News
CEA claims raid led to recovery of banned polythene
By Ifham Nizam
The Southern Province Office of the Central Environmental Authority had seized 100 kilos of illegal polythene, mostly ‘lunch sheets’, CEA Chairman Supun S. Pathirage said yesterday.
The raid had been conducted on Monday in the Galle municipal limits, the CEA Chief said, adding that legal action would be taken against the shop owner under the provisions of the National Environment Act.
A CEA spokesperson said that the raid had been conducted on information received by the investigation department of the Central Environmental Authority’s head office.
She said that the sale, display, manufacture and use of illegal “polythene lunch sheets”, sachet packets of less than 20 grams or less than 20 ml, stuffed toys, cotton buds with plastic sticks and polythene products below 20 microns were prohibited by law under the National Environment Act and the Central Environment Authority is conducting continuous raids all over the island in this regard.
The Legal Division of the CEA pointed out that Gazette No. 2034/34 dated September 1, 2017 prohibited the production of food wrappers that are of polythene raw material for domestic use, the sale, offering for sale, free delivery, display or use of food wrappers produced using polythene raw material in the country.
It prohibits the manufacture, sale in the country, offering for sale, display, free giving or use of polythene of 20 microns or less in thickness for domestic use.
The Legal Division added that by Gazette No. 2211/51 dated 21st January 2021, sachets of a net volume equal to or less than 20 grams or 20 ml (excluding those used for packaging food and medicine), inflatable toys (balloons, balls, floats/ excluding toys and water sports equipment used in swimming pools); Manufacture and sale of plastic cotton buds (except plastic cotton buds used for medical/clinical treatment) is prohibited by law.)
The Pakistan Naval Ship (PNS) Shahjahan which arrived in Colombo on 02nd June 2023 on a two-day official visit, departed the island on 04th June 2023.
By Priyan de Silva
The Election Commission (ECSL) has opposed a move by the government to appoint representatives of the Chairpersons of the Regional Development Committee to monitor local government institutions.
ECSL Chairman Nimal G. Punchihewa told The Island that the government had informed the ECSL of its plan to appoint representatives of the Chairpersons of the Regional Development Committee to monitor the local government bodies and the ECSL had decided to write to the Ministry of Local Government opposing the move, he said. A Chairman of a regional development committee ESD a representative of a particular political party and it would be unfair by other parties for such appointments to be made, the EC Chairman said.
Punchihewa said that the administration of local government institutions could be done through Municipal Commissioners and Divisional Secretaries.Many political parties had complained against the government move, he said.
By Saman Indrajith
The JVP would file a fresh application before the Supreme Court against the government for not holding the local council polls, JVP MP Vijitha Herath said yesterday.Addressing the media at the party headquarters in Pelawatte, Herath said that his party had ascertained fresh information by invoking the Right to Information Act about the funds needed for the holding of the elections and his party would file another fundamental rights case against those responsible for conducting elections.
“The LG polls were to be held on 09 March. They were postponed until 25 April, and later they were put off indefinitely. The President appoints Governors to the provinces and the local councils are under them. Now, he says no party commands the support of 50 percent of voters.
Is this reason why he is not holding elections? His claim that there are no funds for elections is not acceptable. The Election Commission (EC) has, in a letter to the Secretary to the Ministry of Finance, asked for Rs 1,100 million in installments for conducting local government elections. The Secretary to the Ministry of Finance, on 07 March, informed
the EC that the latter’s request had been referred to the Minister of Finance on the same day. But so far the money has not been released. As per a report released by the Treasury, the government revenue was Rs 177,900 million in January this year alone. Of that amount, Rs 156,760 was allocated to government institutions. The Treasury has Rs 21,410 million. In February, the government revenue was at Rs. 271,750 million and of that Rs. 208,620 million was spent. The balance was Rs 63,130 million. In January and February, the Treasury had Rs 84,270 million. These figures have been officially confirmed by a Deputy Treasury Secretary. The EC is seeking only Rs 2,460 million for elections. So, the claim that there is no money for elections is false as per official records. We will submit this information to the Supreme Court when we file a fresh application. We will prove that the government has lied to people,” Herath said.
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