News
Five leading manufacturers seek licences to produce more brands of booze
No business like liquor trade even during deadly pandemic
By Saman Indrajith
Controversy surrounds attempts by five leading liquor manufacturing companies in the country to secure new liquor producing licences, while the country is reeling from the effects of the deadly pandemic, Excise Trade Union sources say.
Five leading hard liquor manufacturing companies had applied for licences to produce new brews including wine and cider and the main regulatory body the Department of Excise had forwarded them to the Ministry of Finance for approval, union sources said.
Excise Commissioner General M.J. Gunasena told the media over the weekend that although they had received applications for liquor production licences from five well-known manufacturers, they had not yet decided to issue permits.
The trade union leader said that even the Ministry of Finance had considered completing the ground work to process the licence applications for these liquor giants.
Matara District SJB MP Buddhika Pathirana made this revelation a fortnight ago about these attempts by the government to grant more liquor manufacturing licenses to several companies.
According to statistics tabled by the SJB MP in the House, Sri Lanka has about 24 licence holders producing liquor. However, the data showed that only five of these 24 companies are contributing 95% to the tax income generated from the country’s entire liquor industry.
The rest of the 19 producers either do not make ample profits or evade paying tax by not maintaining proper books.
Excise Spokesperson Deputy Commissioner Kapila Kumarasinghe or Secretary to the Ministry of Finance were not immediately available for comment.
The Cabinet of Ministers approved the resolution forwarded by the Minister Agriculture, Livestock, Lands and Irrigation to appoint R. A. Chandana Saman Ranaweera Arachchi a special grade officer of Sri Lanka Administrative Service (SLAS) as the Commissioner
General of Lands.
Approval was granted at the cabinet meeting held on 05-08-2024 to resettle the unauthorized residents in the railway reserve from the Maligawatte Loco junction to Padukka railway station under the Colombo Suburban Railway Project.
Accordingly, resettlements in 694 housing units which were purchased from housing complexes owned by the Urban Development Authority have already been completed and further, 144 housing units are due
to be received from the Urban development Authority. In addition, a housing complex consisting of 120 housing units is being constructed on land in Kottawa, Malapalla area which is owned by the Railway Department for the resettlement of unauthorized residents in Maharagama, Homagama, Padukka area where there are no housing
schemes of the Urban Development Authority, and the constructions of that housing scheme is being completed at present.
Accordingly, the Cabinet of Ministers has approved the proposal presented by the Minister of Transport, Highways, Port, and Civil Aviation to transfer the land located in Kottawa, Marapalla, belonging to the Sri Lanka Railway Department, and the housing complex within the said land to the National Housing Development Authority as a free grant in terms of the provisions of Section 6(1) of the Government Land Ordinance and to implement the said program of providing the relevant deeds to the selected beneficiaries in such a way as not to burden them financially.
The Cabinet of Ministers granted approval to the resolution furnished by the Minister of Agriculture, Livestock, Lands and Irrigation to appoint Dr. Mrs. E. R. S. P. Edirimanne serving as a special grade officer in Sri Lanka Agriculture Service in the post of Additional Secretary (Agri Technology) of the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Lands and Irrigation as the Commissioner General of Agriculture,
R A Chandana Saman Ranaweera Arachchi appointed as Commissioner General of Lands
Resettlement of unauthorized residents in Kelaniveli Railway Reserves
Dr. Mrs. E. R. S. P. Edirimanne appointed Commissioner General of Agriculture
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