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Covid-19: Hotels used for quarantine targeted by extortionists -Army Chief
Hoteliers told not to pay ‘third parties’
There had been several attempts to extort money from hotels authorised to quarantine persons arriving from overseas, Army Commander General Shavendra Silva said on Tuesday (12).
The Army Chief, who is also the Head of the National Operation Centre for Prevention of COVID-19 Outbreak (NOCPCO), in addition to being the Chief of Defence Staff assured hotel owners/hoteliers/ hotel executives that they would be protected. The meeting was held at the NOCPCO.
Gen. Silva said that they had been able to thwart several such attempts after the second Covid-19 outbreak in Oct last year.
The Army Chief emphasized that hotels shouldn’t pay anyone to secure business. “What we want is to get those arrivals a fair deal with decent meals, full care and accommodation at the lowest rate possible,” Gen. Silva said.
The Army Chief thanked the management of Hotel Dolphin who offered their hotels free of charge for public servants, tri servicemen and other stakeholders for quarantine purposes. “Of course, the Hotel Citrus also offered their premises but we used only the offer of Hotel Dolphin during March-April in the early stages.”
The Army Chief said that the Jetwing group was generous to quarantine a group of 44 students at our request allocating 44 rooms during the ongoing second wave.
Gen. Silva provided telephone numbers of selected officers to be contacted if attempts were made to extort money (SF)
Latest News
Concessionary priced food packages for new ‘Aswesuma’ applicants from 01st to 13th April
In keeping with the proposal by the President in his 2025 budget, for the provision of a package essential goods at a concessionary price during the Sinhala and Tamil New Year Festival season, it has been planned to provide a food package containing essential food items valued at Rs. 5000/- for only Rs. 2,500/-.
It is expected to select appropriate beneficiaries from among the 812,753 candidates who have submitted new applications for Aswesuma benefits.
Accordingly, the Cabinet of Ministers approved the proposal furnished by the Minister of Trade, Commerce, Food Security and Cooperative Development jointly with the Minister of Agriculture, Livestock, Lands and Irrigation to take necessary steps to provide the food package to the beneficiaries through the Lanka Sathosa outlet network and COOPFED outlets from 01.04.2025 to 13.04.2025
The Cabinet of Ministers have decided as follows considering the resolutions submitted by the President in his capacity as the Minister of Finance, Plan Implementation and Economic Development along with the Minister of Public Administration, Provincial Councils and Local Governments on payment of salaries according to the revised salary scales with effect from 01.04.2025 based on the resolution furnished by the President for revising the salaries of government service by the budget 2025;
• To empower the Secretary to the Ministry of Public Administration, Provincial Councils and Local Governments to issue circular instructions to the the secretaries of all the Ministries, Local Government Secretaries and Heads of Departments in regard to salary revisions of the government service.
• To empower the Secretary to the Ministry of Finance, Plan Implementation and Economic Development to issue circular instructions for state corporations, statutory boards and fully government owned companies and other institutions.
Approval of the Cabinet of Ministers has been granted to amend the Companies Act No. 07 of 2007 for remedying the shortcomings related to the transparency according to the international standards for prevention of money laundering, financing terrorism and other illegal activities.
Accordingly, the draft bill prepared by the Legal Draftsman has been revised as per instructions provided by the Attorney General subject to the special decision of the Supreme Court No. SC/SD/92/2024 and clearance of the Attorney General has been granted for the final draft bill prepared by the Legal Draftsman.
The Cabinet of Ministers granted approval to the resolution furnished by the Minister of Trade, Commerce, Food Safety and Cooperative Development to publish the aforementioned draft bill in the government gazette notification and subsequently submit to the Parliament for its concurrence.
Concessionary priced food packages for new ‘Aswesuma’ applicants from 01st to 13th April
Salary revision of the Government Service – 2025
Amendment of the Companies Act No. 07 of 2007 to be Gazetted
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