01. Commissioner General at the Department of Motor Traffic Nishantha Anuruddha laments the main reason for the delay in issuing driving licences is “not having sufficient printing capacity with the existing printing machines”: adds a Cabinet paper has been sent for the purchase of five driving licence card printing machines.
02. Senior Consultant Physician Dr. Ananda Wijewickrama says there is a risk of a dengue epidemic with the upcoming monsoon, thus dengue control needs to receive “more attention from all sectors”: adds everyone’s assistance is important because neither the government nor the health authorities can control the virus on their own: More than 47,000 cases reported since January 2023.
03. IGP informs all senior Police officers that in a bid to expand the operations of seizing illegal firearms and hand grenades all Police personnel and private tippers will be encouraged by increasing the amount of cash rewards granted through the Police Reward Fund for a period of one month: Move comes in as per an order by Public Security Minister Tiran Alles.
04. Russian Ambassador to Sri Lanka Levan S. Dzhagaryan says a group of Russian delegates will arrive in Sri Lanka this September and October to initiate talks on establishing a nuclear power plant in Sri Lanka: expresses confidence that the outcome of the negotiations would be positive.
05. Transport Minister Bandula Gunawardena says by 2025, every depot belonging to the SLTB must be profitable; warns if not, the service cannot continue: laments while 90% of the depot employees are honest, about 10% do not hand over the fully daily collections to the depots; adds they allegedly keep a percentage of the collections and hand over the balance to the depots.
06. Foreign Minister Ali Sabry defends the appointment of ex Minister Rohitha Bogollagama as Sri Lanka’s next envoy to the UK, saying the move was well thought and was taken following discussion between himself and President Wickremesinghe.
07. The Department of Immigration and Emigration says 911,689 passports have been issued in 2022: reveals 2022 saw the highest number of passports issued in the last five years: adds 529,139 additional passports were issued in 2022 compared to the year before: In 2022, 1,124,022 Sri Lankans left the country.
08. The Election Commission says despite the change in the Commission administration, there will be no disruption to the activities of the currently announced LG Polls: The appointment of five new members to the EC nominated by the Constitutional Council to take place after President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s return to the island: Current Chairman Nimal Punchihewa nominated as a member of the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka.
09. Finance State Minister Shehan Semasinghe says the final list of beneficiaries of ‘Aswesuma’ welfare benefit programme will be published after completing the evaluation of appeals and objections: adds different surveys have shown that approximately 30% of welfare benefits are received by people who do not qualify to receive the allowances.
10. All Ruling Party MPs urged in a special notice not to leave Colombo next week starting from tomorrow, due to a series of special meetings and ‘a special Parliament resolution’ pending being tabled; also instructed to halt their foreign travels as well.
