Bus owners’ associations have proposed to surge bus fares following the record breaking price hike on fuel. The matter has been discussed between the trade unions responding to the bus industry, bus owners’ associations and Transport Minister Dilum Amunugama.
Speaking to media, the Transport Minister stated that a bus fare hike will be mandatory in the event that there was no other option but to revise the fares over to the inability to fulfill the stakeholders’ request of being provided a fuel subsidy.
Accordingly, the revised bus fares are to be announced tomorrow (14) night and a final decision will be taken in this regard at the Cabinet, Amunugama revealed.
The bus associations’ request of soaring the fares by over 60 per cent will not be possible, the Minister went on, adding that the minimum bus fare may surge by Rs. 1 – 2, in the adaptation of a revision that neither collapses the bus industry nor troubles the public.
However, the bus owners’ association is of the view that the bus fares should be increased at a higher amount given that the bus industry has already collapsed. Surging the minimum fare by Rs. 2 – 3 will not be sufficient at all, Union President Gemunu Wijeratne noted.
The bus associations have been of the opinion from the beginning that the minimum bus fare should be soared up to at least Rs. 30.
A reasonable fare hike will be obtained in accordance with the National Policy on Bus Fares, Wijeratne added.
LAHORE: An anti-terrorism court has indicted 89 people accused of being involved in the brutal lynching of Sri Lankan citizen Priyantha Kumara in Sialkot.
Gujranwala’s Special Anti-Terrorism Court Judge Natasha Naseem heard the murder case of Kumara at the Kot Lakhpat Jail, Lahore.
The prosecution filed separate challans against the adults and the juveniles accused in the case. In the first challan, 80 individuals accused in the case were nominated, while in the second challan, the names of nine minors were included.
In the challan, the prosecution included the account of 40 witnesses, videos of the incident, digital evidence, DNA evidence, and forensic evidence.
The court has summoned 14 prosecution witnesses on March 14 for a hearing.
The lynching
Diyawadana Priyantha, working as a manager at a private factory in Sialkot, was lynched on December 3, 2021, by a mob after being accused of blasphemy.
The gruesome incident was dubbed by Prime Minister Imran Khan as “a day of shame for Pakistan”.
Workers of a garment industry, located on Sialkot’s Wazirabad Road, had alleged that the foreigner had committed blasphemy. He was subsequently lynched and his body set on fire.
The mob had also vandalised the factory and blocked traffic, according to the police.
The brutal murder had drawn widespread condemnation from senior government functionaries, including the prime minister and president, as well as the military’s top leadership, who had promised to bring all those involved to the book.
Heavy showers or thundershowers are expected to occur in several places in Sabaragamuwa, Western, Southern and Central provinces after 2 pm today (13), the Department of Meteorology warned.
Fairly heavy showers of about 75 mm can be expected at some places in these areas, it added.
Menawhile, temporary localised strong winds can be expected during thundershowers.
The public is urged to take adequate precautions to minimise damages occurred by lightning activity, the Department added.
The British government has set travel advisory on Sri Lanka due to a number of challenges befallen the island nation, including the ongoing economic crisis.
In a report updated on March 07 and effective to date (13) the UK government stated that the economic situation is ‘deteriorating’ in Sri Lanka with shortages of basic necessities, including medicines, fuel and food because of hard currency to pay for imports.
There may be long queues at grocery stores, gas stations, and pharmacies and local authorities may impose the rationing of electricity, resulting in power outages, the report added.
“Terrorists are likely to try to carry out attacks in Sri Lanka, the report went on, “Attacks could be indiscriminate, including in places visited by foreigners. More than 250 people including tourists were killed in April 2019 in terrorist attacks that targeted churches and hotels.”
The resolution tabled by the Labour Minister to increase the incentive of Rs. 10 per US Dollar remitted to Sri Lanka by migrant workers to Rs. 38 was approved by the Cabinet. The approval was briefed by the Mass Media Minister during the press conference held in announcing Cabinet Decisions on March 08.
The foreign employment rector annually remits about US$ 07 – 08 into the country. However, the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) indicating a contradiction with the Cabinet approval has announced its maintenance of the sell price of the Dollar in not more than Rs. 230 following the Sri Lankan Rupee being allowed to float.
As the matter was questioned during the briefing held in announcing the Cabinet decisions, Cabinet Spokesman and Mass Media Minister Dullas Alahapperuma responded, “The Governor of the Central Bank will be holding a special discussion in this regard tomorrow and making an explanation. When the decision was taken by the Cabinet yesterday, the Central Bank did not reach into this approach. There was a fixed value Rs. 210 for the Dollar. But this was done in the confidence that an additional amount of Rs. 10 can be paid. However, remittances entitled to the country had dropped in massive amounts and money was being flown into the country via illegal channels. It is in this backdrop did we table this resolution to the Cabinet. The Central Bank made the decision thereafter. A technical explanation would be made in this regard by the Central Bank Governor tomorrow.”
The social media youth group #LIKE RANIL backing former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has launched a brand new political campaign for the United National Party (UNP), following weeks of speculation about the once political giant’s coalition with the current regime for a national government led by Wickremesinghe as the Prime Minister.
At a grand launching event, Maha Sri Lanka Yakada Ramuwa – Samajika Prawardhana Meheyuma (Great Sri Lanka Iron Frame – Member Promotion Operation) was opened in Colombo two days ago (11), at the participation of UNP Leaders and electoral organisers.
The event expects to campaign for the UNP in grassroots, distributing leaflets about their political vision on how to overcome challenges amid the ongoing crises in the country.
The Consulate General of Sri Lanka in Melbourne in collaboration with the Committee for Sri Lanka (CFSL), the South Asian Australia Alliance and the Australia Sri Lanka Business Council organised a photo shoot of Sri Lankan Batiks coinciding with International Women’s Day on 8 March 2022.
The objective of this first of its kind event was to promote Sri Lankan Batiks among Australians through second generation Sri Lankans and South Asians born in Australia, with a view to reach out to the younger Australians who are keen on new fashion trends.
This photo-shoot featured winners of Miss and Mrs South Asia Australia and Miss and Mrs Sri Lanka Australia pageants 2019 and 2020, who wore Sri Lankan Batik sarees.
Fabulous modern Sri Lankan Batik outfits created by the young entrepreneur “Mrs. South Asia Australia Runner-Up 2020” Thara Dias were also featured in the photo shoot.
The designer later met Consul General Kapila Fonseka to discuss the promotion of Sri Lankan Batiks in the Australian market. The photographs were widely circulated in social media by the Consulate General, organisers as well as the models who have a large following in the media.
They were also circulated through the Sri Lankan and South Asian community media in Australia.
Melbourne being a multicultural city is one of the best places to showcase Sri Lanka’s cultural identity and its unique products such as Sri Lankan Batiks. Home to a large Sri Lankan and South Asian communities, Melbourne has the potential to become an important market for Sri Lankan Batiks
According to internal government sources, Minister Basil Rajapaksa is considering giving the post of State Minister to Geetha Kumarasinghe and Diana Gamage.
Diana Gamage, who came to Parliament from Sajith Premadasa’s Samagi Jana Balawega National List, was brought in by Basil Rajapaksa to join the ruling party to get the 20th Amendment passed by a two-thirds majority, promising to give her a cabinet ministerial post.
The Deshaya national newspaper has reported that there are currently three vacancies in state ministries. Accordingly, the posts of state ministers held by Lohan Ratwatte, Susil Premajayantha and Dilum Amunugama have been vacated.
Minister of State Lohan Ratwatte resigned on the instructions of the Government due to the crisis in the duties of his Ministry. Susil Premajayantha was removed from his post due to political criticism made by the Minister of State. Minister of State Dilum Amunugama has been promoted to a Cabinet Ministerial post, leaving the post vacant.
It is reported that the post of Minister of State for Prisons held by Lohan Ratwatte will be handed over to the Minister of Justice Ali Sabri. However, the post of Minister of State for Susil Premajayantha and the post of Minister of State for Dilum Amunugama remain vacant.
In the late 1990s, Shane Warne wasn’t very well loved in the cricket-obsessed island nation of Sri Lanka. He may have been respected for his incredible talent, but local cricketers accused him of being overly competitive on the pitch.
He also lost fans because of comments he made about Sri Lankan players. At one point, he said he “didn’t like” the country’s captain at the time, Arjuna Ranatunga.
That collective feeling of animosity towards Shane Warne shifted for Sri Lankans thanks to an act of goodwill that helped some of the country’s most disadvantaged kids after the Boxing Day tsunami in 2004.
More than 200,000 people around the world died when an earthquake triggered a massive tsunami in the Indian Ocean.
The Boxing Day tsunami left 500,000 Sri Lankans homeless.(Reuters)
Sri Lanka’s death toll of about 30,000 was second only to Indonesia.
Dilini Wasana was a little girl when the disaster struck.
“I was three or four when the tsunami hit,” Dilini said.
“We went to my uncle’s shop, and when the waves started, I ran with my aunt.
“Somehow my dad found me two days after the tsunami … about three weeks later we came back to my village, we had nowhere to live and then I remember Shane Warne came here.”
‘That humble man who spent time with us’
Shane Warne’s Sri Lankan rival drew him to the country to help with the aid effort in 2005.
Muttiah Muralitharan, known as Murali, is the only bowler who has beaten Shane Warne’s Test wicket record of 708.
They had a rivalry on the field, constantly one-upping each other.
While their tension on the pitch was palpable, Warne immediately called him after hearing about the devastation in his home country.
Half a million people, including Dilini, had lost their homes because of the disaster.https://www.youtube.com/embed/mzNDa1L5PiA?feature=oembedYOUTUBE60 Minutes travels with Shane Warne to offer tsunami relief to Sri Lanka
“I just wanted to help, I said to Murali, ‘what can I actually do?'” Shane Warne told 60 Minutes at the time.
“He said, ‘you just being here will actually help.'”
Murali was right.
Shane Warne walked around the disaster zone with his iconic blonde goatee and he was recognised by locals in some of the most remote parts of Sri Lanka.
When he entered the small coastal village of Peraliya, he was clapped in by kids who had just lost their homes and family in the tsunami.
Warne gave them cricket balls and lollies and trained others in bowling.
Dilini was a little girl who had just lost her home and much of her community when she met Shane Warne. (ABC News)
“I remember he gave me a ball, he gave us something to eat and then he asked me for a kiss on the cheek,” Dilini said.
“That humble man who spent time with us … he gave us something we could treasure when we had nothing.”
Almost 20 years after the tsunami, those kids are now adults who remember playing cricket with the icon of the game.
“We were playing cricket on the day Shane Warne came,” said Ravindra Kumara.
“I was just nine at the time. Shane Warne threw the ball at me and I caught it.”
The 2000s were a tough time for Warne
Just before the Boxing Day tsunami, Warne had been facing a series of scandals.
He was briefly banned from cricket for testing positive for a prohibited substance.
He was also charged with bringing the sport into disrepute for allegedly accepting money from bookmakers.
He was grilled over whether the trip to Sri Lanka was a publicity stunt to clear his name.
When Shane Warne visited some of the Sri Lankan villages hit hardest by the 2004 tsunami, he was greeted by crowds of schoolchildren eager to meet him. (AFP)
“I wanted to come here because I could help, if people read too much into it then they can, it’s no skin off my nose,” he said in response.
The kids he met in the village that day weren’t reading the news stories about Warne.
“Now we know who Shane Warne is but I didn’t know who he was in those days,” Dilini said.
“It’s very sad that he died, but it is very special that he came and visited us.”
Australians saw footage of the tsunami-ravaged communities in Sri Lanka tsunami on their televisions.
But Kushil Gunasekera, from the Foundation for Goodness, which organised Warne’s visit, said it was the cricketer’s influence in both South Asia and Australia that led to groups committing to more funding for victims of the natural disaster.
“He was able to create the waves of compassion that flowed across Australia,” he said.
“After that, so many other institutions like Lonely Planet, Master Builders came on board.
“All of these connections and that networking wouldn’t have been possible unless he visited at the time, six weeks after the tsunami.
“So he was really keen to push his case in rebuilding lives, which is the tribute we can pay for him because we kept continuing with that.”
‘The entire concept of Shane Warne was changed’
That rare global cricketing influence was also used to heal political rifts on the subcontinent.
In 2010, Australia and India’s relationship was struggling after a series of violent attacks on students from the South Asian nation in Victoria.
Warne met with Indian community members at the request of the Victorian government, which knew the cricketer was well-loved in the subcontinent.
It’s been just over a week since the shocking news that Shane Warne died of a heart attack in Thailand.
In the aftermath of the tsunami, Sri Lankan cricket bosses named a street after Warne in a new village erected to house those who’d lost their homes.(Reuters: Anuruddha Lokuhapuarachchi)
Warne is being remembered for many things: As the king of spin, a supporter of young cricketers and a sometimes controversial figure.
His help in Sri Lanka sums up the cricketing legend’s complex personality, according to former Sri Lankan cricket captain Arjuna Ranatunga.
He was unashamedly himself, but at his core, a kind and generous person.
“Honestly, he wasn’t the most popular guy in Sri Lanka but after the tsunami and his work here, the entire concept of Shane Warne was changed,” Arjuna Ranatunga said.
“Sri Lankans got to know who [the] proper Shane Warne was.
“He wasn’t the person competing in the middle. He had a lovely heart, a big heart for people here.”
The Department of Examinations of Sri Lanka states that the final steps regarding the publication of the results of the Year 2021 Scholarship Examination are currently underway. Commissioner General of Examinations L.M.D. Dharmasena has told the media that the results will be released between midnight today and tomorrow at 6 am.
340,507 candidates had qualified for the 2021 Scholarship Examination and the examination was held at 2943 examination centers. It also included several specialized examination centers for children with Covid infection.
