Colombo (LNW): The Cabinet of Ministers has granted its approval to the proposal on revising water and sewerage charges, in the backdrop where the financial viability and sustainability of the National Water Supply and Drainage Board (NWSDB) are at a crisis.
Taking into account the proposal put forward by the Minister of Water Supply and Estate Infrastructure Development, the Cabinet has approved the revision of charges that will be minimising the impact of low-income groups and the social security base provided in connection with educational, religious and public water supplies.
Colombo (LNW): Wheat flour importers have decided to slash the price of wheat flour with effect from today (18).
Accordingly, Sri Lanka’s primary wheat flour importers, Prima Ceylon (Pvt) Ltd. and Serendib Flour Mills (Pvt) Ltd. have announced that the price of wheat flour will be slashed by Rs. 10 per kilogram.
Official Visit of President of Sri Lanka to India (July 21, 2023) : Statement from India
At the invitation of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, the President of Sri Lanka, H.E. Mr. Ranil Wickremesinghe, will visit India on an Official Visit on 21 July 2023. This will be President Wickremesinghe’s first visit to India since assuming the current responsibilities.
During his visit, President Wickremesinghe will meet President Smt. Droupadi Murmu and hold discussions with Prime Minister and other Indian dignitaries on a range of issues of mutual interest.
Sri Lanka is an important partner in India’s Neighbourhood First Policy and Vision SAGAR. The visit will reinforce the longstanding friendship between the two countries and explore avenues for enhanced connectivity and mutually beneficial cooperation across sectors.
Colombo (LNW): The Sri Lankan Rupee indicates further depreciation against the US Dollar in comparison to yesterday (17) as revealed by the official exchange rates list issued by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) today (18).
Accordingly, the buying price of the US Dollar has increased to Rs. 314.95 from Rs. 313.29, and the selling price to Rs. 328.65 from Rs. 327.16.
The Sri Lankan Rupee also indicates depreciation against several foreign currencies, including Gulf currencies.
Colombo (LNW): Government employees of the Eastern Province have taken a stand against Minister of Environment Naseer Ahamed who was accused of publicly threatening several government officials, including the Education Secretary of the Province.
Ahamed was seen threatening the said officials by babbling that “he can sack anyone as he pleases overnight,” in what public servants described as a direct blow in the head against the honour of the public service.
The Minister’s comments will only provoke anger among all public servants in the country, and one of such authority cannot act as if Sri Lanka’s public service is his personal property, one official on the condition of anonymity told LNW.
Ahamed who was elected to Parliament as a member of the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) the main Opposition being submissive to his craving for a ministerial post in the government simply betrayed the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) and its allied parties, he reminded, stressing that government employees are not ready to serve in such double standards.
The Environment Minister is at the centre of criticism from government officials to even MPs over his threatening comments in Kattankudy. Ahamed was seen threatening the officials by babbling, “I can sack anyone as I please overnight because this is my area, I will not let anyone walk freely on the road.“
Ahamed’s comments appear in a provocative manner instigating racial disharmony between Sinhala and Muslim people, and the petty political agenda the Minister has resorted to has already met with severe condemnation by the public servants and MPs alike.
A renowned trade union told LNW that they are appealing to President Wickremesinghe over Ahamed’s conduct, and a massive strike action will be launched with the support of public officials, should he fail to take an immediate action.
Colombo (LNW): The Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) of Sri Lanka remains the single largest holder of government treasury bonds, a survey by Verité Research disclosed.
One of the key components of the government’s domestic debt optimisation plan is the restructuring of bond holdings associated with superannuation funds, which are funds set up for retirement benefits.
The EPF is considered as the country’s largest superannuation fund and is a predominant holder of treasury bonds at the end of 2022.
According to the Verité Research survey, the EPF remains the single largest holder of government treasury bonds, which is at 36 per cent out of the 43 per cent of superannuation funds referred to treasury bonds.
Other bond holders include insurance (04 per cent), licenced specialised banks (09 per cent), licenced commercial banks (36 per cent), other superannuation funds (06 per cent), and other (09 per cent).
Colombo (LNW): The Sri Lankan Rupee today (18) indicates further depreciation against the US Dollar as revealed by leading commercial banks in Sri Lanka, in comparison to yesterday.
At Peoples Bank, the buying price of the US Dollar has increased to Rs. 314.34 from Rs. 312.24, and the selling price to Rs. 329.80 from Rs. 327.76.
At Commercial Bank, the buying price of the US Dollar has increased to Rs. 315.99 from Rs. 311.01, and the selling price to Rs. 327.50 from Rs. 322.50.
At Sampath Bank, the buying price of the US Dollar has increased to Rs. 315 from Rs. 312, and the selling price to Rs. 328 from Rs. 327.
Colombo (LNW): The Secretary to the President has issued an extraordinary gazette declaring a number of services as essential.
Accordingly,
All services connected to the supply of electricity,
All services connected to the the supply or distribution of petroleum products and fuel, and
All services necessary or required to be done in connection with the maintenance, and the reception, care feeding, and treatment, of patients in hospitals, nursing homes, dispensaries and other similar institutions will be considered essential.
Colombo (LNW): The Sri Lanka State Trading (General) Corporation has requested for permission from the Food Advisory Committee to release the egg stocks imported from India to the local market, Corporation Chief Asiri Valisundara said.
Following discussions with the Department of Animal Production and Health, eggs will be released to the supermarkets in Sri Lanka, he added.
However, the eggs imported from India are yet to be released to the market, Valisundara noted.
Ahead of his first official visit to India this week, Sri Lanka‘s President Ranil Wickremesinghe will hold talks with the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) on Tuesday in Parliament in a bid to settle the long-standing Tamil minority demand for political autonomy, sources said here on Monday. TNA is an alliance of parties that represent Tamils from the North and East regions. The TNA-Wickremesinghe parley is to take place on Tuesday afternoon in Parliament, sources said.
Wickremesinghe leaves for New Delhi on July 20 and on July 21, the President will meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi, officials in the foreign office here said.
Since December, Wickremesinghe had opened dialogue with the TNA in a bid to settle the long-standing Tamil minority demand for political autonomy.
Wickremesinghe mooted the idea for full implementation of the India-backed 13th Amendment which came to be opposed by the powerful Buddhist clergy in a case of history repeating itself.
The 13A provides for the devolution of power to the Tamil community in Sri Lanka. India has been pressing Sri Lanka to implement the 13A which was brought in after the Indo-Sri Lankan agreement of 1987.
The Tamil side insisted on resolving the immediate issues of concern such as the release of private lands held for military purposes, the release of Tamil political prisoners and conflict reparations.
Although some of the lands came to be released and a few prisoners were also released but the Tamil side remain largely dissatisfied.
A few former militant Tamil parties who are not part of the TNA have also written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi urging him to pressure Wickremesinghe into full implementation of the 13th Amendment.
The group includes the Democratic Fighters Party of rehabilitated ex-member of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) who ran a three-decades-old separatist war to carve out a separate Tamil state.
They demand that land and police powers retained by the central government be granted to the northern provincial council including holding of the election postponed since 2018.
Meanwhile, the state minister of fisheries Piyal Nishantha said the thorny issue of illegal fishing in the Sri Lankan waters by Indian fishermen would be discussed during the visit to New Delhi.
Sri Lanka has had a long history of failed negotiations with the Tamils.
An Indian effort in 1987, which created the system of a joint provincial council for the Tamil-dominated North and East, faltered as the minority community claimed it fell short of full autonomy.
The LTTE ran a military campaign for a separate Tamil homeland in the northern and eastern provinces of the island nation for nearly 30 years before its collapse in 2009 after the Sri Lankan Army killed its supreme leader Velupillai Prabhakaran.
According to Sri Lankan government figures, over 20,000 people are missing due to various conflicts including the three-decade brutal war with Lankan Tamils in the north and east which claimed at least 100,000 lives.
International rights groups claim at least 40,000 ethnic Tamil civilians were killed in the final stages of the war, but the Sri Lankan government has disputed the figures.
