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Media Minister under fire for holding tree planting ceremony in school affected by COVID-19

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5 years ago

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By Rathindra Kuruwita

Media Minister Keheliya Rambukwella had endangered the health of a large number of students by holding a tree planting ceremony at Kengalla Maha Vidyalaya, Kandy, where a number of students and teachers had tested positive for the coronavirus, General Secretary of the Ceylon Teachers Union (CTU) Joseph Stalin said.

Stalin said that despite the detection of COVID-19 patients, the Minister had organised the ceremony and that 150 guests had attended it. The school band was used at the event where physical distancing was non-existent, he said.

“There is a circular issued by the Ministry of Health advising principals not to hold ceremonies at schools due to the pandemic. We lodged a complaint with the Education Director of the Central Province Thilak Ekanayake on Thursday (11), but the event went ahead as planned on Friday. This shows how servile regional education officials are.”

Ekanayake on Thursday said the ceremony was not an educational one and that he had little knowledge of what would transpire. Stalin said that while the ceremony might not be educational technically, the Minister was using a school band, students and the school premises.

“When we asked the relevant Zonal Education Director, she said that the event had been organised by a group called Mahanuwara Api and that neither the school nor the Zonal Education is responsible for the organization of the event. If so, allowing an outside party to use a school premises and students for a ceremony was an even more serious issue.”

Stalin said that the pandemic had created a serious crisis in education and that a large number of students and teachers were contracting the virus. It was the responsibility of the government and education administrators to do their best to protect the children, he added.

“Some time ago, MP Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan alias Pillayan also held a similar event in the East and when we objected the government said it would not happen again. But this time around, a Minister has done the same. This is an indication of how much they care about the safety of children.”

Repeated attempts to contact Minister Rambukwella were unsuccessful.


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Report on the Final Budgetary Condition (Annual Report) – 2025 submited to parliament

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16 mins ago

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2026/06/16

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As per the provisions of section 51 of the Public Finance Managaement Act No. 44 of 2024, the public should be issued with a report on the final budgetary situation for each year and, the report is then published in the official website of the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development.

Thereby the report has to be submitted to the Parliament. The final budgetary situation report (Annual Report) – 2025 has been prepared by the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development and published. The report contains the Public Finance Policy, strategies and challenges, economic trends in 2025, macro – economic and socio – economic indicators covering all sectors of the economy as well as description on the global economic growth.

Furthermore, it accompanies a detailed description government revenue and expenditure, cash flow management, financing the budget deficit and the loan structure.

Accordingly, the Cabinet of Ministers approved the resolution furnished by the President in his capacity as the Minister of Finance, Planning and Economic Development to submit the Report on the Final Budgetary Condition (Annual Report) – 2025 to Parliament.

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Cabinet nod to accept increased Loan Grant provided by the Asian Development Bank under Policy Based Loan Facilities – 2026

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23 mins ago

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2026/06/16

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Approval of the Cabinet of Ministers was granted at their meeting held on 16.03.2026 to obtain United States Dollars 380 million from the policy – based loan facilities of the Asian Development Bank in the year 2026.

United States Dollars 100 million out of it is allocated for Trade, Investment and Industries Development Programme – Sub Programme 1. However, amidst the economic uncertainty resulting from the current Middle East crisis and the climatic tragedies, the Asian Development Bank has agreed to assist
by increasing a supplementary financing package of United States Dollars 100 million so that it will beMincreased up to United States Dollars 200 million.

Accordingly, the Cabinet of Ministers approved the resolution furnished by the President in his capacity as the Minister of Finance, Planning and Economic Development to take further measures to obtain the said loan grant.

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Submission of Revenue Protection Order Prepared under the Provisions of the Revenue Protection Act No. 19 of 1962 to the Parliament for its approval.

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30 mins ago

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2026/06/16

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Approval of the Cabinet of Ministers was given at the meeting held on 23.02.2026 to impose the custom import duty amounts under four (04) categories as 0%, 10%, 20%, and 30% which had been executed only under three (03) categories in order to increase the target export income of the country, to execute the
recommendations of the national customs duty policies committee, and to implement new national sub division customs codes for promoting the local agricultural and industrial sector.

Imposing provisions in relation to the above, the Revenue Protection Order – No. 01/2026 under the Revenue Protection Act No. 19 of 1962 has been published in the extraordinary gazette notification No. 2478/03 of 03.03.2026.

Accordingly, the Cabinet of Ministers approved the resolution furnished by the President in his capacity as the Minister of Finance, Planning and Economic Development to submit the said revenue protection order to Parliament for its concurrence.

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