The Colombo Magistrate’s Court ordered yesterday (06) to remand Sepal Amarasinghe, a social media activist, who was arrested by the Criminal Investigation Department on a charge of making an insulting statement to ‘Sri Dalada’.
That was when he was presented before Colombo Additional Magistrate Tharanga Mahawatta.
The CID officers told the court that due to a statement made by the suspect about Dalada through a social media account run by the suspect, there has been a great disturbance in the Buddhist society and a conflict has been created between two sides in the social media as well. Also, the Director General of Archeology has informed that a mistake has been made through this statement and the CID officials mentioned that Malwathu-Asgiri Mahanayake Theros and Diyawadana Nilame are also ready to give statements in this regard.
Also stating that information has been revealed that the suspect has received money from foreign countries and investigations are being conducted under the Act against the provision of financial support to terrorism and the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, the officers requested that he be remanded under the ICCPR Act until the 19th.
Namal Rajapaksa, the lawyer who appeared for the suspect, said that his client has posted about 1000 videos on his YouTube channel and through those videos he has advocated for the protection of pure Buddhism from myths and that he has no intention of insulting Buddhism. The lawyer mentioned that the government is preparing to hold a Dalada exhibition in view of the current economic crisis in the country and his client has made this questionable statement by pointing out that such activities cannot suppress the economic crisis. Accordingly, the lawyer said that his client was arrested as a political revenge.
The Additional Magistrate, who considered the facts of both parties, warned the suspect to be more careful in making such statements and ordered him to be remanded until the 10th.
Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) MP S.M. Marikkar has written to Committee on Public Enterprises Chairman Ranjith Madduma Bandara, calling on him to summon the Bank of Ceylon (BOC) before it immediately to question the status of non performing loans.
Marikkar, who is also a member of the COPE, in his letter dated 2 January accused the BOC of failure to recover dues from State institutions and powerful persons in Sri Lanka.
The MP noted that these unpaid loans amount to more than Rs. 200 billion. Marikkar said these facts were presented before the COPE on or about 24 May 2022 by way of an audit report submitted by the Auditor General’s Department. “A cursory reading of it is sufficient to shock the conscience of any citizen,” the MP added.
The SJB MP noted that this serious issue impacts the country’s economic prospects and the banking unions have raised their concerns in this regard on several occasions including by holding a press conference to reveal that certain VIPs had been granted loans exceeding Rs. 200 billion.
The MP pointed out that 10 State-owned enterprises had obtained massive loans from the BOC amounting to 96.44% of the total loans given to the State.
“Although the bank has failed and conveniently ignored its responsibility to recover dues from 10 State institutions, and powerful politically connected and influential persons – the economic situation of the country is in shambles.
“Whilst the Government has raised interest rates in the country exponentially, thus increasing the helplessness of the common man who has been driven to further economic hardship and uncertainty, the Government has inherited years of economic mismanagement, corruption at the highest echelons of office, and has defaulted on its international loans, and is presently awaiting a bailout from the International Monetary Fund,” the MP noted.
“By 2021, compared to 2017, SOES had obtained massive loans and advances from the BOC. This is an increase of 209%. That figure is Rs. 722,819 million. Whilst this is so, citizens are languishing with skyrocketing inflation, food insecurity, and a deep discontent with the Government’s management of the economy,” he added.
The MP pointed out how the public is constantly hounded by banks for payment of loan installments while the BOC is turning a blind eye towards its own failure to recover large amounts of monies which have been lent – in possible violation of creditworthiness principles and other good banking practices, due to political favouritism and other factors. The MP told the COPE Chairman that this must be addressed with urgency.
“The Constitution of Sri Lanka, in Article 148, clearly sets out that it is Parliament that shall have full control over public finance. This is clearly tied into the legislative sovereignty of the citizens of the country and the abject failure of Parliament to take charge of the gross negligence and failure will undoubtedly have severe consequences for our country,” Marikkar emphasized.
He added that the Parliament itself has delegated the power to COPE in order to probe deeply into these problems by exercising the powers vested on COPE and thus the COPE shall take all measures to investigate into matters of this nature which are deeply ingrained in the fundamental problems in the country.
Sri Lanka’s total tea export revenue stood at US$ 1.2 billion for 2022 and the export volume for 2022 was 250mn/kg, although tea volume sold at Colombo auctions in 2022 was lower but prices rose to highest since 2017 Chairman of the Sri Lanka Tea Board Niraj De Mel said.
Iraq was the leading export destination for Ceylon tea having imported 41 million Kgs and accounting for 18% of the total export volume. Other key export destinations for Ceylon tea were Russia (22.96 million Kgs),
UAE (20.31 million Kgs), Turkey (13.52 million Kgs), Iran(11.96 million Kgs), Azerbaijan (11.27 million Kgs), Libya (10.79 million kgs), China(10.48 million Kgs), Chile(6.22 million Kgs) and Germany (6.17 million Kgs).
Owing to the marked decline of supply caused by production shortfall, coupled with the sharp depreciation of the Sri Lankan rupee against the US dollar, tea Auction prices registered a steep increase, moving up to an average of USD 3.80 per Kg by end November 2022 from USD 3.10 per kg at the beginning of the year.
Tea volume sold at Colombo auctions in 2022 was lower but prices rose to highest since 2017, Forbes and Walker Tea Brokers revealed yesterday.
It said January-December 2022 cumulative average of Rs. 1,234.24 ($ 3.83) was a significant increase of Rs. 618.80 vis-à-vis Rs. 615.44 ($ 3.13) of January-December 2021, thus establishing the highest-ever average for a calendar year in rupees.
In dollar terms the average of $ 4.11 recorded in the year 2017 remains the highest. Forbes and Walker said high growns for the period January-December 2022 of Rs. 1,093.10 ($ 3.40) have shown an increase of Rs. 505.97 vis-à-vis Rs. 587.13 ($ 2.98) during January-December 2021. medium growns averaging Rs. 1,030.82 ($ 3.20) have shown an increase of Rs. 480.02 vis-à-vis Rs. 550.80 ($ 2.80) January-December 2021.
During the year 2022 (up to November), a total of 231 million Kgs was exported. This was 12% lower than the 262 million Kgs exported during the same period of last year.
The export earnings in real value decreased by USD 168 million from USD 1.21 billion (USD 1,214 Million) recorded in 2021 to USD 1.05 billion (USD 1,046 million) up to November in 2022. Lower earnings were attributed to low production in the year under review.
Made tea production for the year up to end November was 231.87 million Kgs. This is significantly lower compared to 278.96 million Kgs recorded for the same period in 2021. It is also lower than 250.19 million Kgs produced during the corresponding period in 2020.
Out of the total production for 2022, the Smallholder sector output was 174.71million kgs (75%) while the RPC sector accounted for 75.8 million kgs (33 %).
Both sectors recorded decreased outputs with the greatest decline of 20% being registered from the RPC sector. The production shortfall in the small holding sector was 16%.
Subsequent to the banning of Chemical fertilizer by the Government of Sri Lanka in 2021, tea growers and large plantations, in particular, were forced to only use organic fertilizer which too was not adequately available resulting in a negative impact on the Tea production. A drop of 17% compared to the previous year has been recorded up to the end November 2022.
In the wake of using the Sri Lanka-Tamil Nadu gold smuggling corridor increasingly by smugglers, the Government has issued an Extraordinary Gazette notification restricting over 22 carats of gold as jewellery brought into the country.
This directive follows the Tamil Nadu Intelligence Bureau’s signaling that there would be a rise in such activities considering the turmoil in Sri Lanka.
A Tamil Nadu official said that countries such as Sri Lanka and Malaysia are the main sources of gold that is being brought into India.
The customs officials have found that smuggling in a kilogram of gold into India fetches Rs 6 lakh. Moreover the ones smuggling it into India are paid around Rs 40,000 per consignment. Their air fares are also taken care of the TNIB probe revealed
On a daily basis at least Rs 70 lakh of gold is being smuggled into Tamil Nadu from the above mentioned countries, the probe further revealed.
An Intelligence Bureau official noted that while the smuggling racket between Sri Lanka and India is nothing new, it has increased in the past couple of month at least by 5 fold.
Indian officials are also looking at whether the money being generated by this racket is being used to fund terror and other anti national acts.
Meanwhile “several cases of gold smuggling into Sri Lanka were also reported during the recent period under the guise of wearing the gold jewellery upon entering the country,” the Finance, Economic Ministry in a statement issued yesterday noted.
Sri Lanka has directed its custom department to take stringent measures to stop gold smuggling into the country by airlines passengers in a bid to prevent illegal business of the yellow metal,
The customs officials have been instructed to deploy technology to detect gold over 22 carat.
Over 50 kilos of gold are being smuggled into the country by unscrupulous racketeers. Estimated that over 30 million dollars are being lost monthly to the national coffers.
The restriction is to be imposed sequel to a report provided by the Director General of Customs, Siyambalapitiya said.
Siyambalapitiya has assured that Sri Lankan expats returning or any ordinary passengers would not be affected as the regulation would only target the gold smugglers.
Sri Lanka Customs officials at the Bandaranaike International Airport in Katunayake recently arrested five Sri Lankan passengers attempting to smuggle gold worth over Rs. 400 million
According to Customs officials this is the second biggest gold stock nabbed by them in the history of Sri Lanka Customs.
The raid had been conducted on intelligence information received by the Finance Ministry from Intelligence Agencies in India.
Customs seized 22 kg of rough gold jewellery and gold powder worth over Rs. 400 million in the possession of the passengers who arrived from Chennai.
The Customs said they seized painted gold ornaments, gold powder and gold-plated clothes from the luggage of the passengers.
It added that an organised group of people are engaged in gold smuggling activities on a daily basis due to the lack of restrictions on carrying gold into the country.
Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) has taken a policy decision to procure 500 buses including 400 Nos. 50-54 High Back Seater New Buses and 100 Nos. 32-35 Seater New Buses for Sri Lanka Transport Board (SLTB).
The main objective of this project is to replace the over 15 year old bus fleet in order to maintain the present operation level of SLTB without depleting rural routes.
Accordingly, with the approval of the cabinet of Ministers, the GOSL has decided to utilize the funds available in an existing Indian Line of Credit for procurement buses which is a concessionary financing facility.
In light of this, the Government of India has agreed to allocate USD 15.03 million in this regard from the same Credit Line. At the moment, the pre qualification process has been undertaken prior to commencement of the tendering process.
Minister of Transport, Highways and Mass Media Bandula Gunawardena said 500 new buses will be put into operation for public transport this year.
The Minister made this disclosure while speaking at an event held at Battaramulla Japanese Friendship Path today to distribute 75 new buses received by the country under the Indian loan scheme to depots across the island.
Speaking at this year’s distribution program, Minister Gunawardena said 75 modern buses manufactured to suit the condition of roads in rural areas will join the transport system.
The buses worth about Rs. 10 million have been given to Sri Lanka under the Indian Loan Scheme with the support of the Government of India.
He said arrangements will be made to distribute another batch of buses received under the project to depots all over the island on the occasion of the 75th National Independence Day under the patronage of the President.
These buses have been allocated to depots representing all areas including Northern and Eastern provinces.
“We have planned to add 500 new buses for public transport in the year 2023,” the Minister said.
Representing the Government of India, Indian High Commissioner to Sri Lanka Gopal Baglay, Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva, State Minister of Transport Lasantha Alagiyawanna, State Minister of Highways Siripala Gamlath, State Ministers Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan, Shanta Bandara, Dilum Amunugama and a group of MPs and Ministry Secretaries attended this event. .
The total government expenditure on the transport sector decreased by 9.3 percent to Rs.12,320 million during the first four months of 2022 compared to the same period of 2021. Rs. 9,190 million and Rs. 3,130 million has been spent on recurrent and capital expenditure, respectively.
During the first four months of 2022, the total expenditure incurred by the Government on the bus transportation was Rs. 2,850 million which has been spent on welfare services such as operating SLTB buses on economically unprofitable routes, issuing school and higher education season tickets and bus passes to the Armed Forces.
She’s up an hour before her two sisters and two brothers so that she can scrape some bright red gloss off her fingernails.
Today is her first day back at school and she wants to be spotless.
But her siblings must stay at home – her family can only afford to send her.
Six months ago, Sri Lanka was in the eye of the storm for its worst economic crisis since independence.
While calm has largely returned to the island nation, the full impact of mass unemployment and dramatic price rises is now visible among many families.
Every parent’s nightmare
Malki’s mother Priyanthika has had to pause her children’s schooling so they can earn money by selling fireworks.
Food prices in Sri Lanka reached record levels when inflation hit an all-time high of almost 95%.
Some days, no-one in Malki’s family eats.
While school is free in Sri Lanka, meals are not provided. When you add in the cost of uniforms and transport, education is a luxury Priyanthika can no longer afford.
Image caption, Priyanthika had to pause schooling for all her children except Malki
She says she needs about 400 rupees per day ($1.09, 90p) for each child if they are to return to school.
Sitting in her one-bedroom home on the bed everyone shares, she wipes the tears from her face.
“All these kids used to go to school every day. I don’t have the money to send them now,” she says.
Malki can go to school because her shoes and uniform still fit.
But her younger sister Dulanjalee lies in bed crying, upset that today is not her turn.
“My darling, don’t cry,” says Priyanthika. “I’ll try and take you tomorrow.”
A shattered education
As the sun rises, children who are going to class hurry along dirt roads in white cotton uniforms, jumping on the back of motorcycles or piling into tuk-tuks.
Across town, Prakrama Weerasinghe sighs wearily.
He is the principal of Colombo’s Kotahena Central Secondary College and sees the economic distress every day.
Image caption, Parents are unable to send their children to school every day due to the economic crisis
“When the school day begins, when we have the morning assembly, children tend to faint from hunger,” he says.
The government says they have started distributing rice to schools but several schools contacted by the BBC say they have received no help.
Mr Weerasinghe says student attendance fell as low as 40% before he was forced to ask teachers to bring in extra food to keep students returning to class.
Joseph Stalin is General Secretary of the Ceylon Teachers Union.
He believes the government is wilfully unaware of the increasing numbers of families giving up on education because of the cost.
Image caption, Education is in short supply for hungry children
“Our teachers are the ones who see the empty lunch boxes,” he says. “The real victims of this economic crisis are the children.”
“[The government] are not looking for an answer to this issue. It’s been seen and identified by UNICEF and others, rather than the Sri Lankan government.”
UNICEF say it will get harder for people to feed themselves in the months ahead, with inflation in the cost of basic goods like rice continuing to cripple families.
It’s expected more children across the country will be forced to stop attending class.
The last hope?
With the government seemingly unable to manage the situation, charities have had to step in.
Samata Sarana is a Christian charity which has been helping Colombo’s poorest for three decades.
Today, its food hall is packed with hungry students from schools across the capital.
Image caption, Charities are trying to keep as many children at school as possible
While the charity can help around 200 children daily, it is clear it’s struggling to meet demand.
“They give us food, buses to go home, they give us everything so now we can study,” says five-year-old Manoj as he waits in line for lunch with a group of friends.
When Malki returns home from her first day back at school, she tells her mother how much she enjoyed seeing her friends again.
But she also tells her mother she needs a new workbook and says her teachers are asking for extra money to buy materials for a school project.
Money that the family does not have.
“If we manage to find today’s meal, we go on to worry about how to find something to eat tomorrow,” says Priyanthika.
Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Power and Energy said that a shipment of 60,000 MT of coal will reach the country on Friday (6).
The Ministry said that another five coal shipments are expected to reach Sri Lankan shores in January and payments for the fives shipments have already been made.
The generator at the Norochcholai Power Plant that was the shutdown for maintenance will be reactivated on Sunday (8), said the Ceylon Electricity Board.
One generator at the Norochcholai Coal Power Plant was shut down on the 22nd of December 2022 citing early maintenance and resulted in the loss of 300 MW to the national power grid.
In the midst of all this, a proposal is made to once again increase the electricity tariff.
According to the country’s Power & Energy Minister the objective of this tariff hike is to cover the cost of providing a continuous supply of electricity.
One of the scenarios presented by the CEB engineers will be used for this purpose, and according to the Minister the generation plan is as follows:
27% from hydro-power 28% from Coal 13% from Diesel and Furnace Oil 2% Wind Power 12% from Private Diesel or Furnace Oil Power Plants. 13% from Solar power plants 4% from rooftop solar panels
The CEB Employees’ Union allege that this is an attempt to reduce the low cost production using coal, and to increase the production that would cost more.
According to them, it only costs Rs. 47/- to generate one unit of electricity using coal.
However, if Diesel is used to generating one unit of electricity, the cost would be north of Rs. 100/-.
The cost to generate one unit of electricity using furnace oil is Rs. 65/-.
Therefore, an additional cost will have to be borne after electricity generation using coal is reduced, and the missing capacity is sourced using fuel and from privately-owned power plants.
One generator at the Norochcholai Coal Power Plant was shut down citing early maintenance, however, the decision came due to the delay in procuring coal.
The electricity capacity that was lost by shutting down the generator is now being sourced from the West Coast Power Plant in Kerawalapitiya which uses Furnace Oil to generate electricity.
If this generator is shut down until the date that a coal shipment is due to arrive in Sri Lanka, the additional cost to provide electricity is a whopping Rs. 3.2 Billion.
The Chairman of the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka Janaka Ratnayake on Thursday (5) said that the PUCSL it is not considering any tariff hike at the moment.
He suggested the Government to look into actual financial data of the Ceylon Electricity Board to improve the cash-flow management.
He also slammed the presentation made to the Cabinet on the proposed electricity tariff hike noting that the presentation was made by new general manager of the Ceylon Electricity Board, an engineer and the Secretary to the Ministry of Power and Energy, completely disregarding the proper procedure.
He said if the cabinet goes ahead with the proposed tariff hike, the PUCSL will use its power to VETO such a decision.
The President instructs the IGP to immediately start investigations regarding the construction of the fake Dalada Maligawa
President Ranil Wickremesinghe has instructed the Inspector General of Police C D Wickramaratne yesterday(05) to immediately start investigations regarding the request made by the Mahanayake Theros of Asgiri and Malwathu chapters and the Diyawadana Nilame of the Dalada Maligawa regarding a fake Dalada Maligawa is being constructed in Wadakada, Kurunegala
Accordingly, the Inspector General of Police said that investigations were commenced immediately under a Deputy Inspector General of Criminal Investigation Department, and two investigation teams under the supervision of an Assistant Superintendent of Police have already gone to the place and has commenced investigations.
According to the letter sent to the President it had mentioned that as stated in the constitution, the government is bound to protect and nurture Buddhism. It also stated that the government should investigate the facts immediately and prevent such acts from the beginning for the sake of the perpetuation and development of Buddhism.
It is reported that four members of the Election Commission met and discussed with President Ranil Wickramasinghe at the Presidential Secretariat yesterday (05) evening.
Political sources stated that the discussion has ended without agreement due to 4 members of the Election Commission.
The President has said that the members of the Election Commission should have four opinions regarding the election of the Commission’s work.
The President has stated here that the independence of the commission has been handed over to the commission.
The President has also said that there is no obstacle to run it independently. If necessary, Wickramasinghe has also informed the group to make inquiries in writing to the Attorney General. It is stated that the President has further said that the Attorney General’s Department will work to provide legal support for that.
The Attorney General has informed the Attorney General’s Department about the background conditions that should exist for conducting a free and peaceful election. Sources also said that if there is any legal problem related to the work of the Election Commission, the Attorney General should directly inform him.
State Minister of Finance Ranjith Siyambalapitiya says a Gazette has been issued to limit air-travellers from bringing gold jewellery above 22 karats.
Govt suspends imports of many products to conserve Forex reserves: among such items are shampoo, perfumes, certain make-up preparations, peas, carrots, turnips, cucumber, gherkins, certain types of mushrooms, strawberries, truffles, papadam, mineral water and men’s suits.
Central Bank says Official Reserve Assets increased to USD 1,896 mn by end-December 2022, compared to USD 1,806 mn by end-November 2022: analysts note that the Reserves are still below USD 1917 mn which was the Reserve on 31st March 2022.
Govt postpones Parliament debate on the controversial “Bureau of Rehabilitation Bill” until 19th Jan’23: Justice Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe says the Govt will not withdraw the Bill, but has merely postponed it’s introduction.
Forest density, which was 83% in 1882 has shrunk to 16% by now, and 395 elephants have been killed between 1st January and 5th December 2022 says the Centre for Environment and Nature Studies: claims that losing forest density can be considered the most severe environmental damage.
Unofficial Road Development Authority sources say the Chinese Contractor building the Kadawata-Meerigama section of the Central Expressway has stopped work and is claiming damages as the Exim Bank of China is now not disbursing any funds after the debt default announcement on 12th April 2022.
IGP instructs CID to investigate complaints against “YouTube” activists Janaka Senadhipathi and Sepala Amarasinghe over defaming Lord Buddha’s Sacred Tooth Relic and Buddhism: 2 teams of the CID deployed for the investigations.
President and Finance Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe appoints Ronald Perera, PC as the Chairman of Bank of Ceylon for the second time.
SLPP “Independent” MP Dr Nalaka Godahewa predicts the current Govt will not be able to secure even 20% of the vote at the upcoming local Govt elections: also says the Govt has failed to gain the confidence of the international community and organisations.
10.Sri Lanka beats India in the 2nd T20 Cricket International at Pune, India by 16 runs: level the 3 match series 1-1: SL – 206/6 (20) – (Dasun Shanaka 56*, Kusal Mendis 52, Charith Asalanka 37, Pathum Nissanka 33): IND – 190/8 (20) – (Dasun Shanaka 4/2, Kasun Rajitha 22/2).
