News

Port City Bill: Kiriella questions bona fides of govt.

Published

5 years ago

2021/04/20

By Saman Indrajith

Chief Opposition Whip and SJB Kandy District MP Lakshman Kiriella yesterday questioned the bona fides of the government with regard to the Colombo Port Economic Commission Bill.

Addressing the media at the Opposition Leader’s office in Colombo, MP Kiriella said that the government had been in a mighty hurry to present the Bill to Parliament on April 08. “I was in the Chamber in the evening of April 08. The government did not inform the party leaders’ meeting held the week before that it would present such a bill. The timing of the presenting of the bill too raises doubts. It seems that the government wanted to block the process of challenging the bill in the Supreme for its constitutionality. It was presented to the House while the country was getting ready to celebrate the Sinhala and Tamil New Year. With the intervening weekend and public holidays had just two working days to retain lawyers, many of whom were on vacation, and file applications challenging the constitutionality of the Bill in the Supreme Court within the one-week period stipulated in the Constitution. The intentions of the government with regard to the bill are crooked and not genuine right from the beginning because they knew that they were doing something wrong,” Kiriella said.

The Kandy District MP challenged the Government to bring about four changes to the draft Bill if the latter was truly genuine in its intentions with regard to the Bill. “We propose to bring about a clause or section to the draft Bill making it answerable to Parliament. So that parliament’s supremacy over public finances would be guaranteed and the parliamentary committees such as Committee on Public Enterprises and Committee on Public Accounts would be able to oversee the proposed Colombo Port Economic Commission. In addition, it should be made compulsory for the CPEC to submit their annual reports on finances and performance to Parliament. Third proposal is that a clause should be introduced to the draft bill without any uncertain terms preventing money-laundering in the Port City area. Fourth, a section or clause should be inserted among the provisions of the draft bill preventing the inflow of funds from terrorist activities to the port city,” MP Kiriella said.

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News

SAARC journalists meet in New Delhi

Published

10 hours ago

2026/02/6

Priyan

President of SJF Sri Lanka Chapter Rahul Samantha Hettiarachchi hands over a memento to Dr Alok Kumar Mishra Joint Secretary of the Association of Indian Universities

Members of the South Asian Journalists Forum have gathered at the University of New Delhi for a two day conference themed ‘Peace and Co-operation’.

Journalists from Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka and India are attending the conference hosted by the University of Delhi in collaboration with the India Chapter of SJF, and will deliberate on how the media can act as a catalyst for regional stability and mutual coexsistence.

A tree plantation campaign was also held at the Ghandi Bhawan premises of the University to mark the event and symbolize growing regional ties.

The Sri Lanka delegation is led by President of SJF’s Sri Lanka Chapter Rahul Samantha Hettiarachchi.

News

Governor of Gujarat met with Sri Lanka PM to discuss exposition of Devnimori Relics

Published

12 hours ago

2026/02/6

Priyan

The Governor of the of Gujarat, Acharya Devvrat, along with the Deputy Chief Minister of Gujarat, Harsh Sanghvi, met with Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya on Thursdy [February 05] at the Parliamentary Complex to discuss the arrangements related to the exposition of the Devnimori Sacred Relics of Lord Buddha, which have been brought to Sri Lanka under the patronage of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Government of India.

These sacred relics of Lord Buddha were discovered during archaeological excavations conducted in the 1960s at the historic Devnimori site in Gujarat, the home state of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Until now, these relics had never been taken outside India. As a result of discussions held between President Anura Kumara Dissanayake and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his recent visit to Sri Lanka, the people of Sri Lanka have been granted this rare opportunity to venerate these sacred relics.

The exposition of the relics is being held for a period of seven days, from February 05 to February 11, at the Gangaramaya Temple in Hunupitiya, Colombo. Discussions were held between both parties regarding the arrangements related to this event.

The discussion was attended by Samar Nanda, Joint Secretary of the Indian Ministry of Culture; Dr. Satyanjal Pandey, Acting High Commissioner of India in Sri Lanka; Abhijit Halder, Director General of the International Buddhist Confederation; along with several others.

[Prime Minister’s Media Division]

News

INS GHARIAL makes port call in Colombo

Published

19 hours ago

2026/02/6

Priyan

The Indian Naval Ship (INS) GHARIAL made a port call in Colombo for operational turnarounds on 04 Feb 26. The Sri Lanka Navy welcomed the visiting ship in compliance with naval traditions.

Commanded by Commander Gaurav Tewari, INS GHARIAL is a vessel with a length of 124.8 meters.

During this visit, ten (10) Bailey Bridges, brought by ship, through the coordination of the High Commission of India in Sri Lanka, will be handed over to the Disaster Management Center. These bridges will provide temporary transportation links while bridges damaged across the island by adverse weather conditions are repaired.

The crew’s itinerary features scheduled goodwill activities with the Sri Lanka Navy, alongside visits to several tourist attractions across the island.