News
Minister amaraweera vows to give the best deal to local farmers
By Ifham NIzam
Farmers in Sri Lanka have always been given high quality fertilisers. Although many countries use 1.5 percent biuret urea fertiliser, Sri Lanka used less than one percent of it in urea fertiliser, Agriculture Minister Mahinda Amraweera said.
Minister Amaraweera was critical about baseless allegations that Sri Lanka provided low quality rice to consumers. There is no need to import rice anymore, he added.
He stressed that the percentage of biuret in the urea fertilisers given by the Indian government is less than one percent. “Therefore, I say with responsibility that our country’s farmers produce the best rice in Asia.”
Some 275,000 hectares of paddy lands are to be cultivated this year. By the first week of June, only about 248,000 hectares had been cultivated, the Minister said. As a result, there was a risk of a shortage of rice for the country. That is why the government took steps to import rice, he added.
However, the present government had taken steps to provide urea fertiliser to farmers under a credit line of the Indian government, and the area under paddy cultivation had increased to 512,000 hectares. “Therefore, we have enough rice for the country until the end of December, ”, the Minister said.
The government is responsible for protecting the farmers here, he said adding: “What we should do is to protect the farmers of our country. It is not to protect the farmers of other countries. If our farmer leaves the fields, then the country will starve.
Therefore, as the Minister of Agriculture,“I will take all possible measures to protect the farmers of our country.”
A heated argument broke out between Jaffna District MP Archchuna Ramanathan and Fisheries Minister Ramalingam Chandrasekar during the Kilinochchi District Coordination Committee meeting held yesterday (16).
A video footage of the incident shows the MP and the Minister engaging in a heated verbal exchange, following which a physical confrontation appeared to develop when the Minister attempted to grab files reportedly in the possession of MP Ramanathan.
“If you lay a hand on me, I’ll lay a hand on you too… got it?” Ramanathan is heard telling the Minister during the exchange.
Police and officials present at the meeting intervened to prevent the situation from escalating further.
The circumstances that led to the confrontation were not immediately clear.
Archbishop of Colombo Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith has filed an intervening petition before the Court of Appeal in connection with a petition filed by former head of the State Intelligence Service, Major General (Retired) Suresh Sallay, challenging his arrest and detention under the Prevention of Terrorism Act over investigations into the Easter Sunday terror attacks.
The Cardinal has sought permission from the court to make submissions in relation to Sallay’s petition and requested that it be dismissed.
The Colombo High Court yesterday fixed for Aug. 31 the pre-trial conference in the money laundering case filed by the Attorney General against former President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s son, Yoshitha Rajapaksa, and his great-aunt Daisy Forrest.
The case was taken up before Colombo High Court Judge Rashmi Singappuli.
State Counsel Oswald Perera requested court to fix a date for the pre-trial conference and informed the judge that the prosecution would announce its position regarding the second accused, Daisy Forrest, at the conference. He also said the prosecution intended to notify court of amendments to the indictment.
After considering the submissions, Judge Singappuli ordered that the pre-trial conference be held on Aug. 31.
The Attorney General has indicted Yoshitha Rajapaksa and Daisy Forrest under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, alleging that they deposited nearly Rs. 59 million in bank accounts knowing, or having reason to believe, that the funds had been unlawfully acquired.
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