News
UNP blames it all on govt.
The UNP has accused the government of failing to contain the ‘second wave’ of the coronavirus.
The party has urged the government to give full priority to the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak, and do it duty of ensuring the health and safety of the citizens of the country.
The UNP has, in a media statement, expressed its concern about what it calls the government’s delayed response in combatting the fresh outbreak of COVID-19 in the country.
“Despite repeated warnings of a pending second wave from the World Health Organisation, the government chose to propagate the idea that it had defeated the virus, without taking adequate steps to protect the citizens of the country from resurgence.
“The government failed to enact relevant legislation which would have bolstered the anti-COVID efforts. The lack of proper laws has resulted in the breakdown of the prevention methods as was seen last evening (29) when the citizens of Colombo left the city in large numbers ahead of the pending lockdown.”
The UNP has said the inability of the government to curb the movement of citizens from the Western Province has now endangered the citizens of the other Provinces in the country as well.
“In April this year Leader of the UNP Ranil Wickremesinghe and TNA MP M.A. Sumanthiran, drafted a Public Health Emergency Bill which was presented to the government. They have failed to act on this legislation, which has rendered them ineffective.
“The recent breakdown of a coronavirus mass testing machine will severely impact the government’s efforts to control the spread of the virus. Currently, it takes over five days for the results of the PCR tests conducted by the government to be made known; this delay has an impact on both the health and safety of the public as well as the economic activities of the country. The unavailability of machines to conduct tests will only serve to further delay the results of the PCR tests being conducted in the country.”
The UNP has said it is the responsibility of this government to have ensured adequate testing facilities were installed around the country to prevent delays. There is also a concern regarding a pending shortage of hospital beds and ventilators. The government must make all efforts to increase the capacity at the hospitals to accommodate patients from this second wave.
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.
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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
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