Gota fills paddy lands in Colombo

Monday, 01 April 2013

The paddy and marsh lands near the Rattanapitiya Road in Boralesgamuwa have been taken under the purview of Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa’s Urban Development Authority (UDA) and have been marked to be filled, sources from the Survey Department said.

The paddy lands covering 2,000 acres in the area are irrigated by the Boralesgamuwa tank. A land between 50-80 acres has been taken over by the UDA.

It has been proposed to pay Rs. 3,000 for a purchase of land that has been acquired in this manner. Plans are always underway to develop the Bellanvila reserve and marsh, which is nearby as well.

It has been decided to give priority to beautifying the area under the development programme and walkways are to be set up for people to exercise as well.

Examining equipment at Mattala Airport low in quality

Monday, 01 April 2013

The equipment to check passengers at the Mattala Airport are manufactured in China and are of low quality while the Katunayake International Airport and other foreign airports have set up equipment from Germany’s Smith Company, which are of international standards.

It is the head of Sri Lanka Airport and Aviation Services Authority, Colonel Prasanna Wickremasuriya who has given permission to install Chinese equipment in violation of international quality standards to check passengers and baggage at the airport.

Germany’s Smith Company provides a lifetime warranty to its equipment while the Chinese equipment does not provide such guarantees.

The Rs. 300 lakh telephone goes silent

Monday, 01 April 2013

A sum of Rs. 300 lakhs had been spent on marking Consumer Day, which was held at the BMICH, under the patronage of Consumer Affairs and Internal Trade Minister Johnston Fernando.

The main aim of the event was to launch a telephone number for consumers to lodge their complaints. Interestingly, when a telephone call is made by consumers, the telephone number that was launched at a cost of Rs. 300 lakhs does not respond.

SB launches operation to save the President by sacrificing PB

Monday, 01 April 2013 

Higher Education Minister S.B. Dissanayake had recently stated that the monies allocated to state universities have been slashed by the Treasury as part of the conspiracy to get Treasury Secretary Dr. P.B. Jayasundera removed from the post, government sources said.

Although the President had made an additional allocation of Rs. 4,000 million to the higher education sector, the Minister said that the Treasury had slashed the amount by Rs. 3,500 million.

However, sources from the Treasury say that allocations made for 2013 in many sectors are being slashed. The allocation for the higher education sector had also been slashed accordingly.

A senior official from the Treasury told us that the budgetary cuts are being carried out with the approval of the President in his capacity as Finance Minister.

The official said that the Higher Education Minister is well aware of this situation and that he had made the statement about the budgetary cuts to the higher education sector at the opening of the Wayamba University in order to save the President by sacrificing the Treasury Secretary.

The Minister said at the opening that although the President had allocated additional funds for state universities to admit more students, the Treasury had slashed it.