News
JRJ, Gamini, MR saved country from massive power crisis – Dullus
By Ifham Nizam
Minister of Power Dullas Alahapperuma said yesterday that Sri Lanka would have faced a minimum 16-hour power cut on a daily basis if not for the visionary initiatives by the late President J. R. Jayewardene and the late Minister Gamini Dissanayake to commence the Mahaweli Development Project, and President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s bold decision to commence the first coal fired power plant complex at Norochcholai.
“Irrespective of political differences, correct decisions taken with regard to the power sector should be praised,” Minister Alahapperuma told a group of journalists invited to the new Power Ministry headquarters in Kollupitiya.
Alahapperuma said that minimising the use of fossil fuel remained the top priority as instructed by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa.
April 6 had recorded highest peak use (2,768 MW) at 6.55 p.m, the Minister said, adding that diesel and furnace oil plants released over 13 million kilos of carbon on a daily basis here to generate 15.3 gigawatt hours, which he termed was worse than cutting down 1,000 trees.
Minister Alahapperuma said that the country spent a lot of money on fossil fuels and it was important to increase the output from renewable energy.
“We are determined to reduce electricity generation from diesel and furnace oil to five percent by 2025 and to one per cent by 2030.”
Alahapperuma said that it had been planned to add 600MW of solar power to the national grid from 7,000 power plants to be constructed within a few years. He said since 2013, after Norochcholai Power Plants One and Two, no major or stable power plant had been added to the grid though 550MW from various sources had been blocked since 2014. “I don’t want to dwell on the past, and for my part I will go all to achieve the projected targets, and if there are any mistakes or problems I should be held responsible.”
Minister Alahapperuma said that wind and solar power generation was being expanded countrywide with wind plants being equipped with battery storage units to ensure an uninterrupted electricity supply
“We are planning to equip selected Samurdhi families with 5kW solar panels they can install on their rooftops as another source of power,” 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
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