News
Kandy District Secretary warns farmers not to fall for multinational ruse
BY CYRIL WIMALASURENDRE
KANDY – Kandy District Secretary Chandana Tennakoon said at a meeting of representatives of farmers’ organisations of Minipe that some multinational trading organisations had adopted a ruse to dupe the organic fertiliser producing farmers by deploying agents to buy their fertiliser and sell it to them subsequently at higher prices.
District Secretary Tennakoon warned the farmers that they should not fall for such tricks and use the fertiliser they produced or sell it to the state institution that may need it.
Tennakoon said he had learnt that many farmers of Minipe and other parts of the country were producing organic fertiliser instead of clamouring for chemical fertiliser.
Tennakoon told the representatives of the farmer organisations of Minipe, once known as the rice bowl of the Kandy District, that officials of the departments of agriculture and irrigation were prepared to assist the farmers anytime.
The meeting was held at the Hasalaka Morayaya Residential Management Centre attended by the representatives of the Minipe No.1,2 and 3 farmers committees.
Among those present were chairman of the Hasalaka Pradeshiya Sabha S.P. Abeysinghe, Kandy District Additional Secretary Kumudini Premachandra, Divisional Secretary of Minipe Nuwan Hemakumara and Deputy Commissioner of Agrarian Services Ms.Tharanga Jayasekera.
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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