News
Current govt, was elected as its policies are sensitive to issues faced by people
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by Saman Indrajith
The current government was sensitive to the issues faced by the public and that was why the people had elected it, State Minister Shehan Semasinghe said in parliament on Friday (21).
Joining the debate on the government policy statement, the MP said that within the next five years the government would develop the country.
“Through its policy statement, our government has addressed all the issues faced by the people and provided solutions to them. The President now has a government which can work with him in implementing his policy statement. During the previous government they selected people for employment based on their height and laughed when the graduates were assaulted. Now, they find it hard to stomach the victory of the government and the productive progress. But, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has devised a plan to provide employment opportunities for graduates irrespective of their political affiliations.”
Semasinghe said that the government had taken steps to provide employment to 61,000 graduates and 100,000 who had failed to get through the Ordinary Level Examination. Accordingly, he said that in total 161,000 would receive state sector jobs.
He said that there was a drinking water shortage in the Anuradhapura District and solutions would be provided very soon and steps taken to ensure that they would also have enough water for agricultural purposes.
The State Minister also assured that solutions would be found to resolve the human-elephant conflict in the Anuradhapura District.
The State Minister assured that the drug menace which plagued the country would be eradicated under the leadership of the President and the Prime Minister.
News
Easter attack victims receive Rs. 245 mn in compensation
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By AJA Abeynayake
The Attorney General informed the Supreme Court on Thursday (27) that Rs. 245 million from the funds obtained from the respondents, as per the verdict delivered on 12 January 2023 by a seven-judge bench led by the Chief Justice, had been paid as compensation to the victims of the Easter Sunday attacks. The case stemmed from fundamental rights petitions filed against the respondents’ failure to prevent the coordinated attacks. To monitor the disbursement of these funds, 13 related fundamental rights petitions were taken up on Thursday before a three-judge bench comprising Chief Justice Murdu Fernando, Justices S. Thurairaja, and A.H.M.D. Nawaz. Representing the Attorney General, Additional Solicitor General Viveka Siriwardena informed the court that Rs. 311 million had been allocated for compensation, of which Rs. 245 million had already been distributed among 412 individuals, including the families of 215 deceased victims.
She further stated that Rs. 65 million from the allocated funds was expected to be used for victims’ medical treatment and for the care of affected elderly individuals.
President’s Counsel Shamil Perera and Sanjeeva Jayawardena, appearing on behalf of Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, Archbishop of Colombo, and the Bar Association of Sri Lanka, respectively, told the court that they had not yet received detailed reports on the compensation payments.
Chief Justice Fernando asked the Additional Solicitor General why those reports had not been provided to the relevant parties. The Additional Solicitor General responded that the proceedings were focused on monitoring the disbursement of compensation to victims.
The Chief Justice, however, noted that withholding those reports from the petitioners did not align with the objectives of the case. She ordered that the reports be immediately provided to the Cardinal and the other petitioners.The court scheduled the next hearing of the petitions for 21 May.
News
SLPP-UNP govt. paid another Rs. 1.1 bn in compensation for houses destroyed in 2022
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…. Gnanakka also received Rs. 28 mn
Chief Government Whip Minister Nalinda Jayathissa said on Thursday that the Ranil Wickremesinghe government had spent an additional Rs. 1,125 million as compensation for individuals whose houses were destroyed in 2022.
That was in addition to the Rs. 1,221 million paid to politicians as compensation, Minister Jayatissa said, revealing that an astrologer called Gnanakka from Anuradhapura had received Rs. 28 million in compensation for her Devalaya destroyed by mobs in 2022. (SI)
News
PM reveals foreign travel expenses of former Sri Lankan presidents
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By Saman Indrajith
During yesterday’s parliamentary session, Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya disclosed the expenditure incurred by the state on foreign trips undertaken by Sri Lanka’s Presidents.
Mahinda Rajapaksa’s foreign trips between 2010 and 2014 cost Rs 3,572 million. His successor, Maithripala Sirisena spent Rs 384 million on overseas travel from 2015 to 2019. Gotabaya Rajapaksa spent Rs. 126 million from 2019 to 2022, while President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s foreign travel between 2023 and 2024 cost the state Rs 533 million.
In contrast, the current president, Anura Kumara Dissanayake, had spent only Rs 1.8 million on foreign travel since assuming office in September 2024, the PM said.
The Prime Minister highlighted that the most expensive year for presidential foreign travel during that period was 2013, when Mahinda Rajapaksa’s trips alone amounted to an unprecedented Rs 1,144 million.
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