News
Ananda Walk 2024 on July 07
Ananda Walk 2024 will take place on July 07, with the participation of old and present Anandians, teachers and well-wishers.
Addressing the media at the College on Monday, Executive President of the Ananda College Old Boys’ Association Prof. Athula Kaluarachchi said that this year’s walk would be organized to educate and empower the youth to increase their awareness in the need to fulfil their duty to the motherland.
“Due to recent economic, political and social changes in the country, a large number of scholars and professionals, especially the educated young professionals who belong to the active work force are leaving the country. This brain drain will have many negative consequences and we as a nation are going to face a crisis. Many scholars have already predicted that there would be an unprecedented crisis in the near future because of this problem of skilled and capable youth leaving the country. Finding a solution to this problem is a paramount challenge today and it is our plan to emphasise this problem as the theme of our walk and the need for thinking afresh to find solutions to this problem,” Prof Kaluarachchi said.
As such we have selected the theme ‘Educate and Empower to serve Mother Lanka’ for the Ananda Walk 2024.
The walk is scheduled to start from the College premises at 2.30 pm and proceed up to the Viharamahadevi Park, Colombo 07 via the Punchi Borella intersection, Townhall, Alexandra roundabout.
Deputy President of the Association Samitha Seneviratne said that the walk would have the assistance of the College past pupils and parents. Started in 1908, the Association currently has 11,500 active members.
An official T-shirt and a cap for the walk was presented to former Anandian and ex-national cricket captain Dinesh Chandimal by association’s President and Principal of the College D.M.L.P. Dissanayake.
Past pupils of the college, emeritus Prof J.B. Dissanayake, Defence Secretary Gen. (retd) Kamal Gunaratne, Senior Addl Secretary Climate Change Secretariat Dr Anil Jasinghe, Chairman of the University Grants Commission Prof Sampath Amartunga and Chairman of National Elections Commission Saman Sri Ratnayake also addressed the conference.
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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