Gold jewellery worth millions of rupees was stolen from the relic chamber of the Hanthana Sandagiri Maha Seya on Saturday.

Police said the suspects fled with the gold ornaments following the burglary at the temple complex.

Three special police teams, supported by K9 units, had been deployed to track down the suspects, HQI Rasika Sampath Pathirana said.

Officers from the Police Intelligence Unit, Crimes Division and the Divisional Crime Investigation Unit have also been deployed to trace the gang responsible for the theft.

The investigation is being carried out under the supervision of Senior DIG Lalith Pathinayake, DIG Sudath Masinghe and SSP Anuruddha Bandara Hakmana.

by SK Samaranayake

A Sectoral Oversight Committee of Parliament has decided to seek the assistance of the German, Japanese and Chinese Embassies in Sri Lanka, as well as the Indian High Commission, to secure training opportunities for local officials on new technologies used in power plants in those countries. The decision was announced at a recent meeting of the Sectoral Oversight Committee on Environment, Agriculture and Resource Sustainability, chaired by Member of Parliament Hector Appuhamy.

The Committee also appointed a subcommittee to investigate the environmental impact of the Norochcholai Lakvijaya Power Plant and submit recommendations. The subcommittee will be chaired by Member of Parliament Bhagya Sri Herath.

Officials representing the Ministry of Environment, Ministry of Power and Energy, and the Ministry of Health and Mass Media, along with several other institutions, participated in the discussions.

During the meeting, attention was focused on the environmental impact arising from the operations of the Norochcholai Lakvijaya Power Plant, the parties responsible for addressing the issues, and whether there had been shortcomings on the part of the relevant institutions.

Following extensive discussions, the Committee decided to appoint the subcommittee to conduct a further investigation and provide recommendations aimed at mitigating environmental concerns linked to the power plant.

Committee Chairman Hector Appuhamy said the proposed discussions with the German, Japanese and Chinese diplomatic missions and the Indian High Commission were intended to facilitate training programmes for Sri Lankan officials on modern technologies used in thermal power generation and environmental management.

Kurunegala District SJB MP Dayasiri Jayasekera has submitted a motion to Parliament seeking to restrict social media use for children under the age of 15, citing growing concerns over mental health issues, cyber risks and declining educational performance among minors.

The motion, incorporated into the Addendum to the Parliament Order Book, calls for legislation to regulate children’s access to social media platforms in view of, what it describes as, the adverse effects of excessive social media use.

The motion states that unrestricted access to social media has led to increasing levels of mental stress among children, a deterioration in academic performance, incidents of cyberbullying and exposure to indecent and unsafe online content.

Jayasekera has pointed out that several developed countries, including Australia, France and Denmark, have already introduced laws and regulatory frameworks to limit social media access for children.

Among the proposals, contained in the motion, are fixing the minimum age for opening social media accounts at 15 years, making age verification mechanisms compulsory for social media companies, and imposing fines and legal sanctions on entities violating the proposed law.

The motion also calls for measures to deal with instances where children access social media platforms through accounts operated by adults.

The proposal is due to be taken up for debate in Parliament at a later date.