News

Aluthgamage reveals how previous regime rented out JEDB property for a song

Published

5 years ago

2020/12/1

By Saman Indrajith

Some buildings belonging to the Janata Estate Development Board in Colombo had been rented at Rs.13.7 a square foot during the yahapalana government, Parliament was told yesterday.

Agriculture Minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage acknowledged this revelation made by Kandy District SJB MP Velu Kumar, who said that the JEDB had 28,800 square feet space in its buildings in Colombo City and three of them had been rented to public sector institutions while eight had been rented out to the private sector. “The rate that they had been rented out to the private sector institutions is Rs 13.67 a square foot. The JEDB is incurring losses as a result. I like to know what the minister is going to do about it.”

Minister Aluthgamage: I thank the MP for raising this issue. It was during the time of the yahapalana government those buildings had been rented out. One building is at Darley Road opposite the HNB. A square foot of that building has been rented at Rs 13.67. That was how JEDB became a loss making venture. It used to be a profit making institution but some actions of your government’s ministers made it incur losses.. One Minister rented out 100 acres in the same manner to his wife, Minister Aluthgamage said.

Ratnapura District SJB MP Hesha Withanage: Can we know where that land is?

Minister Aluthgamage: At Hantana in Kandy. During the time of the yahapalana government JEDB could not even pay the salaries of its workers. Their salaries were paid by the Treasury. We no longer get funds from the Treasury. By 31 of December this year, we will make JEDB into a profit making institution. We can do so because President Gotabaya Rajapaksa appointed capable persons who know the subject to head the institutions.

Aluthgamage added that he had found that 150 properties of the Plantations Ministry had been given to private sector institutions without assessing their value or calling for tenders during the previous administration. The Minister said that all those properties had been undervalued. Aluthgamage promised that as the Minister he would not hand over any property under his ministry to private entities.

Instead of leasing out or selling government properties, the current administration would make state owned enterprises profit earning ventures, he said.

“I found that a 500-acre estate in Nawalapitiya was to be rented out to a private company to set up a two MW hydropower project, for Rs 8,000 a month. I cancelled that agreement. We have sent letters to private companies who had rented JEDB properties at the rate of Rs. 13.67 a square foot. I also found that some individuals had exchanged low value land they had for high value government lands.”

Lands valued at Rs. 50 a perch had been exchanged for lands in Hantana where a perch was worth Rs one million, Minister Aluthgamage said, adding that during the first week of assuming duties, he had thwarted a move to give away 25 acres in Hantana to a private individual.

MP Withanage: We are thankful to the Minister for the exposure he made and request him to inform the House of the former ministers responsible for those crimes so that we would be able to identify who actually caused the loss of our government. Will the Minister submit the names of those responsible to this House?

Minister Aluthgamage promised that he would table in Parliament this morning (1) the list of names and details of 150 projects that had been initiated during the yahapalana time and later cancelled by him during recent months.

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Fuel prices increased

Published

7 hours ago

2026/05/31

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Accordingly,
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Sangha reform drives stymied from within: CBK

Published

7 hours ago

2026/05/31

Thilina Walpola

Chandrika

Former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga has called for a comprehensive reform programme within Sri Lanka’s Buddhist clergy, warning that repeated efforts to strengthen the Sasana have in the past been derailed by opposition from within sections of the Sangha itself.

In a statement addressed to the Mahanayake Theras of the three Buddhist chapters, Kumaratunga stressed that the long-term preservation of Buddhism depends on safeguarding both the Dhamma and Vinaya, or disciplinary code, and urged urgent internal reform to address what she described as deep-rooted structural weaknesses.

She noted that Buddhist history has consistently demonstrated that periods of institutional crisis were addressed through reform processes, citing precedents from the First Buddhist Council to reforms during the Kandyan era under Welivita Sri Saranankara Thera.

Referring to post-independence efforts, Kumaratunga said initiatives taken during the 1956 Bandaranaike administration to strengthen Buddhism were left incomplete following the assassination of former Prime Minister S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike.

She further stated that during her own presidency, plans to convene a Buddhist Council under the guidance of the late Madihe Pannasiha Mahanayake Thera had received government backing but were ultimately abandoned due to resistance from certain sections within the clergy.

The former President alleged that, on both occasions, vested interests benefiting from existing weaknesses within the Buddhist establishment had worked to obstruct meaningful reform efforts.

Warning that Buddhism in Sri Lanka is currently facing serious challenges, she called for a broad internal dialogue within the Sangha to identify root causes and implement both short- and long-term corrective measures.

Kumaratunga urged the Mahanayake Theras to take the lead in convening a Dharma Sanghayana, or Buddhist Council, and said she was prepared to work with senior lay Buddhist leaders to support such an initiative.

News

Court orders arrest of Basil

Published

7 hours ago

2026/05/31

Thilina Walpola

The Colombo Fort Magistrate’s Court on Friday ordered the arrest of former Minister Basil Rajapaksa, Tourism Promotion Bureau Chairman Bhashwara Gunaratne, Managing Director Rumi Jauffer and several others over the alleged misuse of Rs. 7.8 million belonging to the Tourism Promotion Authority during the 2014 Uva Provincial Council election campaign.

Magistrate Pasan Amarasena directed the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) to arrest and produce the suspects before court, after it was informed that they would be named under the Public Property Act on the advice of the Attorney General.

The CID told court that attempts to take the suspects into custody from their residences had been unsuccessful as they were not present.

The Magistrate also imposed an overseas travel ban on the suspects and ordered that the Controller of Immigration and Emigration be notified.

Investigations have reportedly revealed that the funds were used to print 12,000 T-shirts bearing an image of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa on one side and the name of a political party on the other.

According to the CID, the T-shirts were later distributed at a political event held in the Monaragala District.