News
First batch of COVID-19 vaccines here on Wednesday
The first batch of COVID-19 vaccines from India would arrive in the country on Wednesday, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa announced at Yattapatha, Kalutara, on Friday evening during the latest Gama Samaga Pilisandara programme.
The vaccine would be given to health and security forces personnel in the frontline of battle against the coronavirus on the next day, he said.
Rajapaksa said that China and Russia, too, would send its vaccine and there would be enough vaccine doses to vaccinate all above the age of 18.
Rajapaksa also spoke about the East Container Terminal. “The previous government signed a MoU with India on the ECT. We can’t just cancel agreements with two nations on a whim. When I met Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, I spoke to him in-depth and explained our stance on the ECT. The main source of income of the ECT will be the re-export of containers and India accounts for 66% of that transshipment traffic. So we have to understand our situation. 51% of the ECT will remain with the Ports Authority. The remaining 49% will be held by Indian, Japanese and Sri Lankan companies,” he said.
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
Accepting deposits for Local Authorities Election concludes
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