Connect with us

News

Peliyagoda fish market cluster big and widespread in its reach

Published

on

BY SURESH PERERA

The Peliyagoda fish market coronavirus cluster believed to have been triggered by the fresh eruption of the contagion at Minuwangoda appears to be quite big in dimension and widespread in its reach, a senior medical official said.

“The fish market outbreak seems rather substantial with a potent level of transmission”, says Dr. Jayaruwan Bandara, Deputy Director of the Medical Research Institute (MRI).

“It is imperative that we trace everybody who came into contact with those infected to prevent the further spread of the virus”, he stressed.

Initially, 49 persons, mainly fish vendors, tested positive for corona, which led to the sealing of the complex on Wednesday. PCR tests were conducted on all vendors, customers and others within the premises and they were later transported in buses by the army to a quarantine centre at Diyatalawa.

By Friday, the number infected from the Peliyagoda fish market cluster climbed by another 182, while the total number of positive cases (since the Minuwangoda garment factory outbreak) has exceeded 2,850.

According to available statistics, Covid-19 cases have been reported from across many districts including Gampaha, Kurunegala, Puttalam, Galle, Hambantota, Kegalle, Kandy, Vavuniya, Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa, Jaffna, Mannar, Badulla, Kalutara and Moneragala.

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka reported its 14th Covid-19 related death on Thursday. The patient, a 50-year-old woman from Kuliyapitiya, was under treatment at the Infectious Diseases Hospital (IDH) at the time of her death.

Asked whether the quarantine curfew imposed in some areas of Colombo North was meant to facilitate contact tracing, Dr. Bandara, who doubles up as the Health Ministry’s official spokesman, said the objective was also to curtail the movement of people.

“As most people tend to travel from one area to another within their locality for various reasons, we want to restrict their movements to arrest the transmission of the virus”, he noted.

Army Commander, Lt. Gen. Shavendra has asked people, who had visited the Peliyagoda fish market over the past few days, to report to the closest PHI office to undergo PCR tests.

Visitors to the fish market queued outside the Mahara PHI’s office at Kadawatha for PCR screening yesterday.

PCR testing is imperative as most of those who had tested positive for the deadly virus were fish vendors and the possibility of contracting the virus through contact with them remains high, public health officials cautioned.

Where the emergence of the coronavirus at the Peliyagoda fish market was concerned, health officials suspect that the primary carrier was a vendor residing at Dompe.

He is believed to have passed on the infection to the others working within the complex, though it has still not been established how he picked up the virus.

Suspicions also linger about the infection being linked to the Minuwangoda cluster, the officials said.

On Thursday, police announced the imposition of a quarantine curfew in Kotahena as well, in addition to Mattakkuliya, Modara, Bloemendhal, Grandpass and Wellampitiya, where restrictions were placed the previous day.

The curfew in these areas will continue until 5.00 am on Monday (26).

With new infections on the decline, Sri Lanka was gradually recovering from the devastating fallout of the killer virus when the eruption of the garment factory cluster hit hard by triggering a fresh wave with more almost 3,000 new cases reported so far.

The Army Commander is on record saying the Minuwangoda cluster appears to be of foreign origin, but there has to be further verification to firmly establish the source.



News

GMOA swings into action on Vithana’s disclosure of MPs’ salaries, etc.

Published

on

MP Vithana / Dr. Sugathadasa

The Government Medical Officers’ Association (GMOA) has sought an explanation from Parliament regarding how PAYE (Pay As You Earn) is applied to parliamentarians.

GMOA Secretary Dr. Prabath Sugathadasa has written to the Secretary General of Parliament, Kushani Rohanadeera, in terms of the Right to Information (RTI) Act.

Information was sought on 09 July, 2025, in the wake of Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) Kalutara district parliamentarian Jagath Vithana posting his pay sheets from January to May this year on his Facebook.

In addition to information on PAYE, the GMOA has posed a number of other questions to the Secretary General regarding the parliamentarians’ salary as well as pensions.

Parliament passed the RTI Act on 24 June, 2016, and it came into effect on 03 February, 2017. This act, introduced through the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, in 2015, is meant to promote transparency and accountability in government.

New controversy has erupted in the wake of Nawa Janatha Peramuna lodging a complaint with the CIABOC seeking an investigation into Speaker Dr. Jagath Wickremaratne abusing public property, a claim denied by the Secretary General of Parliament.

According to Vithana’s May pay sheet, his monthly allowance is Rs. 54,285, entertainment allowance Rs 1,000, telephone allowance Rs 50,000, sitting allowance Rs 5,000, office allowance Rs 100,000, fuel allowance Rs 97,428.92 and transport allowance Rs. 15,000. His take home pay is Rs 317, 760.92 after the deduction of Rs 1,200 for catering, stamp duty Rs. 25 and Advance Personal Income Tax (APIT).

Asked whether he regretted the releasing of pay sheets, lawmaker Vithana told The Island that in the run-up to the last parliamentary elections, held in November 2024, he had promised the Kalutara electorate he wouldn’t draw his salary. The MP said that however, he later felt the salary should be accepted and used in support of public welfare projects undertaken by him. “Therefore, the money was used appropriately,” he said, adding that both the government and Opposition MPs reacted with resentment. “I feel sort of isolated in Parliament. Hardly anyone talks to me,” MP Vithana said.

Dr. Sugathadasa said that having perused the pay sheets posted online, the GMOA had felt the urgent need to seek a clarification from Parliament as the lawmakers appeared to have received special status. The top GMOA official emphasised they wanted to establish the truth and used the RTI law to obtain information regarding the MPs’ salaries, pensions and other related information. “The GMOA made the request on 09 July, 2025. We are confident the Parliament will answer our queries,” Dr. Sugathadasa said.

Parliament meets only eight days a month. Attendance is not compulsory and there is no fixed time for lawmakers to attend sittings. Over the years, sittings have been suspended for lack of quorum.

The Island asked the GMOA official whether they would seek the intervention of the RTI Commission in case the Parliament declined to reveal the information sought by them. Dr. Sugathadasa said that the Executive Committee of the GMOA would decide the course of action if Parliament withheld information.

A few years ago Chamara Sampath, of Wijeya Newspapers, successfully moved the Court of Appeal against the Parliament after the latter refused to disclose names of Members of Parliament (MPs) who had handed over their respective declarations of assets and liabilities in 2018 and list of names of MPs who have handed over their Declarations from 2010 to the time he made the request (21 June, 2018).

The Court on 28 February, 2023, reaffirmed the RTI Commission’s stand that Declarations of Assets and Liabilities Law of 1975 (DALL) didn’t prevail over the Right to Information Act no. 12 of 2016 (RTI Act).

According to the Parliament website, an MP is paid Rs. 54,285, entertainment allowance Rs 1,000, driver’s allowance Rs 3,500 (only if driver is not provided by government). Fuel allowances are paid based on the distance from Parliament to the electoral district which each MP was elected and the approved market price of one litre of diesel on the first day of every month, telephone allowance Rs 50,000, transport allowance for personal staff Rs 10,000, and stamps worth Rs 350,000 issued to each MP annually.

By Shamindra Ferdinando

Continue Reading

News

Udaya alleges Prez hasn’t given up efforts to bring in outsider as AG

Published

on

Sri Lanka Educator Service Lecturers’ Trade Union yesterday (14) protested outside the Education Ministry, demanding that the government address their grievances. (Pic by Nishan S. Priyantha)

Pivithuru Hela Urumaya (PHU) leader and former Minister Udaya Gammanpila says President Anura Kumara Dissanayake has delayed making a permanent appointment to the post of Auditor General in a bid to bring in an outsider early next year.

Addressing the media yesterday (14), Attorney-at-Law Gammanpila said that three civil society members of the Constitutional Council, who opposed the President’s move, would be completing their term in early January next year. Instead of appointing Dharmapala Gammanpila as the Auditor General, the President had given him only an extension in service so as to get rid of him at the first available opportunity and bring in his crony from the Kelaniya University.

The former lawmaker said that the success of the President’s plan depended on the appointment of pliant civil society members to the CC, ready to help advance the NPP’s agenda.

Continue Reading

News

Poaching: 24 boats, 181 Indians taken into custody so far this year

Published

on

Fishermen taken into custody

In spite of specific warnings issued by fisheries minister Ramalingam Chandrasekar to Indian poachers, trawlers are continuously crossing the Indo-Lanka maritime boundary.

Navy headquarters yesterday (14) said that so far this year they have detained 24 Indian fishing boats and taken into custody 181 fishermen for poaching in Sri Lankan waters. The arrested included seven taken off the Delft Island, Jaffna in the early hours of Sunday.

Navy headquarters spokesman said that operations were conducted taking into account the harmful impact of prohibited fishing practices such as bottom trawling resorted to by Indian poachers, on the livelihood of local fishermen.

Having observed Indian fishing boats off Delft, the Northern Naval Command deployed its craft to drive away those Indian fishing boats from island waters, off the Delft Island.

The detained boat and Indian fishermen were brought to the Kankasanthurai Harbour and handed over to the Fisheries Inspector of Mailadi, Jaffna for legal proceedings.

Sailor disinfecting Indian boat (Pix courtesy Navy)

Continue Reading

Trending