News
JVP flays govt. for making families of COVID-19 victims pay for coffins
… asks why Rs 1,640 mn in the relief fund cannot be used for that purpose
By Saman Indrajith
JVP Leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake on Monday accused the government of not using money in the COVID-19 fund to cremate the victims of the pandemic.
Participating in the third reading debate on budget 2021, MP Dissanayake asked the government why the monies in the COVID-19 relief fund were not being utilised properly at least to provide relief to those affected by the pandemic.
MP Dissanayake said: “When a COVID-19 patient dies, the body is not handed over to the family for final rites. It is cremated by the hospital authorities. Now, the authorities ask the families of victims to pay for the coffins. Families have been asked to provide coffins or pay Rs. 20,000 each. How fair is this? Most of these families are living in lockdown areas. Many of them are under quarantine. Most of them have lost their livelihoods. The government must not impose any more burdens on these hapless people.”
Dissanayake said that there was Rs. 1,640 million in the COVID-19 relief fund by Sept 30. “According to the government, Rs. 100 million has been allocated for conducting PCR tests on the public, but only Rs. 42 million have been actually spent for the purpose. Another Rs. 100 million has been allocated for COVID-19 awareness programmes. But only Rs. 24 million has been spent for that. Rs. 268 million has been spent to develop the slaboratory facilities at the Batticaloa Teaching Hospital and to develop the Rapid Test Kits at Sri Lanka Nanotechnology Institute. Why does the government keep a huge amount of money donated by the public? Why cannot the government establish a mechanism to provide coffins for the pandemic victims?”
The Cabinet of Ministers has approved the proposal presented by the Minister of Transport, Highways, and Urban Development to award the contract for printing and supplying vehicle number plates for the Department of Motor Traffic for a period of five (5) years to M/s South Asian Technologies based on the recommendations of the High-Level Standing Procurement Committee and the Procurement Appeal Board.
The National Lotteries board has been established subject to the Finance Act No. 11 of 1963. Having identified the requirement of amending that act which was imposed around 62 years to cater the current requirements of the lottery market, the Cabinet of Mnisters at their meeting held on 14.02.2017 granted approval to draft a new bill for the purpose.
Accordingly, the National Lotteries Board has recognized further amendments to be performed to the fundamental draft bill prepared by the Legal Draftsmen.
Therefore, the Cabinet of Ministers granted approval for the
resolution furnished by the President in his office as the Minister of Finance, Planning and Economic Development to direct the Legal Draftsmen to finalize the formulation of the draft bill for the National Lotteries Board as soon as possible including the proposed new amendments as well.
The Werahara office of the Department of Motor Traffic performs issuance of temporary driving licenses in this country based on the driving licenses issued overseas, and measures have been initiated to render the service from a service window of the Department of Motor Traffic established at the Bandaranayake International Airport from 03.08.2025.
The fees charged for issuing temporary driving licenses have been published in Motor Vehicles (Driving License Levy) Regulations No. 3 of 2022 prepared under the provisions of the Motor Traffic (Authority 203) Act.
But, as the fee of Rupees 2,000/- charged for the service is not sufficient, the requirement of amending the regulations has been recognized.
The regulations for introducing the revised fees have been published in the government extraordinary gazette
notification No. 2463/04 dated 17.11.2025. Therefore, the Cabinet of Ministers granted approval to the resolution furnished by the Minister of Transport, Highways and Urban Development to
submit the regulations to the Parliament for its concurrence.
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