The celebration of the 92nd National Day of Saudi Arabia was organized yesterday (23) afternoon at the Colombo Shangri-La Hotel.

Prime Minister Dinesha Gunawardena, Speaker Mahinda Yapa, President’s Senior Advisor Sagala Ratnayake and many distinguished guests attended the event.

The special attention of this National Day event is that Bodu Bala Sena General Secretary Galagodaatte Gnanasara Thero has joined the event as a special guest. It is clear from the observation of social media that his presence, who has acted strongly on Muslim extremism and criticized Saudi organizations on several occasions, has caused many people to be surprised.

Its Chief Executive Officer Lecturer Dilantha Withanage, who had been away from the activities of the Bodu Bala Sena organization for several years, also participated in this National Day celebration along with Gnanasara Thero as a special guest.

The Bodu Bala Sena organization has come to the conclusion that with Saudi Crown Prince Salman adopting a moderate policy against Islamic extremism, the Saudi embassy departments are working with different attitudes.

Accordingly, several rounds of discussions were held recently between the Saudi ambassador officials and representatives of the Bodu Bala Sena organization led by Gnanasara Thera.

The report also states that Saudi diplomatic departments have asked Gnanasara Thero to take the lead in establishing Buddhist-Muslim friendship by studying Buddhist and Muslim problems internationally.

Sri Lanka is expecting a debt relief of 2.9 billion dollars from the International Monetary Fund to get rid of the dollar crisis and debt crisis it is facing. Several rounds of discussions were held over the course of several months.

Reuters reports that the Central Bank is expecting that the relevant loan amount will be approved before the end of this year.

Reuters reports that in a discussion held by the officials of the Central Bank with the investors yesterday, opinions have been expressed in this regard.

1. Supreme Court grants “leave to proceed” in the FR petition challenging former President Maithripala Sirisena’s presidential pardon to Royal Park murder convict Jude Jayamaha.
2. Cabinet cancels coal tender awarded on 25th August: selected supplier has not furnished the performance bond, citing concerns over on-going litigation and payment risk due to debt default: Lanka Coal decides to activate last year’s tender to make procurements.
3. President Ranil Wickremesinghe allows previously-banned weed-killer Glyphosate to be used for all crops in the next Maha season in a bid to boost agricultural production.
4. Minister Dr Bandula Gunawardana says Sri Lanka Railways will sell scrap steel rails to earn foreign exchange amid a currency crisis.
5. President Ranil Wickremesinghe issues gazette declaring High Security Zones around Parliament, Supreme Court, High Court, Magistrate’s Court, Attorney General’s Dept, Presidential Secretariat, President’s House, Defence HQs and official residencies, PM’s Office, and Temple Trees.
6. Central Bank officials inform investors that IMF approval of USD 2.9 bn loan is likely by year-end: however, inner sources say Ministry of Finance and CB actually believe the earliest date of disbursement, if all goes well, would be 2nd Quarter of 2023.
7. Chinese Embassy says medicine worth RMB12.5mn (Rs.650mn) donated by China to Sri Lanka is on the way: also offers food and other humanitarian assistance valued at USD 400,000: requests PM Dinesh Gunawardena to provide a list of the country’s immediate requirements.
8. Japanese Ambassador says Japan will support debt restructuring “negotiation process” so that Sri Lanka can reach the final agreement with IMF: also says it intends to play “constructive role” with other creditor countries including China and India.
9. State Minister of Tourism Diana Gamage proposes the growing of cannabis (ganja) and promoting it as an ayurvedic medicine: elaborates many new avenues to promote tourism.
10. Peradeniya University starts project to provide students with opportunities to work part-time: programme to provide for students from all 9 faculties to engage in work within the university itself.

President Ranil Wickremesinghe has issued an extraordinary gazette announcement, turning a significant area of ​​Colombo into a high security zone.

According to this gazette announcement, the Parliament Complex and its surrounding area, the Presidential Secretariat, the Presidential Residence, the Prime Minister’s Office, Temple Trees, the Supreme Court complex including the Supreme Court, the Colombo Magistrate’s Court Complex, the Attorney General’s Department, the Army Headquarters, the Air Force Headquarters, the Navy Headquarters, the Police The headquarters, the offices of the Defense Secretary and the three armed forces commanders and their surrounding areas have been declared as high security zones.

The Secretary of Defense has been designated as the competent authority for the implementation of these orders and without the permission of the Senior Deputy Inspector General of Police for the Western Province, no procession or public meeting of any kind can be held in the high security zones.

The lighting of firecrackers or other fireworks for any reason is strictly prohibited.

State Owned Enterprise Litro Gas Lanka has taken every possible step to restore supplies, and even reduced prices by containing costs and it has sufficient stocks to meet the demand till the end of this year, chairman of the company Muditha Peiris said.

He assured the public that the company will be continuing uninterrupted supply to the market following proper procurement procedure even with the difficulty in securing foreign exchange.

The latest term tender floated by Litro gas to procure 280000 MTs of LP Gas on July 25 in which the bids were closed on August 15 is still under technical evaluation by the by the Finance Ministry nominated Standard Cabinet Approved Procurement Committee (SCAPC) , he added

The decision of the committee will be made known to the company by Wednesday next week Mr. Peiris said adding that the tender procedure is being carried out properly and transparently.

14 companies picked up the bid documents, only OQ Trading of Oman and SIAM GAS of Singapore had submitted bids August 15 2022, he confirmed.

Although it has been 1 month since the technical bids were opened, Litro Gas is yet to open the Commercial Bids as evaluation of the 2 technical bids submitted has not yet been finalized by the Finance Ministry nominated SCAPC.

Generally the time frame required and to process a fresh tender and finalise the approval is around 3 months.

The present order of 100,000 MT supplied by OQ Trading is to be completed by November 2022 and Litro will have sufficient LPG supplies to meet the local demand till the end of the year, he disclosed.

He denied allegations of an attempt to call spot tenders to overcome the shortfall of LPG by delaying the ongoing tender process which would give an undue advantage to one supplier who is already in the delivery chain since it is logistically impossible for a new supplier to make quick deliveries that might be required in short notice.

A sum of US$27.5 million to $ 30 million is needed monthly to import LPG amidst the unwillingness of banking sector to open Standby Letter of Credit ( SBLC) and suppliers are reluctant to offer credit, a senior finance ministry official said.

Presently, the LPG is being imported mainly through 100 percent advance payments, he added

The General Secretary of Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna(SLPP), Member of Parliament Sagara Kariyawasam says that there is no agreement to give the chairmanship of the COPE and COPA Committee of the Parliament to the opposition.

Kariyawasam said,”We have two parliamentary committees. One is the Committee on Public Enterprises called COPE. And the Committee on Public Accounts called COPA. All the rules and regulations for running these two committees have been prepared through standing orders. But a member of the opposition has stated today that it was agreed to give the chairmanship of these committees to the opposition party, but it was not given.

He continued, “this kind of talk raises the question of whether there is a deliberate conspiracy to destroy the credibility of this honorable assembly and the people’s confidence in the democracy of this country. Because there is no mention of the appointment of chairmen  from the opposition to the COP and COPA committees anywhere in these standing orders”.

Imtiaz Bakeer Markar (SJB) said ,” Bernard Soysa was an opposition member and chairman of the Accounts Committee for twenty years, and Handunnetti was there. The ruling party showed its genuineness by giving the presidency to the opposition”

Kariyawasam further continued,”We know Wijedasa Rajapaksa of the COP committee as a member of the ruling party as long as I can remember. Then there was Mr. Dew Gunasekara, a member of the ruling party. After that, during the Sirisena cabinet period, Sunil Handunnetti was appointed. But JVP was a participant in that first Sirisena cabinet, with the United National Party.”

” A ruling party member was appointed as the chairman of the COPE committee during the last government. In the history that we know, the position of chairman of the COP committee was given to a member of the ruling party and not to a member of the opposition.”

Sagara Kariyawasam said this while addressing the Parliament yesterday (22).

Lanka News Web previously reported in two news reports about the complaint filed by the former Superintendent of Police Sugath Mendis before the Supreme Court that the Sri Lanka Police has contempt the court by ignoring the interim order issued by the Supreme Court to reinstate him in the police service.

In relation to this, the Attorney General’s Department had filed a motion before the Supreme Court yesterday (22) and when the case was called today (23), Sudarshi Herath, the lawyer representing the Attorney General’s Department, stated before the bench that the concerned officer should be reinstated immediately and all his arrears should be paid and that there is no need to proceed with this petition as the police have agreed to it.

At that time, lawyer Viran Koraya, who represented the petitioner Sugath Mendis, stated before the court that his client did not agree to it at all. He has explained that they have filed this petition seeking an inquiry into the contempt of court by the Sri Lanka Police by not implementing the Supreme Court’s earlier order to reinstate him. Accordingly, the lawyer stated before the court that his client is asking the Supreme Court to conduct the investigation.

Sudarshi Herath, who appeared for the Attorney General’s Department, told the court again that there was no need to take this further and that the police had agreed to pay the arrears of the concerned officer and reinstate him.

Responding to that, the Supreme Court bench pointed out that the reinstatement of the officer in question has been decided by the court.

Lawyer Viran Koraya, who appeared for the former Superintendent of Police Sugath Mendis, had pointed out that his client had come to the Supreme Court as the last resort to seek justice for the injustice that had happened to him and it is an extremely serious matter that the police did not fulfill the order issued by the Supreme Court to reinstate him. He pointed out that the police have acted in disregard of even the Supreme Court and said that this situation is a shame for them as lawyers. Accordingly, he requested that an investigation be conducted against the police for contempt of the court.

Accordingly, the Supreme Court considered the facts of both sides and ordered the Inspector General of Police CD Wickramaratne, the then Senior DIG of Sabaragamuwa Province Ranmal Kodithuvukku, DIG Nagahamulla, the Officer in Charge of Ratnapura Division and the Director of Police Legal Division to appear before the Supreme Court personally on November 15.