News
Amaraweera: SL won’t succumb to Indian pressure
By Ifham Nizam
India had no authority to dictate terms to a sovereign nation like Sri Lanka, said Environment Minister Mahinda Amaraweera yesterday.
Speaking to journalists, Amaraweera expressed concern regarding a statement made by an Indian Minister that a government would be formed in Sri Lanka under the leadership of the Bharathiya Janatha Party (BJP).
“Sri Lanka is a free and independent country. Therefore, no one can interfere when it comes to our country’s matters,” he stressed.
Amaraweera said he did not know whether the news item was true or false, but that any country that did not wish external interventions would oppose it as the present government.
Journalists asked the Minister if the Indians had said so as the East Container Terminal of the Colombo Port was not handed over to an Indian company, Amaraweera said that he was always opposed to handing over state assets to foreigners.
The Minister said that perhaps such an opinion was expressed by an Indian politician because the ECT was not given to the Indian company.
He said that the country’s government had been elected by the people of Sri Lanka and not by the people of India and that the people of the country appointed a government to protect its territorial integrity and sovereignty.
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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