Former Director General of Health Services Dr. Athula Kahandaliyana’s demise was confirmed last (22) night.
Dr. Kahandaliyana, who was receiving treatment at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the Sri Jayawardenapura Hospital, was 74 at the time of his death.
He also served as a former Secretary to the Health Ministry.
MIAP
The government has decided to encourage farmers to grow Mung Bean over any difficulty to grow Paddy in their fields, based on information received to President Rajapaksa during his visit to the Agrarian Development Department.
In addition, these farmers will also be encouraged to grow Mung Bean in between the two Seasons as an inter-crop.
The government has also decided to provide subsidies for Mung Bean cultivation. Accordingly, the President has instructed the Agriculture officers to provide financial assistance to farmers to purchase seeds required for Mung Bean cultivation during periods in which Paddy cannot be cultivated in the Yala Season and as an additional crop during the Inter-Season.
MIAP
The Central Bank says that food inflation in the country has risen to 21.5% by the end of December. That figure was 16.9 last November. Accordingly, food inflation rose to 4.6% in the last month of the year.
Food inflation is likely to cross 25% by the end of January on the back of rising food prices.
Lebanon has the highest food inflation in the Asian region. Iran and Syria are in second and third place respectively, while Sri Lanka is in fourth place. Countries such as Afghanistan and Myanmar, which face a number of political and economic crises, have very low inflation.
Sri Lanka ranks 12th in the world in terms of high food inflation.
The statement issued by the Central Bank in this regard is as follows.
Headline inflation, as measured by the year-on-year (Y-o-Y) change in the National Consumer Price Index (NCPI, 2013=100)1, increased to 14.0 per cent in December 2021 from 11.1 per cent in November 2021. Meanwhile, on an annual average basis, the NCPI increased to 7.0 per cent in December 2021 from 6.2 per cent in November 2021.
Inflation was driven by monthly increases of prices of items in both Food and Non-food categories. Subsequently, Food inflation (Y-o-Y) increased to 21.5 per cent in December 2021 from 16.9 per cent in November 2021, while Non-Food inflation (Y-o-Y) also increased to 7.6 per cent in December 2021 from 6.2 per cent in November 2021.
Monthly change of NCPI recorded at 3.68 per cent in December 2021 due to increases observed in prices of items in both Food and Non-food categories which were 3.00 per cent and 0.68 per cent, respectively. Accordingly, within the Food category, prominent increases were observed in prices of vegetables, rice, and green chillies. Further, prices of items in the Non-Food category recorded increases mainly due to price increases observed in the Restaurants and Hotels, and Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco (Arrack, Betel leaves) sub-categories during the month.
The core inflation (Y-o-Y), which reflects the underlying inflation in the economy increased to 10.8 per cent in December 2021 from 8.8 per cent in November 2021, while annual average core inflation increased to 5.5 per cent in December 2021 from 5.0 per cent in November 2021.
Friday, January 21, 2022
New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern on Sunday revealed she has canceled her wedding as the country continues to curb a new wave of Omicron cases.Speaking at a regular Covid-19 news conference, Ardern said health authorities have reported nine Omicron cases in Motueka in a single-family household. The family traveled to Auckland to attend a wedding, a funeral, an amusement park, and a tourist attraction last weekend, prompting the country to move to the highest “red light” setting.Ardern told reporters, “My wedding won’t be going ahead but I just join many other New Zealanders who have had an experience like that as a result of the pandemic.”
When asked how she felt about her decision to cancel the wedding that was due to be held this summer, Ardern replied, “Such is life.
Last month, New Zealand said it was pushing back its phased border reopening until the end of February over concerns about the Omicron variant.
Chris Hipkins, the nation’s minister for Covid-19 response, said, “Waiting till the end of February will increase New Zealand’s overall protection and slow Omicron’s eventual spread. There’s no doubt this is disappointing and will upset many holiday plans, but it’s important to set these changes out clearly today so they can have time to consider those plans.”
Udaya Gammanpila, Minister of Energy says that it will take another two weeks to supply fuel to the Ceylon Electricity Board if the Sapugaskanda oil refinery is not able to resume operations on January 27.
He says that although orders have already been placed to import the required stocks of fuel oil as requested by the CEB, the stocks are due to arrive in the country on February 09.
Minister Udaya Gammanpila has stated this giving a statement to the Neth FM radio channel.
Colombo lotus tower will be managed by a state owned company with its facilities to be offered to the private sector for the use of local TV channel digitalization, a senior minister disclosed.
The Telecommunications Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka (TRCSL) will sign a management agreement with and hand over the running of the Colombo Lotus Tower to a fully Treasury-owned company with an independent Board of Directors.
The Board will have nominees of TRCSL which is the owner of the asset. As the sector regulator, the TRCSL is not mandated to carry out commercial operations as it would be a conflict of interest. The proposal to set up the Colombo Lotus Tower Company was recently approved by the Cabinet.
All TV channels based in the western province will be digitalised by using Lotus Tower as the centralised point by December 31 2023, Media Minister Dallas Allahaperuma said.
Minister Alahaperuma said the digitalisation will be done by using Lotus Tower and 16 other towers.
We were to go for digitalisation of TV channels in December 2021 but could not even begin the process. However we have now embarked on it with Japanese assistance,” the Minister added.
“All viewers will be able get quality pictures through their TV sets at an affordable amount when digitalisation is fully implemented,” he said
The agreement for the project was signed around nine years ago by China National Electronics Importers and Exporters Corporation (CEIEC) and Aerospace Long March International Trade Co. Ltd (ALIT) with the TRCSL.
The CEIEC has for months being doing defect rectification and finishing touches which have been quite extensive.
It must complete substantial paperwork and certifications–under a team from Moratuwa University that handled design review and project management–before handing the completed project over to the TRCSL. The Central Engineering Consultancy Bureau will also carry out a vetting.
The Chinese company also ran into some trouble in November last year when the US Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned and placed it on the Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) List for providing goods and services to the administration of Nicholas Maduro in Venezuela.
This means that, on the Sri Lanka Attorney-General’s advice, the TRCSL has suspended the payment of a remaining US$ 15mn to the contractor (who has consented to this).
It will thereafter be the task of the new company to commercialise the asset. However, a volunteer team of experts set up by the regulator has already drawn up a comprehensive multi-pronged strategy which will be shared for consideration. A raft of tenders is likely to be called in the process of monetizing the project.
The Lotus Tower and the decision to build it attracted widespread public and political criticism. Questions were repeatedly raised about the delay in putting it to use.
Initially, this was the result of the construction developer requesting an extension. But, midway, the project also lost a sense of direction. Consequently, even by 2019, there was no commercialisation plan despite the construction drawing to an end.
Despite not being ready for use, the tower was “inaugurated” in September. It was, however, an empty structure that needed much more work before it could be formally taken over.
The project is a complex operation with an integrated building management system but it had been necessary to check that it was properly commissioned and functioning, from air conditioners and chillers to security and generators.
The lifts, too, needed verification and attention as they had not been maintained for months. The TRCSL has been cleared to have them checked again by a third party. The lifts are so fast that they travel seven metres per second (the structure is 350m tall).
Last year, a full fire drill was also implemented involving around 200 people including the military and medical staff. It was found then that the fire pumps had not started up automatically as they should.
Another delay was over the allocation of the Lotus Tower land which was not finalised till the Cabinet approved it two weeks ago.
Four acres belonged to the Urban Development Authority while three acres was the Sri Lanka Port Authority’s. The entire seven acres have now been vested with the TRCSL after much discussion.
The Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) says that there will be power cuts from Tuesday (25) due to the lack of fuel for generating electricity.
There is a problem in meeting our maximum demand on Monday, which means there may be a shortfall of around 50 MW. It does not cause a large power outage.
But that story will change on Tuesday. Because, the barge at that harbor has 60 megawatts and the Uthuru Janani Power Station has 23 megawatts, then with that 100 on Tuesday we will lose 163 of our capacity in thermal power plants. Under such circumstances, it will inevitably be a problem for us to meet the maximum demand. That means an issue could occur if we did not receive fuel at that time ”
The General Manager of the Ceylon Electricity Board Dr. Susantha Perera stated this while expressing his views to the media yesterday (22).
Sports and Youth Affairs Minister Namal Rajapaksa has said that the ruling party has no interest in extending the term of the President or the government without holding elections.
“No, there is no such thing. We will hold elections on time. In the political history of President Mahinda Rajapaksa and President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, we never had a hope of postponing or extending elections. We as a government will work to do justice to the people for the next three years ”
Q. Does that mean you do not want to extend the period further?
“No need at all!”
Minister Namal Rajapaksa stated this while expressing his views to the media in Gampaha yesterday (22).
People blame President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, but it was the President who saved their lives from the Covid epidemic, says Ven. Wedaruwe Upali Thero, Anunayake of the Asgiriya Chapter.
Ven. Wedaruwe Upali Thero said this addressing a meeting of the Buddhist Advisory Council held on the 21st.
Earlier, Upali Thero’s request to even become a Hitler and save the country was also highly controversial.
Three Russian scientists have been fined approximately $14,419 each for the illegal collection of rare insects in Sri Lanka, Ivan Melnikov, vice president of the Russian office of the International Committee for Human Rights said.
“Alexander Ignatenko and his colleagues Nikolay Kilafyan and Artyom Ryabov were sentenced to [$14,419] fine each. Due to strong pressure from the Sri Lankan environmental police and poor health conditions, all three had to plead guilty,” Melnikov said, according to the TASS Russian News Agency.
According to Melnikov, the three Russians will be imprisoned, if they fail to pay off the fine before March 21, 2022.
He also called media reports that the Russians received a suspended sentence false, adding that they were only sentenced to a fine.
He noted that the Sri Lankan police said that their case could have lasted for years, should they have refused to admit guilt, and there were reason to believe they were telling the truth: in one year, only two witnesses out of 13 were questioned.
“Our citizens do not have the money to pay the fine. In this regard, we have initiated a fundraiser in support of the Russian citizens,” the activist said.
The three scientists claim they only gathered dead insects, photographed them and had no intention to transport them outside Sri Lanka; they also did it outside the natural reserve, as required by the local law. All three Russians have been released from detention but could be arrested again, Melnikov said.
