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Ranil rejects Batalanda report wholesale
Former President Ranil Wickremesinghe yesterday rejected the Batalanda Commission report in its entirety.
“I wholly reject the report. No one can say the report was kept hidden. It was published as a sessional paper in 2000, but no one, including the JVP, asked for a debate,” Wickremeisnmghe said in a special statement.
He also said that there was no precedent in this country, or anywhere else in the world, of debating a sessional paper 25 years after it was published.
Making a special statement Wickremeisnghe said: “The Commission has only questioned my action to heed the request by then State Minister of Defence Ranjan Wijeratne to provide accommodation to the security forces which provided security to important state owned institutions in Biyagama during the height of the JVP insurrection of 1987/89.”
He pointed out that the Commission report mentions the heinous terrorist acts committed by the JVP during the 1988-90 period.
“I was only summoned as a witness. According to the Commission’s findings, I was implicated only in the matter of providing housing for police officers, which, as per regulations, should have been done through the Inspector General of Police. The report indicates that both Nalin Delgoda and I were indirectly responsibile for this process.
Apart from this, I was not implicated in any other allegations in the Commission’s report,” Wickremesinghe said.
The former President pointed out that the report was made available to Parliament in 2000, yet no party, including the JVP, requested a debate on it.
The full statement by former President Ranil Wickremesinghe:
In 1987, following the signing of the Indo-Lanka Accord, the JVP launched a wave of terror across the country.
During this period, President J.R. Jayewardene assigned the responsibility of securing key locations in the country to Cabinet Ministers. Several economically significant sites were located in the Biyagama area, including the oil refinery, diesel power plant, the substation supplying electricity from Mahaweli to Colombo, and the free trade zone. The military was deployed to safeguard these locations.
To accommodate security personnel, it was decided to provide them with abandoned buildings and houses owned by the Lanka Fertiliser Manufacturing Corporation. At the time, several employees of the Ceylon Electricity Board were residing in some of these houses.
During this period of terror, the Sapugaskanda Police Station was attacked, and its Officer-in-Charge was killed. In response, Deputy Minister of Defence Ranjan Wijeratne contacted me, requesting that the vacant houses in the complex be allocated to military and police personnel for their security. Consequently, the administrator at the time took steps to hand over the houses to Kelani Police Chief Nalin Delgoda.
Several individuals, including a Provincial Councillor, a cooperative society chairman, and a police sergeant, were assassinated during this period. Additionally, an attack was carried out on the residence of another Provincial Council member.
The government in power took steps to restore the country’s stability, rebuilding the economy and ensuring national security.
After 1994, President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga appointed a Commission to investigate allegations of a torture centre in the Batalanda area. Several individuals were summoned before the Commission, and I was called as a witness. At that time, I was serving as the Leader of the Opposition. The establishment of the Batalanda Commission was politically motivated, but the attempt to use it for political gain was unsuccessful.
According to the Commission’s findings, I was implicated only in the matter of providing housing for police officers, which, as per regulations, should have been done through the Inspector General of Police. The report indicates that both Nalin Delgoda and I were indirectly responsibile for this process.
Apart from this, I was not implicated in any other allegations in the Commission’s report. The report also extensively documented the JVP’s terrorist activities between 1988 and 1990, detailing the background and listing numerous violent acts committed by the JVP in Chapter Three. The entire history of those events is included in the report.
Beyond these findings, no other accusations in the report are relevant to me, and I completely reject the report.
No one can claim that the Batalanda Commission report was hidden. It was made available as a parliamentary session record in 2000, yet no one, including the JVP, requested a debate on it. Many did not accept the report, which may explain why no steps were taken to debate it in Parliament.
It is also noteworthy that no political party that came to power has attempted to use the report for political advantage. Furthermore, there is no precedent in Sri Lanka or other parliaments for debating a session record 25 years after its publication.
The French Navy Ship PROVENCE arrived at the Port of Colombo on a formal visit on Sunday (16 Mar 25) morning.
She was welcomed by the Sri Lanka Navy in compliance with the time-honoured naval traditions.
The 142.20m long Destroyer is Commanded by Captain Lionel SIEGFRIED and manned by a crew of 160 members.
During the stay in the island, crew members of PROVENCE will visit some tourist hotspots in the country and the ship is scheduled to depart the island on 20 Mar.
The Court of Appeal this [17] morning dismissed the writ petition filed by former Inspector General of Police (IGP) Deshabandu Tennakoon, seeking an interim injunction to prevent the execution of the arrest order issued by the Matara Magistrate’s Court against him.
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Project to distribute smart boards for 1,000 schools with the goal of enhancing education has completely failed to meet its objectives and the investment of LKR 1.7 billion has been underutilized -PM
Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya stated that the project to distribute smart boards for 1,000 schools with the goal of enhancing education has completely failed to meet its objectives and the investment of LKR 1.7 billion has been underutilized.
The Minister of Education, Higher Education and Vocational Education, Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya made these remarks in the Parliament complex on Saturday [March 15, 2025] while discussing the project to establish networked classrooms by facilitating smart boards to the school system.
The Cabinet Memorandum No. AMP/24/0385/601/027 and the Cabinet decision dated March 4, 2024 has been presented for the approval of the provision of digital smart boards and other related equipment to 1,000 selected schools, with the objective of enhancing education through the establishment of a systematic network of smart classrooms within the school system funded by the Sri Lanka Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (TRCSL).
Subsequently, an additional Cabinet Memorandum, No. AMP/24/0978/630/009, dated May 14, 2024, was presented, proposing the implementation of this project in alignment with the project proposed by Chinese government for digitalizing Schools. Under this Chinese-funded project, plans were made to establish a centralized control center and a studio facility, along with the provision of an additional 500 smart boards. Accordingly, the integration of both projects was proposed to create a network of smart classrooms across 1,500 schools.
The cabinet decision has been presented requiring Sri Lankan Government to purchase smart boards with specifications identical to the smart boards which were proposed to be distributed by the Chinese Government.
In line with the Cabinet decision of May 14, 2024, the procurement for the 1,000 smart boards began in July 2024. However, at the time of purchase, the project proposed by the Chinese Government was still at the discussion stage, and no official agreement had been reached regarding the technical specifications of the smart boards.
However, the procurement was carried out through the Sri Lanka State Trading (General) Corporation without a competitive bidding process, relying on price quotations obtained from a single supplier based on unclear sources that were not officially verified by the Chinese government. The Sri Lanka Telecommunications Regulatory Commission incurred the full cost of LKR 1.7 billion, with an additional LKR 430 million allocated for services and installation.
The aforementioned procurement appears to have been conducted at an unusually accelerated pace when compared to the standard procedure typically followed for high-value procurements. Specifically, price quotations were requested on July 5, 2024, opened on July 15, 2024, and by July 16, 2024, the Technical Evaluation Committee had completed and submitted the report. Subsequently, the report was reviewed by the Standing Procurement Committee appointed by the Cabinet on July 17 and 18, 2024, with recommendations being provided on the same day. These recommendations were then submitted to the Cabinet on July 23, 2024, and approval was granted on July 30, 2024. Followed by this, the purchase requisition was issued to the supplier on August 5, 2024. Accordingly, the entire procurement process was completed within a span of one month.
As part of this procurement, a Letter of Credit was opened to facilitate the payment of USD 3,135,392.50 for 1,000 smart boards to Intelligent Express Limited Hong Kong, which has been identified as a representative of Huawei. While the relevant Cabinet paper indicated Huawei as the designated manufacturer supplying the smart boards under the Chinese funding project, the Chinese government has not yet confirmed the selection of such a supplier for this project.
According to aforementioned purchase requisition, the purchased smart boards and related equipment were delivered to the Ministry of Education in October 2024 and are currently stored at Pattala Gedara Teacher’s Training College. Although the procurement of the aforementioned Smart boards by the Sri Lankan Government has been finalized, the relevant project, which was intended to be implemented under the funding of Chinese government, has not yet commenced and a final agreement regarding its implementation has not been reached.
Prior to reaching a final agreement on the network integration facilities and centralized system proposed by the Chinese government, the procurement of these smart boards has resulted in the inability to utilize the equipment for the intended purpose. It is expected that the Chinese aid project is at the discussion stage, and the implementation may extend until the end of this year. Further, no official decision has been made regarding the selection of a supplier for the project.
Given this situation, if the 1,000 smart boards and other equipment currently stored in warehouses are to be distributed to schools, school principals must be provided with clear instructions on their proper use. However, due to the delay in implementing the project under the funding of the Chinese government, specific guidelines on the installation and utilization of the equipment cannot yet be issued.
Since network integration cannot be carried out at this stage, these smart boards can only be used as standalone classroom units. As a result, the objectives of the project will not be met, and the investment of LKR 1.7 billion made might be considered to be underutilized.
A formal investigation has been initiated to determine whether financial and procedural irregularities have occurred in this procurement. Additionally, discussions are currently continued with the Chinese government, and efforts are being made to secure the proposed facilities from China at the earliest convenience.
[Prime Minister’s Media Division]
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