News
Lanka to receive 1.45 mn doses of AstraZeneca vaccine manufactured in Japan
The Government of Japan yesterday decided to provide approximately 1.45 million doses of AstraZeneca’s vaccine manufactured by her to Sri Lanka through the COVAX Facility to help prevent the spread of COVID-19 here. The vaccines are expected to arrive in Sri Lanka from Japan during the coming weeks.
This decision has been taken in response to the request by the Government of Sri Lanka and as a part of Japan’s support for ensuring equitable access to safe and effective vaccines for as many people as possible in the fight against COVID-19.
In addition, as a part of the “Last Mile Support”, the Government of Japan has been providing cold chain equipment through UNICEF, to establish a proper system of vaccination as well as to ensure equitable access to the vaccines for all people throughout the country. This includes cold storage boxes and vaccine carriers to store vaccines at the appropriate temperature and transport the vaccines to local vaccination centres.
As a time-honoured friend of Sri Lanka, Japan hopes to contribute, through these supports, to the efforts of the Government here to further accelerate the vaccination programme and prevent the spread of COVID-19 in the country.
Japan has provided USD 16.2 million to Sri Lanka to assist its efforts to combat COVID-19 and has also pledged USD 1 billion to the COVAX facility to ensure equitable distribution of vaccines in developing countries. Japan will continue to stand in solidarity with Sri Lanka in this joint combat against COVID-19.
Accepting deposits from political parties and independent groups who intend to contest the forthcoming Local Authorities Election ended at 12noon today [19].
Deposits were accepted at respective District Secretariats from 3rd March 2025.
The Elections Commission has announced that the deadline for the accepting of nominations for the LA poll is set to conclude at 12:00 noon tomorrow (20).
It has been reported that the former Inspector General of Police (IGP) Deshabandu Tennakoon has appeared before the Matara Magistrate’s Court this morning (19),
The former IGP had been evading arrest after the Matara Magistrate’s court had ordered his arrest regarding a shooting incident that took place in front of the W15 Hotel Pelena, Weligama, Matara, in 2023.
The government has begun recovering funds obtained by former Lands and Land Development, Environment and Wildlife Resources Minister SM Chandrasena for the Janatha Lanka Chilli Marketing Limited (JLCML), which he headed, Parliament was informed yesterday.
Agriculture, Livestock, Land, and Irrigation Minister Namal Karunaratne said that as the Chairman of JLCML, Chandrasena had obtained a loan of Rs. 1,275,000 from the Mihintale Govijana Seva Bank in 2001.
The principal of the loan had not been repaid until the end of last year. “After we came to power, we demanded that the loan be settled. Then, we discovered that the interest on the loan had not been paid for the past 24 years, and attempts had been made to have the loan written off. We stopped that and are now in the process of recovering the interest of Rs. 1,975,233 on the loan,” Karunaratne said.
Karunaratne added that JLCML was registered as a company with the Registrar of Companies on March 21, 2001. As Chairman of the company, Chandrasena requested a loan of Rs. 10 million on April 19, 2001, for the purpose of purchasing chillies from farmers in 12 farmer colonies in the Mihintale Agrarian Service area.
The request was approved by the Mihintale Agrarian Service Committee on the same day and referred to the Anuradhapura District Agrarian Operations Committee, which approved it on April 23, 2001. However, the Agriculture Development Commissioner General recommended that a loan of Rs. 1.2 million would suffice for this purpose. JLCML took the loan and failed to repay it until the end of last year. When the matter was raised, the principal was paid, and we are now in the process of recovering the interest that was not paid for the past 24 years,” Karunaratne added.
By Saman Indrajith
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