoned after being found guilty of criminally intimidating Sandhya Eknaligoda, wife of missing journalist Prageeth Eknaligoda. 

Sources say this group has been attempting to remove Gnanasara thera from mainstream discussions by aimed attacks on him publicly. Their activities have now increased after the monk was imprisoned sources say adding that Abayathissa thera’s statement that if a monk remains without his robe for over seven days that his monkhood will be automatically taken away according to the Vinaya Pitaka is a result of these efforts. 

According to sources after having used Gnanasara thera to gain votes, this group is trying to destroy him at a vulnerable moment. Therefore the group alleging that a conspiracy is ongoing says if it continues they will be forced to reveal the real lives of both monks and laymen acting against Gnanasara thera.

The now-imprisoned Galagodaththe Gnanasara Thera of the Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) will not seek for pardon from the President, Cheif Executive Officer of the BBS, Dilantha Withanage said. 

Speaking to the media, he said while the monk will not seek for pardon, it is up to the President and officials to understand the arrest is unjust and act accordingly. 

While mentioning that certain parties are working towards getting pardon for the monk from President, however, the BBS is not involved in these moves.

The Ministries of Land and Home Affairs have commenced a new program to expedite the National Program to distribute 10 00 000 deeds to land sources say. 

While the national program is being executed by the Ministry of Land, however, the decision was taken to collaborate with the Ministry of Home Affairs as district secretariats and grama seva officers which work regarding land issues come under the Ministry of Home Affairs. 

The first step of this program was held in the Galle District when discussions were held this week between District Secretaries and Ministry of land officials led by Ministers Gayantha Karunatillake and Minister of Home Affairs Wajira Abeywardena at the Ministry of Home Affairs.

The Government has decided that the Secretaries to Ministries, Heads of Departments, Chairpersons, executive officers and Accountants of Government Institutions should take the responsibility of paying salaries to redundant workers they have employed in addition to the approved Cadre.
 
At the same time, the Cabinet has also decided that  making relevant statutory payments in time such as contributions to Employees Provident Fund and Employees Trust Fund of state corporations, statutory boards and government owned companies is also the responsibility of the heads of such institutions.
The Cabinet has taken these decisions when the Report of the Final Quarter of the State Sector Employees – 2017 was submitted by Finance and Media Minister Mangala Samaraweera   recently.
 
It is reported that there are over 7500 personnel employed in various government institutions above the Cadre positions approved by the Management Services Department of the Treasury.

It has been computed that there are currently 1,375,499 public servants employed in the entire state sector including government ministries, departments, provincial councils, and local government institutions as well as other public enterprises, government owned institutions and state banks at the end of 2017. During the  year 2017 alone, 23,224 persons have been recruited to state service. At the same time, 5,000 servants have retired from the services and another 246 servants have been dismissed on various disciplinary actions during the same time.

It was also revealed that there are a large number of vacancies at senior executive level positions of the state sector. The Director General of Management Services Department stated that the main reason for this situation is that there is a limited number of officers who have completed the required number of years in service to be eligible for promotions. 
 
There are 74,872 approved positions for development officers service in the state sector and, nearly 18,000 positions out of them are currently vacant. However, the Director General of the Management Service Department further said that it was observed during staff review meetings that development officers attached to certain institutions are not assigned on a particular subject or are not given a specific job of work. 

In addition, there are a lot of vacancies in the Engineering, Technical and Technological sectors of the government service but attracting candidates to fill such positions has become a difficult task as the private sector pays more than what is paid to such professionals in the public sector.
 
Cabinet approval has been granted to a proposal made by Finance and Media Minister, Mangala Samaraweera to hold those relevant Secretaries to Ministries, Heads of Departments, and the Accountants who pay the salaries and other allowances to the employees who have been appointed in their respective institutions over the  approved cadres by the Management Service Department.

Samaraweera also noted that there are many discrepancies between estimated costs and actual costs incurred during the execution phase of many government infrastructure projects where a large number of government contracts have been awarded over and above the engineers' original cost estimates. In another measure to curb corruption and wastage, Minister Samaraweera's proposal to establish a special Cost Estimate Review Committee to evaluate total cost overruns and contract cost variations of infrastructure development projects falling under Cabinet Appointed Procurement Committees (CAPCs) was also approved by the Cabinet on Tuesday (12).

Several parties representing the JO are said to be in secret discussions in order to take an important political decision as the current political power struggle within the Rajapaksa family is becoming uncontrollable. 

According to a source, they are therefore now looking to join with the group of 16 to form a separate faction of collective progressive forces. 

They are also hoping to align themselves with other Sinhala nationalist parties and organizations sources say.

The group is said to be disgruntled as Basila Rajapaksa is said to be using the JO to promote the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna while disregarding other parties within the fraction continuously.

The 15% VAT that is charged from private hospitals will be removed with effect from next week, the Minister of Finance and Media Mangala Samaraweera said.  He pointed out that this is part of the Yahapalana government’s plan for providing concessions for the public.

The Minister made these remarks at an event held in Matara yesterday to provide compensation to victims affected by the floods in 2017.