Father of street drama of Sri Lanka bids farewell today

(November 01, Colombo - Lanka Polity) Gamini Hattottuwegama, the pioneer of Sri Lanka's street drama bids farewell to the nation this evening.

Hattottuwegama was a university don that excelled in English literature who could easily maintain the elite status in the middle class society but he came to street and remained there till his death.

In a time most of the talented artistes in Sri Lanka were bought and deployed at their service by the political elite, Hattottuwegama escaped from their hands and passed away without self-tarnishing his image.

He introduced a new art form in drama that was the birth place for many a actors in Sri Lanka. They have left Hattottuwegama on street long time ago, but they continue the inappropriate street drama style in television probably for the amusement of the fallen great man.

Illegally colored rice sold in Sri Lankan markets

(October 31, Colombo - Lanka Polity) Some unscrupulous traders in Sri Lanka have begun a new scam of coloring red raw rice with the purpose of selling them in higher prices. 

Sri Lankans traditionally prefer red rice than white rice and the rice with red crust find better prices in the market.

Coloring grains and cereals is against the law of the country. However, in Bandaragama alone, a suburban town in Western Province, 18 traders have been so far produced in courts for this offense this year, said the Public Health Medical Officer C.M. Jayalath. 

Colored rice and cereals are sold in Sri Lanka's markets freely since the authorities do not conduct raids regularly.

Police cop that publicly drowned a psychiatric patient in Colombo sea surrenders

(October 31, Colombo - Lanka Polity) Lankadeepa Sinhala daily of Sri Lanka said that the cop who was captured in a video of a TV channel in Colombo city while publicly beating a Tamil psychiatric patient until the latter drowned is one named Dimuthu with the police constable number 47749. The police officer that worked in Bamabalapitiya police station surrendered to the Colombo Crime Division.

Police says further investigations are underway to trace his accomplice.

The police officer has gone to the scene where the mad man was throwing stones at the running trains and vehicles with four others including a Police Inspector and a Sub Inspector.

The body of the deceased was recovered by Sri Lanka Navy yesterday afternoon, a day after the incident. He was identified as 26-year-old Balawarnan Sivakumar, by his brother, a resident of Rathmalana. The man had been suffering from a mental disorder since a long time, his brother told.

Galle High Court sentenced several persons involved in robbery and murder of a young woman during 2004 Boxing Day tsunami at Galle bus stand based on video witness despite the body of the victim was not recovered and a postmortem was not carried out.

Sri Lanka Department of Archeology to reserve Jaffna Fort

(October 31, Colombo - Lanka Polity) Sri Lanka Department of Archeology is to launch a project to renovate the Jaffna Dutch Fort located in Jaffna peninsula in the northern tip of the island.

The wall of the Jaffna fortress is now being cleared of the trees grown on it with the help of the Army. However, the Director General of the Archeological Department Dr. Senarath Disanayaka said that although the wall is repairable, the ancient Dutch church building inside the fort is beyond repair.

The cost for the reservation project is estimated at Rs. 400 million. Government of Netherlands provide assistance for the project.

Jaffna Fort was built as a small garrison by the Portuguese in 1618 under Philip De Olivera when the Portuguese invaded Jaffna. Later, on 20th June 1658 the Dutch captured it under Raiclop Van Goins from the Portuguese and expanded its location further. Tamil rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Ealam (LTTE) forced the Sri Lanka Army to withdraw from the fort in 1986 and captured it. Sri Lanka Army in 1996 recaptured the entire Fort surroundings under Riviresa operation and brought it under them.

A psychiatric patient beaten to drown in Colombo as police observes the crime

(October 30, Colombo - Lanka Polity) Sri Lanka's Colombo Crime Division is investigating an incident of police or any other group assaulting a psychiatric patient compelling the latter to jump to sea and to drown.

The ill-fated man reportedly threw stones at trains running  along the coastal railway in Colombo city off Babbalapitiya railway station. Two persons suspected to be the members of either police or the security forces beat him to drown in sea in the attempt to escape from attacks. Lakbima newspaper reported that the police and a large number of others were observing the crime without taking action. The newspaper also said that a private television channel, TNL, has videoed the crime.(Watch video)

Sri Lanka Navy divers were searching for the corpse of the dead man yesterday (29) evening.

Protecting human rights of the psychiatric patients is very low in Sri Lanka. Many of the psychiatric patients are among the lowest income groups in the society and they are in extreme poverty. Lack of free medicine in public hospitals and the unavailability of viable welfare service for these persons have resulted public nuisance.

Around 2% of Sri Lankans are suffering from serious mental illnesses, according to WHO records. However, the country has 35 psychiatricians for the entire 20 million population.

Megalithic cemeteries with tombs found in Sri Lanka

(October 30, Colombo - Lanka Polity) Two cemeteries belonged to the megalithic period have been identified in the Horowpothana divisional secretary area of Anuradhapura district in the NorthCentral Province of Sri Lanka. The two cemeteries are situated near Andiyagala village of Gomarankadawala and close to Sinhalawagahaththikaweva (tank/reservoir).

These cemeteries are believed to belong to the period from 8th to 4th century BC, says the Eastern Province Assistant Director of the Archeological Department M.A.J.R. Madagammana.

The cemetery found from Andigala is spread in around 20 acres with 12 tombs already discovered. The other cemetery found from Sinhalawagahaththika around five acres large and five tombs have been discovered so far.

Sri Lanka imports rice ahead of elections

(October 30, Colombo - Lanka Polity)  Sri Lanka government has allocated funds to import 50,000 metric tons of rice.


The imported stocks are to be used as buffer stocks ahead of the elections. Sri Lanka has anticipated rice price hikes and shortages in near future. President Mahinda Rajapakse said recently in a discussion with the pro-government trade union leaders that there is a conspiracy against the government by the traders to create an artificial rice shortage. Rice is the major staple food of the Sri Lankans.


Sri Lanka is facing a drought situation with the delay if the monsoon rains and thousands of acres of rice fields have been abandoned due to water shortage in the main rice farming areas.

From October to February, Sri Lanka's rice farming districts receive sufficient rains from the northeast monsoon for the cultivation in the main season. Excess water is stocked in reservoirs for limited cultivation in the other season in which low rainfall is recorded.