Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) planning to open an aviation technology school in Digana

Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) is planning to open an aviation technology school in Digana Air Force camp in Kandy district. Commander of SLAF Air Marshal Sudarshana Pathirana announced this addressing media at Kandy on 7th November. 

The newly appointed 18th SLAF Commander visited the sacred Buddhist Temple of the Tooth in Kandy and invoked blessings there. 

The Air Force Commander said that the aviation technology school would educate youth on aero technology, engineering and other related subjects. 

He said that similar schools would be started in Northern, Eastern, North Central and Southern Provinces as well in future. 

Sri Lanka Railway's wrong media statement causes trouble to Panadura commuters

A wrong message by Sri Lanka Railway communicated by media caused a loss to Panadura railway station and the passengers who use the busy railway station.

A press statement by Sri Lanka Railway wrongly included Panadura and Pinwatta railway stations on the coastal lines into the list of railway stations in isolated areas at which the trains would not stop. However, no media questioned why Panadura and Pinwatta that were not in isolated areas had been in the list. 

The trains stopped at Panadura railway station normally yesterday but the number of passengers was very few due to Sri Lanka Railway's wrong statement. 

R.A.S. Premathilaka, a journalist of Bandaragama reported to Divaina newspaper that four trains bound Colombo stopped at Panadura station between 5.45 and 6.25 a.m. and a train started from Panadura station at 6.45. Only 30 passengers had boarded on these trains from Panadura although the bus stands were crowded and the commuters were in trouble.

Photo Credit to http://www.shashanka.in/

Sri Lanka government grabs the chair of Committee of Public Finance from the Opposition

Sri Lanka major opposition Samagi Jana Balavegaya (SJB) MP Dr. Harsha de Silva said that appointing government MP Anura Priyadarshana Yapa the Chairman of the parliamentary Committee of Public Finance was against checks and balances. He said that the appointment had been done after suspending the Standing Order that the Chairman must be from the Opposition. 

"I registered our strong protest. No check and balance!" MP Harsha de Silva tweeted. 

With reference to Standing Order 121, the post is held by an MP of the Opposition. Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi (ITAK) MP M.A. Sumanthiran chaired the Committee of Public Finance in the last session of the previous parliament. 

Yapa's name was proposed by Minister Bandula Gunawardane and seconded by MP Dilan Perera when the committee met for the first time today.  

Eighteen member Committee of Public Finance was appointed on 3rd November. Ministers Bandula Gunawardana (SLPP), Nalaka Godahewa (SLPP), Keheliya Rambukwella (SLPP), Susil Premajayantha (SLPP), D.V. Chanaka (SLPP), Vidura Wickramanayaka (SLPP), Sarath Weerasekera (SLPP) and MP’s Anura Priyadharshana Yapa(SLPP), Vijitha Herath (NPP), Dilan Perera (SLPP), Harsha de Silva (SJB), M.A. Sumanthiran (ITAK), Chaminda Wijesiri (SJB), Hesha Withanage (SJB), Isuru Dodangoda (SLPP), Anupa Pasqual (SLPP), Sahan Pradeep Withana (SLPP) and Ranjith Bandara (SLPP) were appointed to the Committee on Public Finance. 

The proposal made by its members to appoint the Chairperson of the Committee at the committee meeting itself was passed in Parliament on November 3. 

Committee of Public Finance will meet again on November 12th to discuss the Appropriation Bill.

The parliament website mentions the following facts about the Committee of Public Finance:

The Committee on Public Finance consists of a Chair and eleven Members nominated by the Committee of Selection provided that the Chair shall be a Member of the Opposition.

It shall be the duty of the Committee on Public Finance to examine -

(a) the collection of revenue under Article 148 of the Constitution;
(b) the payment from the Consolidated Fund;
(c) the utilization of public funds for specific purposes by law;
(d) the application of public funds;
(e) the recessions of appropriations contained in the Appropriations Act for the current year, the transfer of appropriation and the unexpected balance;
(f) the implementation of the Appropriation Act for the current year;
(g) public debt and debt service; and
(h) reports and statements under the Fiscal Management (Responsibility) Act, No. 3 of 2003.

The Committee shall have power to fix its quorum.

 Reports

The Committee shall make interim reports from time to time.

The Committee shall, from time to time, report to Parliament, the issues arising from the matters referred to in paragraph above.

The Committee shall present within six weeks of the tabling of the Appropriation Bill a report on the estimates including whether the allocation of money is in compliance with the policies of the Government.

The Committee shall present before Parliament within four days after the presentation of the Budget and the Second Reading of the Appropriation Bill a Report on the fiscal, financial and economic assumptions used as the basis in arriving at total estimated expenditure and revenue.

[Refer to Standing Order No. 121]

WHO to provide COVID-19 vaccination to 20% of Sri Lankans

WHO has agreed to vaccinate about 20% against COVID-19, Sri Lanka Ministry of Health said in a press release. However, vaccination for COVID-19 immunity is yet to be invented. 

The press release said that WHO agreed to this at a discussion held at the Ministry of Health. Minister of Health Pavithra Wanniarachchi, State Minister of Production, Supply and Regulation of Pharmaceuticals Prof. Channa Jayasumana, WHO representative to Sri Lanka Dr. Razia Pendse, Secretary to the Ministry of Health Major General Dr. Sanjiva Munasinghe and Director General of Health Dr. Aseka Gunawardane participated in this discussion. 

A special committee was appointed by the Minister of Health to study and plan logistics for the immunization process. 

WHO website says, "Many potential vaccines for COVID-19 are being studied, and several large clinical trials may report results later this year. If a vaccine is proven safe and effective, it must be approved by national regulators, manufactured to exacting standards, and distributed. WHO is working with partners around the world to help coordinate key steps in this process. Once a safe and effective vaccine is available, WHO will work to facilitate equitable access for the billions of people who will need it."

However, WHO further says, "We don’t yet know exactly when a safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine will be ready for distribution, but we estimate that it could be in early to mid-2021."

Read more in WHO website about COVID-19 vaccine. 

(Photo: WHO)

Sri Lanka government leaders making contradictory statements without working as a team - opposition accuse

Sri Lanka major opposition Samagi Jana Balavegaya (SJB) MP Hesha Vithanage said that the government has dropped the responsibility of control the second wave of COVID-19. He said that the government leaders and the officials are making contradictory statements without working as a team. 

Addressing a press briefing held in the office of the Opposition Leader, he accused that the Brandix company has not followed the quarantine regulations regarding their employees who were from India, according to his information. 

He further said that patients are afraid of the authorities because of the overuse of military and police powers. Therefore, the patients evade the authorities and sometimes die at home. He urged the government to change the policies regarding the control of COVID-19 for the benefit of the people. 

He said that the government was trying to strictly impose regulations without providing solutions to the problems to social problems like public transport and waste of farmers' and fishermen's products at the market. The government has failed even before the rice millers through their ineffective gazettes on controlling the price of rice. He further said that an institute of which the management was very close to the Rajapaksa family had made the return of the expatriate workers a usurping business. Similarly, the government has made COVID-19 also a business, he charged.  

MP Hesha Vithanage accused that the government was not managing the solutions for the problems because there was no election nearby. He said that the SJB would question in the parliament the insufficient allocation of funds for the Ministry of Health amidst ongoing COVID-19 pandemic through the appropriation bill. 

Supreme Court orders the government and police to pay Rs. 200,000 as damage for torturing a soldier

Supreme Court of Sri Lanka ordered the Officer-in-Charge of Hettipola police station and the Crime Officer-in-Charge of the same police station to pay Rs. 50,000 each personally as the damage for violating the human rights of a soldier.

Additionally, the government was ordered to pay another Rs. 100,000 as damage.  

The two officials arrested the soldier in July 2011 suspecting he had been an Army deserter and tortured him. His mother submitted a letter that stated he had legally resigned from the Army. But police continued to torture him and he was remanded for five months. 

The victim is Don Samantha Kumara. The judgment was delivered by a panel of Supreme Court judges comprising Priyantha Jayawardana, L.T.B. Dehideniya and S. Thurairajah. 

Hospital transport bus driver found dead; suspected of suicide in fear of corona

The wife of a bus driver of Sri Lanka who was found dead near his house yesterday (Nov 08) said that her husband might have committed suicide by hanging himself due to fear of coronavirus.  

The driver of state-owned Sri Lanka Transport Board transported hospital staff to Nagoda General Hospital of Kalutara during the curfew in the past week. The wife said that he had been in trauma after one person who travelled on the bus had been positive for COVID-19. 

"He was in fear that he would contact the virus and often talked about it," the wife of the deceased said.

The dead man is a 56 years old resident of Yatiyana, Agalawatta. 

Editorial opinion:

Contact tracing and other measures of Sri Lankan military, police and public health officials covered by media cause mental stress among some people and a more sensitive approach is required. Government has already changed policies regarding quarantine and all associates are self-quarantined at home now. However, the draconian actions previously followed are fixed in the minds of the people. Health authorities must attend to this issue immediately.   

Call 1926 from any telephone for help when anyone needs mental health support. It is the toll-free National Mental Health Helpline of the Ministry of Health.