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President Dissanayake chairs pre-budget discussion on Transport, Highways, Ports and Civil Aviation
A pre-budget discussion for the Ministry of Transport, Highways, Ports and Civil Aviation was held this morning (13) at the Presidential Secretariat, chaired by President Anura Kumara Dissanayake.
The meeting focused on reviewing the 2025 budget allocations and formulating proposals for the 2026 budget.
President Dissanayake reviewed each transport sector separately, including highways, expressways and rural roads and examined the budget allocations for ports, their operations, the utilisation of funds and future development plans.
He directed officials to prepare measures to ensure reliable services on rural bus routes, even if the government has to bear the cost, noting that these routes often operate at a loss but remain vital to the public.
Underscoring the importance of strategic investment, the President stressed that upcoming budget planning should prioritise sectors essential to national development. He urged officials to focus on initiatives that would enable the transport, highways, ports and civil aviation sectors to make a greater contribution to the economy.
The meeting was attended by Minister of Transport, Highways, Ports and Civil Aviation Bimal Ratnayake; Deputy Minister of Transport and Highways Dr. Prasanna Gunasena; Deputy Minister of Ports and Civil Aviation Engineer Janitha Ruwan Kodithuwakku; Secretary to the President Dr. Nandika Sanath Kumanayake; Secretary to the Ministry of Finance Dr. Harshana Suriyapperuma; Senior Additional Secretaries to the President Russell Aponsu and Kapila Janaka Bandara; along with other senior officials from the Ministry.
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Shafali, Renuka close in on top five in ICC T20I rankings
India’s opening batter Shafali Verma and swing bowler Renuka Singh have moved up to sixth spots in the ICC’s T20I batting and bowling rankings respectively.
Shafali is the leading scorer in the ongoing bilateral series against Sri Lanka by a distance, her 236 runs nearly twice as many as second-highest scorer Smriti Mandhana’s 120. Renuka is also the leading wicket-taker, her four wickets level with team-mates Deepti Sharma, Vaishnavi Sharma and Shree Charani.
Shafali went up four places with back-to-back scores of 69*, 79* and 79 in the second, third and fourth T20Is. Renuka, meanwhile, climbed eight places to reach the joint-sixth position along with South Africa’s Nonkululeko Mlaba, particularly through her 4 for 21 in the third game of the series. Deepti leads the bowlers’ rankings after taking that position last week. Both Shafali and Renuka have also bagged one Player-of-the-Match award each in the series that India lead 4-0, with the last match scheduled for Tuesday in Thiruvananthapuram.
If India win today (30), this will be their third 5-0 series win in T20Is. They won by that scoreline in the West Indies in 2019 and in Bangladesh last year. Sri Lanka have, however, never before lost a T20I series 5-0.
(Cricinfo)
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S. Achchudan appointed as Director General of the Sports Development Department.
The Cabinet of Ministers granted their concurrence to the resolution furnished by the Minister of Youth Affairs to appoint S. Achchudan of Special Grade of Sri Lanka Administrative Service, who is currently serving as an Additional Commissioner of Elections at the Elections Commission who is
recommended by the panel of interviewers to the post of Director General of the Sports Development Department with effect form 01.01.2026.
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Amendment of the National Environment Act No. 47 of 1980
The Cabinet of Ministers granted approval to the proposal furnished by the Minister of Environment to publish the draft bill of the National Environment (Amended) Act in the government gazette notification and subsequently to submit the same to the Parliament for its concurrence.
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