News
Ranil tells govt. to beware of Afghanistan fallout
… cautions against rushing to recognise new regime there
By Saman Indrajith
The government should take action to prevent Sri Lanka being affected in case of Afghanistan becoming a hub of terrorism, former Prime Minister and UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe said yesterday.
Wickremesinghe said that the government should not immediately recognise the Taliban administration in Afghanistan and make any such decision. The government should take action to prevent Lankans visiting Afghanistan immediately. If the government recognised an administration by Taliban who destroyed Bamiyan Buddha statues that would in a way promote terrorism that has become a serious threat to the entire South Asian region, the UNP leader said.
He said that Taliban had been running Afghanistan on a previous occasion and many terror groups had gathered around them during that time. The Al Qaeda, which carried out the Sept 11 attacks on the US too operated from Afghanistan. It is feared that Afghanistan under the Taliban rule would become the new centre of jihadism and Sri Lanka should pay attention to this issue when making a decision whether it would recognize that administration, the UNP leader said.
The Cabinet of Ministers has approved the proposal presented by the Minister of Agriculture, Livestock, Land, and Irrigation to provide the required provisions to purchase the green gram harvest in a competitive manner with the private sector by expanding the program initiated by the National Food Promotion Board, on the advice of the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Land, and Irrigation,
Green gram has been cultivated in an area of about 16,500 hectares in the 2025 Yala Season and intermediate season and a harvest of about 14,600 metric tons of green gram is expected. Currently, green gram harvesting has started in the Hambantota district, and it has been reported that middlemen are buying the harvest for a low price of Rs. 450/- per kilogram.
Approval has been granted at the cabinet meeting held on 08-02-2021 to award 326 bridge construction contracts to the State Development and Construction Corporation for the construction of bridges across the island under the Rural Bridges Program.
The construction of a further 23 bridges has been assigned to the Road Development Authority.
It had been decided in the year 2022, to stop the construction of 184 bridges, where construction had not been initiated. The construction of 45 bridges from the 142 remaining bridges have already been completed.
Accordingly, the Cabinet of Ministers has approved the proposal presented by the Minister of Transport, Highways, and Urban
Development to recommence the construction of the remaining 74 bridges by the State Development and Construction Corporation and to complete the construction expeditiously.
Policy approval of the Cabinet of Ministers was granted at their meeting held on 16.06.2025 to repeal the Parliamentary Pension Act No. 1 of 1971 of the State Council.
In keeping with the promise given to all Sri Lankans who supported the vision of ‘A wealthy country – A beautiful life’ which appeared in the policy declaration of the Government, a draft bill has been prepared by the Legal Draftsmen for
repealing the Parliamentary Pension Act with the objective of cancelling pensions rights given to elected members of the Parliament and their spouses.
As the Attorney General has given clearance to the draft bill, the approval of the Cabinet of Ministers was granted to the proposal submitted by the Minister of Justic and National Integration to publish the said draft bill in the government gazette notification and subsequently to be presented to the Parliament for its concurrence.
Vijayakanth Viyaskanth added to Sri Lanka squad for tri-series
Purchasing of 2025 green gram harvest
Cabinet approves the completion 74 bridges under the Rural Bridge Program
‘Heartbroken’ Alcaraz pulls out of Davis Cup Finals
Parliamentary Pension Act No. 1 of 1971 to be repelled
Cabinet nod to appoint Dr. (Eng.) K. Waligepolage as Director General of Irrigation
‘Dates have the highest sugar content to fight Coronavirus’
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