Courtesy Adaderana

Courtesy Adaderana

Ministry of Health has launched an investigation into the irregularities at COVID vaccination program at Unawatuwa in Galle, following the exposé by Ada Derana ‘Ukussa’ on Monday (June 07).

State Minister of Production, Supply and Regulation of Pharmaceuticals, Prof. Channa Jayasumana brought the matter to attention during the parliamentary session convened earlier today (June 08).

As per ‘Ukussa’ revelation, a group of individuals from the Western Province had attended the vaccination program in Galle to receive the second dose of Oxford-AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine.

State Minister Prof. Jayasumana said a team from Health Ministry has already been deployed to Galle to look into the matter.

Legal and disciplinary action will be sought against those the individuals who attended the vaccination program violating the protocols, he stressed.

Courtesy Adaderana

Sri Lanka on Tuesday (June 08) registered 54 more victims of COVID-19, marking the highest number of deaths recorded in a single day.

The latest fatalities have moved the country’s death toll to 1,843, the, the Department of Government Information said.

The Department of Government Information stated that 15 of the victims had succumbed to the virus infection between the period of May 10 – May 31. The rest of them have died between June 02 – June 07.

The deceased were identified as residents of Katana, Uduwela, Mawanella, Aranayake, Maligawatta, Eravur 02, Kadawatha, Moratuwa, Alubomulla, Wadduwa, Walasmulla, Kolawenigama, Colombo 15, Ja-Ela, Wattala, Bathgammulla, Thalathuoya, Badulla, Kilinochchi, Nikaweratiya, Maradankadawala, Medawachchiya, Athurugiriya, Elpitiya, Karandeniya, Periyaneelavanai, Kantale, Matale, Rattota, Horampella, Batugoda, Veyangoda, Kandy, Akurana, Udispattuwa, Lunuwatta, Thorapitiya, Mahiyanganaya, Ragama, Colombo 13, Kandana, Avissawella, Wathupitiwala, Pannipitiya and Marawila areas. 

As per official data, 26 victims in total were aged over 70 years. Eleven victims were in the age group 61-69 years and ten were aged between 50-59 years. Remaining seven victims were in the age group of 30-49.

COVID pneumonia and complications from chronic diseases such as diabetes and heart disease have been recorded as the cause of death of the victims.

Courtesy Adaderana

The Epidemiology Unit of the Health Ministry reports that another 514 persons have tested positive for COVID-19 in Sri Lanka, moving the daily total of new cases to 2,637.

This brings the total number of confirmed cases of coronavirus reported in the country to 210,661.

As many as 178,259 recoveries and 1,789 deaths have been confirmed in Sri Lanka since the outbreak of the pandemic.

The Epidemiology Unit’s data showed that 30,613 active cases are currently under medical care.

EDWARD THEOPHILUS

Competition is a helpful disposition in the dynamic environment and might help for social and economic progress if it works well in society concerning the broader spectrum. The concept of competition entered politics as a feature of democracy, and many opinions that competition in politics would be harmful to society when competition animates, dividing people in society. In connection with Sri Lanka, it observed that the competition in politics has divided the society as every matter of human life has been invaded by politics. This idea may not be accepted by many who engage in competitive politics, people with historical knowledge gratifying the view comparing social experience in the current society and the past might have different points of view. Sometimes, diverse people might argue about competition with the broader view as it can find supportive and contrary panorama.

However, the pure competition gradually turned into an oligopoly that defined in the game theory that zero-sum two persons will be achieved when entered an unusual competition, especially in economic activities, many firms dissolved or sold out because of lack of ability to compete. During the past several centuries people haven’t had a concrete experience like the Covid-19 pandemic that forced them to change attitudes toward social, economic, political, and religious aspects. G8 countries have agreed to increase tax for multinational firms because of the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. The concept of competition had been working engendering society and creating massive disadvantage to the poor, but political administration in the capitalist system elevated competition stating it will create benefit to society. It is the pluralist problem.

During the reign of Kings and Queens, a cut-thought competition was not animated in a liberal format by a political administration that had direct or indirect support to rich people. Most probably such competition could have led to destroying the capitalist class. Despite the deep analysis of the competitive environment, it showed that monopolistic competition embarked on the market, reducing the spirit of competition. As monopolistic competition was among few, it disadvantaged the poor than pure competition. Business giants in the reign of royals may have a difference in strategy in terms of royal advisors to secure the capitalist system and protect the capitalist approach from communist ideology. The visible nature of the world was a competitive environment was working, dividing people and creating disadvantages for the poor. Powerful countries in the world are gradually understanding the truth at present and attempt to make some decisions and the determination of the success of such decisions is too early.

In the modern era, it observes that cut-thought competition is being a part of a business, and firms promote products in a market economic system highlighting the products that are closer to the desires of consumers, and many accept that the market economic system has been supported creating disadvantages to the poor despite a few ratios of the community look opposite way. Entrepreneurs and capitalists are generating massive benefits which are not reflected as profits but in other formats such as share options, housing, and many others. People who have capital in hand or capable of borrowing may able to get market power in this situation and competition keep in hand. Political focus and economic policies in many countries could be seen either have refuge in the two aspects of competition secretly manipulate to show justice to the mass community.

Another repercussion of modern competition is the declining trend of product quality. People observe much cheating in price slashing, product quantity changes, quantity changes in product ingredients, and many others in modern competition. A notable example shows in Sri Lanka arts have entered a competition and the quality of products such as teledrama, cinema, and many products are being declined and use the market of drama to promote business.

The traditional society had been efficiently operated and aligned to competition with reasonable routes. In modern society, regulations have become an instrument to show justice whilst they become a constraint providing limited opportunities, however, the mass community accepts that regulation provides justice to a certain extent as they support minimizing disadvantages. Another vital point in the traditional society was that entry-exit abilities for business were free and people had very limited concern on the matter. Regulations in the modern business environment show support justices, however, many instances show that they support limiting entering new investors to the market.  

When critically evaluate socio-economic, political, and religious evolution, the COVID-19 pandemic has become a turning point of changing society when compared to evidence found in the past several centuries. It came to this world in 2019 as an epidemic and quickly infected people in China. WHO later revealed the epidemic was a pandemic that spreads all over the world. No doubt that the pandemic can infect people in any country and spread without discrimination. Since 2019, businesses have been suffered from the pandemic relating to factors of production, distribution of production, and selling productions. Producers and consumers are suffered from various areas of production and consumption-related issues. The Covid-19 pandemic has influenced human life than any other incident except world wars in history. However, governments, political, social, and economic organizations reluctant to openly talk about the real impact of the pandemic as they assume, open talks would be harmful to society 

After the spread of the pandemic, notable changes in attitudes of people are visible in the socio-economic environment, as many countries have recognised social distancing as an effective way of controlling the spreading of the virus, it is seen in many countries lockdowns and opening frequently and the situation has become perilous experience, some instances difficult to adapt.  

Since the 1980s developed as well as developing countries gave priority to service industries in which social gatherings were a common feature such as in sports, nightclubs, and many other services that promoted social integration. Poor people and the middle class associated with social and economic integration that has been generated economic and social benefits such as employment, small business opportunities, subcontracts, and understanding each other for business promotion. From the religious point of view, social integration is forced to reject social values and promote the immoral behavior of the young generation, making a society forcing the governments to spend more funds for policing and controlling illicit drugs, alcohol, prostitution, and conflicts. Social integration has generated advantages and disadvantages. Rich people in all countries gained massive advantages and market opportunities from social integration and the social distancing began with the covid pandemic created massive losses to the rich.  

Now it seems developed countries attempt to manipulate the market by misleading people. The best example is market manipulation in the property market and media supports fabricating land and house prices massively increased when many people are suffering without money to buy a piece of land to build a house. It is like the statement made by the French queen if there is no bread to eat cake. When poor people have no shelters to live in, capitalist governments say land and house prices have gone up. If it thinks from the point of view of religion, governments sell lands that were created by God for people ignoring the poor. The covid pandemic forces to change market manipulation and do justice to the poor.

I visited a place where the government organised to jab covid vaccine and people haven’t had smiling faces as they were concerned about the effect of the pandemic. People need to change attitudes towards many aspects. The capitalist system used price mechanisms to answer basic economic problems, and after the Russian Revolution, Central Planning Systems in communist countries fixed to answer basic economic problems, and many countries attempted to follow a mixed economy that has a mixture of capitalist and communist systems. These systems ignored genuine issues of the poor who represent over 70% of the world population.

COVID-19 pandemic has forced us to invent an alternative method that would be reasonable to the rich and poor in consumption, investment, and saving. The higher rate of profits generate from enterprises goes to capital owners and executive management of firms. Poor workers push behind the rich class and to gain a small benefit the families need to struggle that creating problems society. Many small countries are blotted to spreading the myth of modernization in the market and certain fashion forces young people to accept immoral behavior and addict vicious narcotics. Technology has been an innovative aspect, but it has failed to give justice to society. All activities in the modern market safeguard the principles of a capitalist system and changing attitudes of people to force the rulers to make a new market approach is directly or indirectly by the covid pandemic. However, rulers of large developed countries have no agreement on this matter. They want to hang in capitalist approaches.

Innovation in the social system and promoting human values based on science and technology are needed but not converting them to make massive profits to rich class and promoting these attitudes to change society is reminded by the Covid pandemic. The current system of treatments in the economic and social system might not be useful for the post-pandemic environment. Justice in society will be achieved by conserving together economy and society with justice.

Religious attitudes of people are disciplined by public behavior of people than thinking about religions (philosophical and social aspects) are not from the point of view of scientific discoveries. Beliefs of people on religious concepts have ingrained looking at discoveries on the planet Mars. When religions began in the world, people had a mere belief about the planet Earth and now people believe about the universe which comprises billions of galaxies, and the power of almighty God creating the universe and controlling it. Although people think almighty God is like a human, it is not. The role of religions is to convince those humans in a fallen stage upgrading to convincing grace is an essential task. People were relegated to the fallen stage because of various reasons, religions give reasons for committing sins, and all religions, irrespective of what religion is, support people, to come on convincing grace.                                                                                       

By Noor Nizam – Peace and Political Activist, Political Communications Researcher, SLFP/SLPP Stalwart, Convener The Muslim Voice” and Member Viyathmaga”, June 7^th., 2021.

ARE THEY MISUSING THE POWER OF THE PEN”/INTERNET TO MISGUIDE PEOPLE?

Content about Sri Lanka’s relationship with China and the newly developing Colombo Port City Project with Chinese engagement has been subjected to a lot of scrutiny by the print, electronic, digital and social-media freelance journalists since the Colombo Port City Bill was presented to Cabinet by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa for approval on the 4^th., January 2021.  The bill once approved will become legislation on being gazetted and passed in Parliament.

The Parliament of Sri Lanka on Thursday May 20^th., passed the Port City Economic Commission Bill with 149 votes in favour and 58 against, as reported by the local media and which has been gazette officially. An Economic Commission has already been established for the $1.4 billion Colombo Port City enabling it to attract investment and function as an international financial city. In the Keynote Address at the inauguration of the Sri Lanka Investment Forum 2021 held on 7^th., June 2021 – His Excellency Gotabaya Rajapaksa, President of Sri Lanka had this also to state:

We now stand on the cusp of a national transformation that can not only uplift Sri Lanka but have positive impacts on the entire region while creating tremendous value for investors across multiple sectors and through diverse instruments.

I invite you to join us on this transformational journey by investing in Sri Lanka.”

FACTS HAVE TO BE STUBBORN.
JOURNALISM IS THE ONLY WAY TO BRING OUT FACTS.
SOCIAL MEDIA IS THE STRENGTH OF THE PEOPLE THAT CAN VOICE THE TRUTH.

The forces that are and the West ” WERE ” very much concerned to STOP this Bill from getting passed in Parliament. China’s support to Sri Lanka cannot be stomached by the West and the USA, including the EU, because Sri Lanka will be in the One Belt One Road” project and will later join the CPEC (China Pakistan Economic Commission) as invited by Hon. Imran Khan, PM of Pakistan, a must for Sri Lanka to become a prosperous and developed Nation, economically and socially to achieve Peace and Harmony in the coming decades. The Colombo Port City will become a Financial Hub and an investment center in the region and this will accelerate the growth of all the nations in South East Asia and the Asia Pacific, with China being the guiding light. If the verdict of the Supreme Court is that certain amendments should be in coopted to the Bill, then the government acted accordingly and got this Bill passed at the very earliest for the benefit of our Mathruboomiya” and the next generation. 

It is a pity that our law makers, MAJORITY of the 225 in parliament are all idiotic fools who sit in parliament consuming our tax money being elected by the innocent people who are hoping for a better future. I do not think that even 25 of these fool (MP’s) would have read the bill or have resourced content/knowledge material in print or the internet to take a look/understand what is the larger picture of both these major Chinese projects are (Hambantota Habour and the Colombo Port City) in respect to the REALITY it will be for Sri Lanka.

Look at the KARAKORAM HIGHWAY” that China has built jointly with Pakistan, a road that is now linking Pakistan and China – 1300 km long which had taken 20 years to accomplish and claimed today as the 7th., wonder of the world. These MP’s who are trying to criticize should have visited Pakistan and taken a trip (drive) from Pakistan to China on this highway to see for themselves the development and socio-economic development this project has brought to the rural and remote villages/urban towns and the people through which the Highway has been built. THE FREELANCE JOURNALISTS, SHOULD ALSO TRY AND MAKE A VISIT TO PAKISTAN, YOURSELVES TO SEE FOR YOUR SELF the reality. The Pakistan High Commission in Colombo may be too pleased to help you out if needed, I am sure. This Karakoram HW link has benefited Pakistan with Sterling pounds 14 billion annually from trade alone.

The KARAKORAM HIGHWAY” and rail links will reach out to all the CIS countries and reach the Mediterranean Sea in the near future and become part of the One Belt One Road” project. Sri Lanka cannot lose this great opportunity because our law makersand “Freelance Journalists” cannot SEE FAR”. The Government has got this bill passed in parliament on the foundation of the support of the people, by the grace of God AllMighty.

SLUNA

O5th June 2021

Dear SLUNA members and friends,

As you all are aware, the bill 104, namely Tamil Genocide Education bill has become a law in Province of Ontario on 12^th May 2021.

The law alleges that a Tamil Genocide, has taken place in Sri Lanka since 1948, and it says it is necessary to educate school children about its history to remember.

 Under these circumstances, I presume that all of you very well understand the situation our young kids would face in schools in the future. Canadian born young Sinhala kids would be mentally harassed for no fault of themselves. They would not know anything of these ugly made-up stories with full of hate.

Under this unfortunate situation, we strongly believe that SLUNA should take a lead in protecting our young children from this sad situation. Though, this year they were silent, we are sure that they would do a well-planned Tamil genocide education week by 2022. It will be much easier for them carry on with such a task with the support of many Tamil trustees in school boards.  

For 35 long years SLUNA fought a very tiresome battle against Tamil terrorism propaganda which was designed to destabilise our Mother country, Sri Lanka. Therefore, we strongly believe that it is our duty to fight this discriminatory piece of legislature of Ontario with the legal system of Canada.

Few Sri Lankan community organizations, namely,

Sri Lanka Canadian Action Coalition (SLCAC)

Sri Lanka United National Association of Canada (SLUNA)

Canadian Sri Lankan Center for Social Harmony (CSLCSH)

Sri Lanka Canadian Action Coalition Brampton (SLCAB)

We now have come together and planned to launch a legal battle against this discriminating piece of legislature of the Ontario government.  We do not see any other remedy to overcome this discriminatory situation.

Our group have discussed this matter with eminent lawyers and sought their advice and they said the chances are very good for us to win the case. We have now chosen the most suitable legal firm of lawyer to represent us in the court. The company is well experienced in constitutional matters.

I very earnestly appeal to you, on behalf of SLUNA executive committee, to be a strong force in protecting our children’s future in Canada.

Your generous contributions / donations purely would be going to meet the cost of this legal battle. We only know the initial cost $25000 but not the follow ups. It could be much more depends on the time it would lead in the future.

Your generous contributions could be sent to the bank account of SLUNA of which the details are given below. Every contribution would be duly acknowledged.

Name of the bank account: Sri Lanka United National Association of Canada.

Account number: TD Canada Trust:  03302 004 5000275

Or you can mail your cheque to the SLUNA address find on this letter head.

Once you make your contribution please send us an email or text massage. The details are given below.

Email: sarath.lokuliyana@gmail.com or slunacanada83@gmail.com or to SLUNA treasurer Sarath Kumarasinghe : s_kumarasinghe@hotmail.com

Phone:  Sarath Lokuliyana: 416 540 1950

 Sarath Kumarasinghe: 647 271 8724

It is important for us to maintain records and issue receipts for the donations. 

We believe in united fight for this unwarranted piece of law. That would be the strength to fight for justice.

Thank you

Sarath Lokuliyana

President on behalf of the SLUNA Exco.

C.C : Mr. Sarath Kumarasinghe Treasurer SLUNA

ආචාර්ය වරුණ චන්ද්‍රකීර්ති

මිනිසා යනු සංස්කෘතික සත්ත්වයෙකි. තමන් පිළිගන්නා පොදු සංස්කෘතික ඇගැයීම්වලින් මිදී තීරණගැනීමේ හැකියාවක් ඔහුට නැත. යමක හරි – වැරැද්ද, යෝග්‍ය – අයෝග්‍ය බව, හොඳ – නරක මිනිසුන් විසින් තීරණය කරන්නේ මෙවැනි ඇගැයීම් මත පදනම් වීමෙනි. සමාජයක ආර්ථික කාර්යයන් කෙරෙනුයේ ද ඒ සඳහා අදාළව ගනු ලබන තීරණ අනුව ය. ඉහතින් පෙන්වා දුන් ආකාරයට මෙවැනි ආර්ථික තීරණගැනීම සඳහා ද සංස්කෘතික ඇගැයීම් බලපායි.

සංස්කෘතීන් එකිනෙකින් වෙන්කර හඳුනාගැනීමේ දී ඒවා සතු පොදු ඇගැයීම්වල වෙනස්කම් ද සළකා බැලෙයි. මේ උදෙසා මාන ස්වරූපයකින් සංස්කෘතික ඇගැයීම් හඳුනාගැනීමක් ද සිදු කරයි. අදාළ සංස්කෘතික පර්යේෂකයන් විසින් මෙ ලෙසින් හඳුනාගත් ඇගැයීම් මාන ගණනාවක් ම වෙයි.

පුද්ගලාන්තික – සමූහාන්තික ඇගැයීම් මානය යනු එවැන්නකි. එම මානයට අනුව සංස්කෘතීහු වර්ග කෙරෙති. යම් යම් සංස්කෘතීන්වල මිනිසුන් පුද්ගලාන්තික ඇගැයීම්වලට වඩා සමූහාන්තික ඇගැයීම් පිළිගනු ලබන බව ද තවත් සංස්කෘතීන්වල මිනිසුන් එයට පටහැනි ලෙසින් කටයුතු කරන බව ද මේ සම්බන්ධයෙන් පර්යේෂණ කරන විශේෂඥයෝ පවසති. දිගුකාලීන නැඹුරුව යනු තවත් එවැනි සංස්කෘතික මානයකි. ඇතැම් මිනිසුන් අනාගතය වෙනුවෙන් තම වර්තමානය කැප කරනුයේ මෙම සංස්කෘතික ඇගැයීමට අනුව ය.

මෙවැනි සංස්කෘතික ඇගැයීම් ආර්ථික කාර්යයන් කෙරෙහි බලපායි. සාමූහික ඇගැයීම්වල ඉහළ තැනැක් ඇති සංස්කෘතියක ආර්ථික කටයුතු එම ඇගැයීම මත පිහිටා සංවිධානය කළ හැකි ය. එ මෙන් ම, අනාගතය වෙනුවෙන් තමන්ගේ වර්තමානය කැපකිරීමේ නැඹුරුව ද ආර්ථික කාර්යයන්ට අදාළ කරගත හැකි ය.

යම් සංස්කෘතියකට අයත් ඇගැයීම් හඳුනාගැනීම සඳහා බාහිර පර්යේෂකයන්ගේ නිරීක්‍ෂණ මත ම රඳා පැවැතිය යුතු නොවේ. ඒ ඒ සංස්කෘතීන්වල වසන අයට ද මේ කාරණයට අදාළ පර්යේෂණ මෙහෙයවිය හැකිය.

ධුරාවලියට වැඩි ඉඩක් දෙන සංස්කෘතියක් සිංහල සමාජය තුළ ඇති බව බාහිර පර්යේෂකයෝ පවසති. එය සැබෑවකි. අපි අපේ සංස්කෘතික ඇගැයීම්වලට අනුව භික්‍ෂුන්වහන්සේට, වැඩිහිටියන්ට, ගුරුවරුන්ට, උගතුන්ට, වෘත්තිකයන්ට සහ තවත් එබඳු අයට ගරු කරමු. කෙසේ වුව ද, ඉහළ අයගේ නියෝග පිළිපැදීමට අපි මැළිවෙමු. මෙම වෙනස බාහිර පර්යේෂකයෝ නො හඳුනති. එක් පසෙකින් ධුරාවලි පිළිගන්නා අතර ම ඉහළින් ලැබෙන නියෝග පිළිගැනීමට අදිමදි කිරීම අප සතු විශේෂිත සංස්කෘතික ලක්‍ෂණයකි.

මෙවැනි සංස්කෘතික හැසිරීම් ආර්ථික කාර්යයන්ට ගලපාගත හැක්කේ කෙලෙසින් ද යන්න අප විසින් විමසා බැලිය යුතු වෙයි. එ මෙන් ම, වර්තමානයේ අප මුහුණ පා සිටින ආර්ථික ගැටලුවලට මෙවැනි සංස්කෘතික හැසිරීම් බලපා ඇත්තේ කෙලෙසින් ද යන්න ද අප විසින් හඳුනාගත යුතු වෙයි.

ඉහළ ධුරවල සිටින අය ලබාදෙන නියෝග පිළිගැනීමට ඇති නිසග අකැමැත්ත නිසා බොහෝ ආර්ථික වගකීම් අප අතින් මග හැරෙයි. නිසි කලට, නිසි අයුරින් ඒවා ඉටු නොවෙයි. මෙම මිනිස් තීරණ ආර්ථික සාධනයට බලපායි. බොහෝ ආයතන තුළ අකාර්යක්‍ෂමතාව රජ කරන බවට චෝදනා කෙරෙනුයේ මෙම සංස්කෘතික හැසිරීම නිසි පරිදි වටහා නොගැනීමෙනි.

යම් සංස්කෘතික හැසිරීම් ඇති රටවල පවතින ආයතනික ක්‍රමවේද එයට වෙනස් සංස්කෘතික හැසිරීම් රජ කරන සමාජයකට නො ගැලපෙයි. යම් යම් රටවල එම ක්‍රමවේද සාර්ථක වී ඇත්තේ ඒවා ඔවුනගේ සංස්කෘතික හැසිරීම් සමඟ හොඳින් ගැලපෙන බැවිනි. සංස්කෘතික සාධක නො සළකා එම ආයතනික ආකෘති එ ලෙසින් ම වෙනත් සංස්කෘතික හැසිරීම් ඇති රටවල ක්‍රියාත්මක කළ නො හැකි ය.

එහෙයින් අප විසින් සිදු කළ යුත්තේ අපගේ සංස්කෘතික හැසිරීම්වලට ගැලපෙන ආයතනික ආකෘති, කළමනාකරණ ක්‍රම සහ ආර්ථික නිෂ්පාදන මාදිලි හඳුන්වාදීම ය. මේ අරභයා අප විසින් මුලින් ම කළ යුත්තේ අපගේ සංස්කෘතික හැසිරීම් නිසි පරිදි හඳුනාගැනීම ය. සියලු ම ආයතනික ආකෘති, කළමනාකරණ ක්‍රම සහ නිෂ්පාදන මාදිලි අප විසින් ම නිර්මාණය කරගත යුතු බවක් මෙයින් අදහස් නො කෙරෙයි. සමාන සංස්කෘතික ඇගැයීම් ඇති රටවල ක්‍රම කෙරෙහි ද අපගේ අවධානය යොමු කළ හැකි ය. අපට ගැලපෙන ක්‍රමයක් වෙනත් මූලයකින් ලබාගත හැකි විටෙක එවැන්නක් නැවතත් මුල සිට ම නිර්මාණය කිරීම අනුවණකමකි.

කවර ආකාරයකින් වුව ද, අප කළ යුත්තේ අපගේ සංස්කෘතික හැසිරීම්වලට සරිලන ආයතනික ආකෘති, කළමනාකරණ ක්‍රම සහ නිෂ්පාදන මාදිලි භාවිතයට එක් කිරීම ය. කාර්යක්‍ෂමතාව යනු උක්ත කාර්යයන් සංස්කෘතික ඇගැයීම් සමඟ මනා ලෙස සුසරකිරීමෙන් අත්පත් කරගත හැකි ඵලයක් විනා එයින් බාහිර උපක්‍රමවලින් දිනාගත හැකි දෙයක් නොවේ. මේ අරභයා යම් ආකාරයක මගපෙන්වීමක් සිදුකිරීම ද මෙම ප්‍රවාදයෙන් සිදු කෙරෙයි.

අපගේ සංස්කෘතික ඇගැයීම් සමඟ මැනැවින් ගැලපෙන ආර්ථික ක්‍රම සහ නිෂ්ටාවන් විසින් බිහිකරනුයේ බෞද්ධ ජනරජයේ පොදු අරමුණු සාක්‍ෂාත් කරගත හැකි පරිසරයකි.

ආචාර්ය වරුණ චන්ද්‍රකීර්ති

මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ ශ්‍රී ලංකා ප්‍රජාතාන්ත්‍රික සමාජවාදී ජනරජයේ අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය

සමුද්‍රීය පරිසරයේ වැදගත්කම ගැන ලෝක ප‍්‍රජාව දැනුවත් කිරීම උදෙසා එක්සත් ජාතීන්ගේ සංවිධානය ප්‍රකාශයට පත්කළ ලෝක සාගර දිනය” වෙනුවෙන් සුබ පැතුම් එක්කරනුයේ ඉමහත් සතුටිනි.

සංවර්ධනය සහ  කාර්මීකරණය යන‍ මානව ක්‍රියාකාරකම්වල බලපෑම හේතුවෙන් සමුද්‍රීය පරිසර දූෂණය ද මේ වනවිට ඉහළ යමින් ඇති බව පරිසර විද්‍යාඥයන්ගේ අදහසයි.

ඉන්දියන් සාගරයට මැදිව පිහිටි ශ්‍රී ලංකාව සමුද්‍රීය පරිසරය ආරක්ෂා කර ගැනීම වෙනුවෙන් වැඩි අවධානයක් යොමු කිරීම ඉතා වැදගත්ය.

ඒ වෙනුවෙන් 2008 වසරේ දී සමුද්‍රීය පරිසර ආරක්ෂණ අධිකාරිය පිහිටුවීමටත් සමුද්‍රීය ආරක්ෂාව හා බැඳී පවතින නෛතික ක්‍රියාදාමයන්ට මුලපිරීමටත් අපට හැකියාව ලැබිණි.

අප ජීවත්වන මෙම පෘථිවි තලයෙන් සියයට 70 ක්ම වැසී ඇත්තේ ජෛව විවිධත්වයේ නිවහන ලෙස සැලකෙන සාගරයෙනි. ජීවින්ගේ පැවත්මට සෘජුව දායකවන සාගර පරිසර පද්ධතිය විවිධ මිනිස් ක්‍රියාකාරකම් මත දූෂණයට ලක්වීම කණගාටුවට කරුණකි.

සාගරයට අපද්‍රව්‍ය එක්වූ පසු ඒවා නිවැරදි කිරීමට ගත හැකි පියවර සීමාසහිත වන නිසා එම බලපෑම මත්ස්‍යයන් ඇතුළු සමුද්‍රීය ජීවීන්ටත් මුළු මහත් සමුද්‍රීය පරිසර පද්ධතියටත් සෘජුව බලපාන අතර දේශගුණික විපර්යාස බලපෑම් දක්වා එය දිගුවනු ඇත.

නෞකා සහ යාත්‍රා දියත්වීම සහ ඒවායේ අනතුරු සාගරය දූෂණයට සෘජුව බලපා ඇති අතර පසුගියදා කොළඹට නුදුරු මුහුදේ අනතුරුට පත් නෞකාවෙන් සිදුවූ හානිය වන්දි මුදලක් මගින් තක්සේරු කළ නොහැකි බව මාගේ විශ්වාසයයි.

ඒ තුළින් අපගේ වෙරළ තීරයටත්, සාගර ජීවීන්ටත්, සාගර පරිසරයේ ජෛව විවිධත්වයට සහ ධීවර ප්‍රජාවට එල්ල කළ බලපෑම ගණනය කළ නොහැකි තරම්ය.

ගංගා හෝ ඇළ මාර්ගවලින් මෙන්ම සෘජු ලෙස නාගරික ඝන අපද්‍රව්‍ය  සාගරයට මුදා හරින බව පසුගියදා පරිසර විද්‍යාඥයන් විසින් පෙන්වා දෙන ලදි. ඒ අනුව ගත්විට වෙරළ දූෂණයට ප්‍රධානම බලපෑම එල්ල වනුයේ ඒ තුළිනි.

ප්ලාස්ටික් සහ පොලිතින් මේ ආකාරයට සාගරයට එක්වුවහොත් එමගින් ඇතිවන බලපෑම නූපන් පරපුර දක්වා දිගුවනු ඇත. මේ පිළිබඳව අවධානය යොමු කළ රජය මේ වසරේ දී ඝන අපද්‍රව්‍ය කළමනාකරණ කරමින් විදුලිය නිපදවීමේ ව්‍යාපෘතියක් සඳහා මූලාරම්භය තබා තිබේ.

වෙරළ තීරයේ කඩොලාන ප්‍රතිශ්ථාපනය මෙන්ම, කොරල් පර ප්‍රතිස්ථාපන වැඩසටහන් සැළකිය යුතු මට්ටමෙන් ඉදිරියට ගෙනයාමටත් පාරසරික ආරක්ෂණ ප්‍රදේශ පිළිබඳව පශ්චාත් අධීක්ෂණයන් වඩාත් කාර්යක්ෂම කිරීමටත් විෂය භාර අමාත්‍යවරයා ලෙස මම උපදෙස් දී ඇත්තෙමි.

සාගර විශ්ව විද්‍යාලයක් පිහිටුමින් මෙම විෂයට තිබෙන උනන්දුව සහ සාගරය පිළිබඳව අධ්‍යනයන් ඉදිරියට ගෙන යාමට මා එදා තැබු පියවර අදට වඩා හෙට තවත් කාලෝචිත වන බව මාගේ විශ්වාසයයි.

ධීවර ප්‍රජාව ඇතුළු සමුද්‍රීය පරිසරය ජීවනෝපාය කරගත් ලක්ෂ සංඛ්‍යාත ජනතාවගේ ජීවනෝපායන් ශක්තිමත් කිරීම වෙනුවෙන් ද සෘජුව බලපාන සමුද්‍රීය පරිසරය ආරක්ෂා කිරීම වෙනුවෙන් ගත හැකි සෑම පියවරක්ම රජය ගන්නා බව සිහිපත් කරමි.

 ජීවිතය හා ජීවනෝපාය සාගරයයි යන මෙවර ලෝක සාගර දින තේමාව ද මේ ආකාරයට සාගරය හා බැදුණු සියලු වටිනාකම් සිහිපත් කරයි.

ඉන්දියන් සාගරයේ මුතු ඇටය ලෙස විරුදාවලිය ලත් අපේ මාතෘ භූමියේ පැවැත්ම සහ සුන්දරත්වය වෙනුවෙන් සමුද්‍රීය පරිසර පද්ධතිය ආරක්ෂා කර ගැනීමට පෙළගැසෙමු යැයි මම ඔබට ආරාධනා කරමි.

මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ
ශ්‍රී ලංකා ප්‍රජාතාන්ත්‍රික සමාජවාදී ජනරජයේ අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය

Ms. Chandra Fernando Educational Consultant, USA

I write to you today as a US citizen of Sri Lankan descent, a teacher trainer, child advocate, and an advocate for peace and reconciliation in Sri Lanka. Ever since the devastation of the Asian Tsunami,

I usually spend several weeks in Sri Lanka in January and February of each year.

Since the war ended, I have participated in efforts towards reconciliation through my role as an educational consultant, teacher trainer and peacemaker. Since 2009, when the 26 year -old conflict ended, I focused my attention on reconciliation efforts through several private organizations and friends in Sri Lanka.

First, I visited a rehabilitation center for 200 former child combatants and participated in several educational and recreational activities with them. My first visit was not long after the war ended. I visited these children ages 12 to 16 with a group of teachers who worked with them every week day afternoon. At that time, I observed their sad and untrusting demeanor and witnessed their physical and mental trauma. It was heartbreaking to listen to their stories of abduction, molestation and oppression by the LTTE. This was a heart wrenching experience.

From the first time I visited these children, I was struck by the kindness and the nurturing shown to these children by the staff of the Rehabilitation Center. Most military staff who worked with them

did not wear uniforms so they could make the children feel comfortable. The Commander of the rehabilitation center although in uniform, was so kind to these children that they called him Appa” which in the Tamil language means, Father”. Men and women who cared for them took great care to make the children comfortable both physically and mentally. It was a long road to recovery; but when I went back a year later, I was stunned by the success of this rehabilitation program. In my research on the plight of child soldiers in international conflicts, I had never come across such an amazing and effective undertaking in such a short period of time.

I wanted to focus on this venture to put a very important and positive light on the handling of a very significant burden of any war. Children are the worst affected in any armed conflict. The recruitment of young children as soldiers is a brutal and dastardly act. As an American, and humanitarian, I am conscious of the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child. Although the United States has not ratified the Convention of the Rights of the Child, it is still a signatory to it. I am sure you will agree this act of barbarism is totally unacceptable in civilized societies.

I am bringing this up at this time because on several occasions, the United States has humiliated Sri Lanka by sponsoring resolutions on human rights violations, and not once did the US Government

  mention the positive measures undertaken on the ground. Not once did these resolutions recognize important child protection initiatives undertaken by the Sri Lankan Government. As an eye- witness to some of these measures on my visits to the North in the past several years, I am disappointed at the way we in the US have acted towards a nation that has finally put a stop to the daily violence by the LTTE. The pro-LTTE diaspora may have billions to lobby congress but they have the blood of innocent children on their hands.

In the past couple of years, I have been involved with other children’s projects designed to promote reconciliation efforts in Sri Lanka. We have had joint educational and social projects between the children of the North and South which have resulted in many heartwarming exchanges between the Tamil and Sinhalese children. Many groups in Sri Lanka have activated wonderful opportunities for reconciliation. These efforts by both the government and private organizations need to be recognized and encouraged. The US needs to listen to those people who want a united Sri Lanka. It is time to recognize Tigers in Sheep’s clothing; the Pro-LTTE Diaspora does not have a plan for a united Sri Lanka. They have economic interests in keeping a conflict going between the two communities. The pro-LTTE diaspora are creating a wedge between the local communities for their own benefit. However, there is a large silent majority of the diaspora and the Tamil citizens in Sri Lanka who do not agree with their ideas and tactics. 

If the goal of some Western powers is to divide the country along ethnic lines, this will certainly happen. What the UNHRC rand US esolutions have achieved indirectly up to now is the creation of distrust in the Sri Lankan community. The Pro-LTTE Diaspora has been emboldened by the results of the biased resolutions and they are doing their utmost to destroy a sovereign state and its gentle people. Most of the pro-LTTE diaspora have not stepped foot on Sri Lankan soil during or after the end of the conflict. We, who have regularly visited and worked with the people of the North have a very different view of things on the ground. Using doctored-material, these divisive individuals have spread false information about the people of Sri Lanka to members of Congress and to the international community, who in turn have fallen for it Hook, Line and Sinker.

Sri Lanka has made tremendous strides since the successful end of its war against terrorism in May 2009. Since the end of the conflict, Sri Lanka has:

• Resettled 300,000 people who were displaced by the conflict;
• Invested $1 billion annually on new infrastructure to help support livelihoods and the economy, especially in conflict-affected areas;
• Rehabilitated over 1,000 former LTTE child soldiers and re-united them with their families;
• Given amnesty and job and educational training to 12,000 former LTTE terrorists who have returned to civil society;
• Held Presidential, Parliamentary and Regional elections in formally terrorist controlled areas;
• Lifted conflict-era emergency regulations that were in place for 26 years;
• Have begun to adopt the recommendations of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission.

            I hope you will consider the view of those of us who have no affiliation with the Government       of Sri Lanka, no connection to any political party in Sri Lanka, and no hidden agenda. As a teacher, peace advocate and one who seeks peace for ALL children of Sri Lanka and beyond, I    respectfully ask you to consider these few facts I have noted:

Ms. Chandra Fernando
Educational Consultant, USA
Member, Peace and Social Justice Committee,
The American Montessori Society
(Author, A Little Book of Peace in Sinhala, Tamil and English)

US Congress

Text – H.Res.413 – 117th Congress (2021-2022): Recognizing 12 years since the end of the war in Sri Lanka on May 18, 2009, honoring the lives lost, and expressing support for justice, accountability, reconciliation, reconstruction, reparation, and reform in Sri Lanka to ensure a lasting peaceful political solution and a prosperous future for all people of Sri Lanka. | Congress.gov | Library of Congress

https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-resolution/413/text?r=1

තිස්ස ජනනායක උපුටා ගැන්ම ලංකා සී නිව්ස්

කාබනික පොහොර ආනයනයය මේ සම්බන්ධයෙන් ප්‍රවීණ උපකාරක පන්ති දේශක තිස්ස ජනනායක මහතා තම සමාජ ජාල ගිණුමේ මේ සටහනක් තබා තිබේ.

ඔහු එමගින් පෙන්වා දෙන්නේ කාබනික පොහොර විදේශ රටවලින් ආනයනය කිරීමෙන් සිදු වන්නේ කිහිපදෙනෙකු අතට කොමිස් මුදලක් ලැබීම සහ මෙරට මුදල් විශාල ලෙස පිටරටට ඇදී යාමක් පමණක් බවයි.

ඔහු තබා ඇති සම්පූර්ණ සටහන මෙසේය.

කාබණික පොහොර ආනයනයේ අවදානම
——————————–
රසායනික පොහොර ආනයනය නැවැත්වීමට රජය ගන්නා ලද තීරණය මහත් සේ අගය කරමි.නමුත් ලංකාවේ දී ප්‍රමිතියෙන් යුත් කාබනික පොහොර නිපදවීමට අවශ්‍ය දේශගුණික හා පාරිසරික තත්වයන්ද, අවශ්‍ය අමුද්‍රව්‍ය, ශ්‍රමය හා තාක්ෂණික දැනුම උපරිමයෙන් තිබියදීත් වෙනත් රටක නාගරික අපද්‍රව්‍ය වලින් නිපදවන ලද කාබනික පොහොර ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට ආනයනය කිරීම පිලිබද දැඩි ලෙස විරුද්ධත්වය ප්‍රකාශ කරමි.

ක්ෂුද්‍ර ජීව විද්‍යාව පිළිබඳ උපාධිධාරියෙකු ලෙස එම කාබනික පොහොර සමග ශාක හෝ සතුන්ට හානි කර අප රටේ දැනට නොපවතින ව්‍යාධිජනක දිලීර සහ බැක්ටීරියා ආදිය ලංකාවට පැමිණීමේ දැඩි අවදානමක් ඇති බව පෙන්වාදෙනු කැමැත්තෙමි.

එසේම ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ පවා නාගරික කැලිකසල වල බැර ලෝහ යම් ප්‍රමාණයක් අඩංගු වන අතර විදේශ රටවල (චීනය වැනි) ඊටත් වඩා බැර ලෝහ අඩංගු විය හැකි බවද සඳහන් කරමි.

රට තුළදීම රටට අවශ්‍ය කාබනික පොහොර නිපදවීම මගින් නව ව්‍යවසායකයින්ට රැකියා අවස්ථා නිර්මාණය වන අතර රටේ මුදල් පිටරටට ඇදී යාම වළකියි .

කාබනික පොහොර විදේශීය රටවලින් ආනයනය කිරීමෙන් වන්නේ කිහිප දෙනෙකුට කොමිස් මුදලක් ලැබීම සහ අපේ මුදල් විශාල වශයෙන් පිටරටවල් වලට ඇදීයාම පමණකි.

– තිස්ස ජනනායක

Article by Adam Duckett Courtesy Chemical Engineer

EXPERTS have begun modelling how oil might spill from a cargo ship that caught fire off the coast of Sri Lanka and then sank.

It had been transporting toxic chemicals and plastic pallets, and efforts are now underway to clean up the pollution that is washing up on the shoreline, in what has been described as the worst beach pollution incident in Sri Lanka’s history. While there are currently no signs that fuel oil has leaked from the ship experts have begun planning how they would respond.

The X-Press Pearl caught fire on 20 May while anchored around 18 km off the port of Colombo. The ship was carrying 1486 containers, including 81 with dangerous goods. This included 25 t of nitric acid, which had been leaking before the ship reached Sri Lanka. The owner says it tried to remove the leaking container but was prevented from discharging it at ports in Qatar and India as they did not have the facilities or expertise to deal with it. All 23 crew were evacuated from the ship, and the fires were declared put out on 31 May. Despite efforts to salvage the vessel it flooded and sank.  

The ship’s cargo included caustic soda, sodium methoxide, methane and around 350 t of fuel oil. Sri Lanka’s Marine Environment Protection Agency has posted pictures of its clean-up efforts, including workers bagging up huge volumes of HDPE and LDPE plastic pallets that have washed onto beaches.  

The International Tanker Owners Pollution Federation (ITOPF), which helps respond to marine spills, estimates that 150 km of shoreline has been impacted by cargo lost from the ship. Divers have attempted to survey the integrity of the hull, and there are currently no signs of oil leaking from the ship. ITOPF is working with Oil Spill Response Limited to model a spill, and are coordinating with the Sri Lankan Navy to plan how they would respond.

Dharshani Lahandapura, Chair of Sri Lanka’s Marine Protection Authority said: “This is probably the worst beach pollution in our history,” The Hindustan Times reports.

A criminal investigation has been launched into the incident; and the Prime Minister has ordered relief for the affected fishing industry. The Guardian reports that fishing has been banned within 50 miles of the wreck.

Courtesy  swissinfo.ch

The Swiss foreign ministry says it has shipped medical supplies to Sri Lanka to help the country combat the Covid-19 pandemic.This content was published on June 7, 2021 – 18:36June 7, 2021 – 18:36swissinfo.ch/ug

The supplies include half a million antigen tests, 50 ventilators, 150 oxygen concentrators and testing material worth CHF3.5 million ($3.9 million).

An aircraft bound for Colombo left Zurich with 16 tonnes of supplies on board on Monday, according to a foreign ministry statementExternal link.

The Swiss embassy to Sri Lanka is in close contact with the local authorities to ensure that the supplies are distributed fairly and in line with humanitarian principle”, it added.

Last year, Switzerland also contributed CHF1 million to Sri Lanka’s efforts to contain the pandemic.

It is the third Covid supply mission by the Swiss Humanitarian Aid unit to a country in south-east Asia.

In recent weeks, 13 tonnes of supplies were sent to India and 30 tonnes to Nepal.

The Swiss foreign ministry says its aid unit is ready to provide as much support as it can upon request.

Courtesy Prensa Latina

Havana, Jun 7 (Prensa Latina) Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez on Monday sent his deep condolences to the people and Government of Sri Lanka for the victims of the floods and avalanches caused by the monsoons.
On his Twitter account, the foreign minister expressed Cubans’ solidarity and asked to convey the condolences to the families and relatives of the deceased.

Since Friday, heavy rains have hit the Sri Lankan territory, killing at least 17 people throughout the country and displacing more than 160,000.

According to the Disaster Management Center, even though the situation seemed to be improving, many districts were still flooded and an alert was maintained for possible landslides.

Local authorities and the Army are making efforts to assist the affected populations through food distribution, rescue and evacuation.

Courtesy Mailonline

The MV X-Press Pearl was carrying hundreds of tonnes of chemicals and plastics when it burned for almost two weeks just off Sri Lanka’s coast

A Sri Lankan court hearing into the fire and sinking of a container ship off Colombo was told Monday that its local agent had deleted e-mails vital to the investigation.

The Singapore-registered MV X-Press Pearl reported an onboard acid leak to its representative Sea Consortium Lanka who in turn failed to alert local authorities, the state prosecutor said.

He said investigators found that Sea Consortium had wiped its e-mails with the Russian skipper Tyutkalo Vitaly.

“The magistrate ordered the local agent (of the ship) to provide the originals of the e-mails from mail servers located abroad,” a court official said.

Magistrate Chalani Perera also ordered the Sri Lankan navy to protect the wreckage lying submerged just outside the Colombo port.

Sri Lankan port authorities had said they were unaware that the vessel had been leaking nitric acid since May 11, nine days before the fire started in Sri Lankan waters.

Ports in Qatar and India had refused to offload a leaking acid container which had been loaded onboard in Jebel Ali, Dubai.

Sri Lanka’s navy recovered the ship’s black box over the weekend.

The Voyage Data Recorder, also known as a maritime “black box”, was found intact and is expected to help investigators review procedures and instructions ahead of the disaster.

Sri Lankan authorities hope the black box will provide details of the ship’s movements and its communications with the Colombo harbour, where it had been due to dock.

Sri Lankan police launched a criminal investigation, interviewing Vitaly and his Chief Engineer Sadilenko Oleg and Chief Officer Peter Anish, an Indian, and seizing their passports.

Authorities are bracing for a possible oil spill from the submerged wreck. However, there has been no sign of any leaks so far, they added.

Tonnes of microplastic granules from the ship swamped an 80-kilometre (50-mile) stretch of beach declared off-limits for residents. Fishing in the area has been banned.

Sri Lankan environmentalists on Friday sued the government and the ship’s operators for allegedly failing to prevent what they called the “worst marine disaster” in the country’s history.

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) has been tasked with investigating those who are misleading the public by spreading false propaganda on social media, Police said.

Police Spokesman DIG Ajith Rohana said a special police team has been appointed to investigate such false reports.

He said the public was facing various inconveniences due to such false propaganda on social media platforms.

DIG Rohana said it is an offence punishable under Section 98 of the Police Ordinance, that if anyone disturbs the public by publishing fake news.

Meanwhile, former UNP MP Ajith P. Perera said in his Facebook post that he is ready to provide free legal aid if anyone is being harassed by the police for expressing their opinion.

He said anyone can choose any media platform to express themselves and the police do not have the power to decide what is true.

“The right to freedom of expression is a fundamental right guaranteed by Article 14 of the Constitution. You have the right to praise and criticise the government of the country in which you live and no one can usurp that right,” he said.(DSB)

Courtesy Adaderana

Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa says the government aims to oppress the general public through the chemical fertilizer ban imposed without a proper plan.

Issuing a statement today (June 07), Premadasa said that it is questionable as to whether the government has conspired to make Sri Lanka ‘one of the largest Garbage Mountains in the world’.

Criticizing the government’s decision to import organic fertilizer, the leader of Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) points out that while it is also against the Fauna and Flora Ordinance, these imported ‘waste fertilizer’ could spread various fungi and harmful bacteria.

The Leader of the Opposition says, ‘Un-practical Decisions taken with no scientific basis will pave the way only for much peril.’

He added that farmers and cultivators have fallen ‘out of the frying pan into the fire’ through the arbitrary decision of the government to ban the import of chemical fertilizer.

Premadasa pointed out that a new COVID-19 case cluster, too, could emerge due to the competition created to get chemical fertilizer from the market at black market prices.

Stating that the government has brought about the fear of famine in the midst of fear of disease and death, Sajith Premadasa urges the government to take immediate action to withdraw ‘such irrational and objectionable’ decisions.

The full statement issued by Sajith Premadasa:

The chemical fertilizer ban without a proper plan makes it pretty much clear that the government aims to oppress the general public rather than enable them to live. This decision that the government has taken in a hurry would unavoidably make a food shortage which could worsen up to a famine in the country. We have no objection whatsoever about improvements that need to be introduced into the use of organic fertilizer. However, soon the government will have to experience the consequences of this deadly blow delivered on the entire community life in the country by this sudden chemical fertilizer ban imposed shortsightedly.

The government claims that it is going to import organic fertilizer by banning the importation of chemical fertilizer, which would bring hazardous consequences. It is highly questionable whether the government is in a conspiracy to make our country one of the largest Garbage Mountains” in the world. Importation of these waste fertilizers could also spread out different types of fungi and harmful bacteria. These importations are also contrary to the Fauna and Flora Ordinance.

This arbitrary decision of the government is also not one taken with the backing of a sufficient supply of organic fertilizer for use in the country. Seeds planted in this country for a long period of time are used to chemical fertilizer. Un-practical Decisions taken with no scientific basis will pave the way only for much peril.

We are already witnessing negative outcomes of the fertilizer ban, which has made paddy farmers quite helpless. They remain to wait for hours in queues before Agriculture Centers for their share of fertilizer. Not only that, potato cultivators, as well as other crop cultivators, have fallen to the fire out of the frying pan due to this arbitrary decision of the government.

There is a possibility of emerging a new Corona cluster due to the competition created to get chemical fertilizer from the market at black market price. First of all, people should live, for which food becomes the most important factor. The entire world has turned out to be a Visala because of this Corona pandemic. Along with the fear of disease and death, this government has also created the fear of famine thus, bringing all three fears to the people.

According to Aristotle, Hunger and Freedom are the parents of every revolution” and, the arbitrary activities and conduct of the government will only push people towards that revolution. Government should take steps to make people live and facilitate their livelihood and, we emphasize that it should take immediate action to withdraw such irrational and objectionable decisions.”

Courtesy Adaderana

The Director-General of Health Services confirmed that Sri Lanka has reported 47 more deaths related to the COVID-19 pandemic on Monday (June 07).

As per the Department of Government Information, the reported deaths had occurred between May 17 and June 07.

They are identified as residents of Elpitiya, Wathugahamulla, Dankotuwa, Marawila, Walapane, Dedigamuwa, Waththala, Matara, Hatton, Galagedara, Wellampitiya, Uragaha, Horana, Gonapola – North, Paragasthota, Gonapola, Dehiwala, Colombo 09, Thlawakele, Nuwara Eliya, Trincomalee, Alawwa, Negombo, Galle, Kalutara, Darga Town, Angoda, Naththandiya, Walahapitiya, Haburugala, Moronthuduwa –Panadura, Maho, Polgahawela, Ibbagamuwa, Kandy, Bulathsinghala, Akurana, Dehiaththakandiya, Poogoda, Dompe and Veyangoda.

Accordingly, the total number of deaths due to Covid-19 infection in Sri Lanka has risen to 1,789.

Courtesy Adaderana

The Epidemiology Unit of the Health Ministry reports that another 650 persons have tested positive for COVID-19 in Sri Lanka, moving the daily total of new cases to 2,610.

This brings the total number of confirmed cases of coronavirus reported in the country to 207,943.

As many as 176,045 recoveries and 1,742 deaths have been confirmed in Sri Lanka since the outbreak of the pandemic.

The Epidemiology Unit’s data showed that 30,156 active cases are currently under medical care.

රජිත් කීර්ති තෙන්නකෝන් දකුණ හා මධ්‍ය පළාත් හිටපු ආණ්ඩුකාර 

ලංකාවේ පාරිභෝගිකයින්ගේ වාර්ෂික අර්තාපල් අවශ්‍යතාවය මෙ.ටොන් 228,000 කි.  එයින් ලංකාවේ නිෂ්පාදනය කරන්නේ 35%කට අඩු ප්‍රමාණයකි. 2019 වසරේ බදුල්ල හා නුවරඑළිය දිස්ත්‍රික්ක ප්‍රමුඛව හෙක්ටාර 5600 ක අර්තාපල් වගා කළ අතර මෙ.ටොන් 101,642 ක අස්වැන්නක් ලැබුණි.  නුවරඒළියේ – වැලිමඩ අර්තාපල් කිලෝවක මිල ඉන්දියානු- පකිස්ථානු අල කිලෝවකට වඩා රු. 30 ක් පමණ වැඩිය. ඒ ලංකා අර්තාපල්වල ඇති සුවිශේෂ වූ මිහිරි රසය නිසාය. අල හොද්දක්, අල බැදුමක්, අල චිප්ස් නැති කෑම පිඟානක් – සාදයක් දැන් පෙනවා පේනවා වගේය.   

පොහොර – කෘෂි රසායන නැති වානිජ්‍යමය අර්තාපල් වගාවක් පවතිය නොහැකි තරම්ය.  ආණ්ඩුවෙන් එවන පොහොර මිටි 102 බෙදා ගන්නට බැරිව වැලිමඩ ගොවීන් ඊයේ කැප්පෙටිපොල හෙවනකුඹුරේ දී විරෝධය පළ කරන්නේ ගොවියාට පොහොර නැතිව ජීවිතයක් නැති නිසාය.   

කි.ග්. 50 බීජ ආනයනික බීජ අර්තාපල් පෙට්ටියක මිල රු. 18,500.00 කි.  පොහොර හා රසායන, මිනිස් ශ්‍රමය ඇතුළු අතිරේක වියදම් සමඟ අර්තාපල් හොන්ඩරයක් වගා කරන්නට රු. 26,000 ක් වැය වේ. අර්තාපල් වගාවේ අස්වැන්න තීරණය වන්නේ වගා සුක්ෂමතාව මතය. අර්තාපල් සිටුවා අස්වැන්න නෙලන්නට දින 75 – 90 ක් පමණ ගතවේ.  ගොවීන් මේ දින 90 තුල පොහොර යෙදීම, දිලීර නාශක යෙදීම, කෘමි නාශක යෙදීම කාලසටහනක් අනුව සිදු නොකරන්නේ නම් පාරිභෝගිකයාට ඔය ලස්සන, රසම රස අර්තාපල් ලැබෙන්නේ නැත.  ඉන්දියා අල මෙන් බඩ මිස දිව පිනවන්නේ නැති මොලෝ රහක් නැති පිටි ගුලියක් පමණක් ලැබෙනු ඇත. 

  2021 වසරේ හෙක්ටයාර 7000 ක අර්තාපල් වගා කරනු ඇතැයි අපේක්ෂා කළේය.  යුරියා මෙ.ටො. 2310 ක්, ටීඒස්පී ටොන් 1,890 ක්, එම්.ඔ්.පී. 1750 ක් වශයෙන් අර්තාපල් වගාවට පොහොර ටොන් 5950 ක් අවශ්‍ය බව පොහොර ලේකම් කාර්යාලය ඇස්තමේන්තු කර තිබුණි. ඒ බදුල්ල හා නුවරඑළිය දිස්ත්‍රික්ක සඳහාය. 

රසායනික පොහොර සහ කෘෂි රසායන නැතිව අල පෙට්ටියක් (කි.ග්. 50 ක්) හදන්නට රු. 26,000 ක් වැය කරන්නට ගොවියෙකු ඉදිරිපත් වන්නේ නම් ඔහුට මානසික ආබාධයක් තිබිය යුතුය! වැසි සමයේ දවස් දෙකක් දිලීර නාශක නැතිනම්, මීදුම හෝ මල් තුහින වැටෙන්නේ නම් අතිශයින් සංවේදී අර්තාපල් වගාව විනාශ වන්නේය. අර්තාපල් වගා වියදමෙන් 50%කට වැඩි මුදලක් බීජ අර්තාපල් මිලදී ගැනීමට වැය වන අතර පොහොර, දිලීර හා කෘෂි නාශක සඳහා 30% – 35% ක් වැය වේ. අල වගාව සුදුවක් හා සමානය. හරිගියොත් ගොවියා ගොඩය. වැරදුනොත් විනාශය.

ලංකාවේ කෘෂි නිෂ්පාදන ගැන මෙලෝ අවබෝධයක් නොමැතිව ගහෙන් ගෙඩි එන්නා සේ පොහොර තහනම් කිරීම අමන – තකතීරු – මරිමෝඩ තීරණයකි. රු. 350 ට දෙන පොහොර නොමිලේ ලබා ගන්නට ඡන්දය දුන් ජනතාවගේ ඉරණම දුක්ඛිත වනු ඇත. 

වැලිමඩ හින්නාරංගොල්ල පන්සලේ රාජ්‍ය සේවකයෙකු වෙනුවෙන් නෙළු ගල් පිළිමයක් තිබේ. බුදුහාමුදුරුවන්,  දුටුගැමුණු රජ, මිහිඳු හිමි, සංඝමිත්තා තෙරණිය අතර රහංගල ගොවිපලේ සිට අල වගාව රටේ ව්‍යාප්ත කළ රාජ්‍ය සේවකයා නෝමන් ගුණතිලක ‘අල මහත්තයා’ කෘත ගුණ දත් ඌවේ මිනිස්සු දේවත්වයෙන් පුදන්නේය.  රසායනික පොහොර තහනම මගින් විනාශ වන්නේ  කෘතගුණ දත් මිනිසුන් ගේ ජීවිකාවයි.  සාම්ප්‍රදායික ගොවීන් අතර රජ ගොවියා වූ ‘අල ගොවියා’ ආදායමයි.  ලංකාවේ අල වගාව හා බැදුණු සෘජු හා වක්‍ර රැකියා සංඛ්‍යාව හාර ලක්ෂ හැට දහසකට වැඩිය. මේ විනාශ කරන්නේ මිනිස්සුන්ගේ ජීවිතයි.

ලංකාවේ අල වගාව විනාශ කළ පසුව දේශීය පාරිභෝජනයට ඉන්දියාවෙන් – පාකිස්ථානයෙන් අල ගෙන්වන්නට සිදු වේ. පොහොරවලට නැති විදේශ විනිමය අල ගෙන්වන්නට වැය කළ යුතු වන්නේය.

මේ වන විට බීජ අර්තාපල් නිෂ්පාදනය සඳහා බදුල්ල හා නුවරඑළිය දිස්ත්‍රික්කවල දැවැන්ත වැඩසටහනක් ක්‍රියාත්මක ය. වසර තුනක් තුල ලංකාවේ අර්තාපල්  අවශ්‍යතාවය දේශීයව සපුරා ගැනීම එහි ඉලක්කය යි.  දින 130 ක වගා චක්‍රයකින් වගා ව්‍යාපෘතිය සැලසුම් කර ඇත. නිර්දේශිත පොහොර, කෘෂි රසායන හා දිලීර නාශක හෝමෝන වර්ග 11 කි.  100% ක කාබනික අර්තාපල් වගාවක් ගැන හීන දකින පොතේ ගුරාලාගෙන් අසන්නට ඇත්තේ  ලංකාවේ කෘෂි විද්‍යාවේ ඉහළම දැනුම ඇත්තන් සැලසුම් කළ මේ ව්‍යාපෘති සියල්ලට වඩා ඔබලා අල වගාව පිළිබඳ විශේෂඥයින් ද?

වැවිලිකරුවන්ගේ දැඩි විරෝධය නිසා තේ වගාවට පොහොර ලබාදීම සඳහා පොහොර තහනම රිවස් කරන්නට රජය මේ වන විට සුදානම් වේ.   නුවරඑළිය හා බදුල්ල අර්තාපල් වගාවේ කේන්ද්‍රය, අද කිසිදු දේශපාලන හෝ කේවල් කිරීමේ බලයක් නැති අනාථයින් පිරිසක් බවට පත්ව තිබේ.  පොහොර තහනම පිළිබඳ බදුල්ලේ දේශපාලනඥයින් කට අරින්නේ නැත.  කෘෂි නිලධාරීන් කියන දේ අහන්නට කිසිවෙකුත් නැත! නුවරඑළිය – බදුල්ලේ එළවළු නැතිව කෑම මේසයට සිදු විය හැකි අහේනිය ගැන කිසිවෙකුත් කථා කරන්නේ ද නැත.

පොහොර – කෘෂි රසායන තහනම ආපසු හරවන්නේ නැතිනම්, අල වගාව තවදුරටත් කෘෂිකර්මාන්තයේ මිණි කිරුළ ලෙස රැකෙන්නේ නැත.

රජිත් කීර්ති තෙන්නකෝන්

දකුණ හා මධ්‍ය පළාත් හිටපු ආණ්ඩුකාර 

The Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka

– The Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka expresses its gratitude for the great interest and fullest support showed by the people, in the blood donation camps, organized to meet the national need during this COVID pandemic

– 500 pints of blood have already been supplied for national need

The Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL), the electricity sector regulator, has successfully organized 12 blood transfusion camps island wide within a month, at the request of the National Blood Transfusion Service (NBTS or Blood Bank) with the assistance of island-wide electricians, civil organizations of the respective districts and the public. Five of the donation camps have already been completed and steps are being taken to host the remaining camps within this month.

The PUCSL held its first blood donation camps in the Kurunegala, Puttalam, Anuradhapura and Ratnapura districts where blood was urgently needed, and more than 800 blood donors were registered for these camps.

Nearly 500 pints of blood were donated to the national need, as required by the blood transfusion centers in the respective districts, through the first five camps.

The blood donation camps are held adhering to all the health guidelines and the registering of blood donors, providing them with a time slot to attend the donation camp and permission to travel in the time of travel restrictions is carried out online with the support of Blood Bank.

Commenting on the rapid blood donation camps host by the PUCSL, Chairman of the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka, Mr Janaka Ratnayake said,

At the end of May, the National Blood Transfusion Center requested our assistance in obtaining blood for national need. Accordingly, we with the assistance of the Electrician Organizations which we have established in various parts of the country expeditiously organized these blood transfusion camps as a solution to the present blood shortage of the country,”

“In less than 10 days, the first five camps were organized in the worst-hit districts by the lack of blood. We were able to donate nearly 500 pints of blood to those camps, depending on the needs of the blood transfusion centers in each district. Our goal is to donate 2,500 pints of blood to the blood bank,”

“We have scheduled to host 7 more special blood donation camps in Ratnapura, Kandy, Polonnaruwa, Gampaha, Jaffna and Mullaitivu districts to meet the blood needs, during this month. We will continue to support to organize and supply blood as needed in the future,”

“The Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka would also like to express its gratitude and appreciation for the great interest and participation of the people in these areas in donating blood.”

For more info :- Anushika Kamburugamuwa , Assistant Director Corporate Communication 0718622800

ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ මහජන උපයෝගිතා කොමිෂන් සභාව

– රුධිර හිගය සපුරා ගැනීම සදහා කඩිනමින් සංවිධානය කරන ලේ දන්දීමේ කදවුරු සදහා ජනතාව දක්වන ඉමහත් උනන්දුව සහා පුර්ණ සහාය සම්බන්ධයෙන් ශ්‍රී ලංකා මහජන උපයෝගිතා කොමිෂන් සභාව සිය ප්‍රසාදය හා කෘතඥතාව පල කර සීටි

– ජාතික අවශ්‍යතා සඳහා ලේ පයින්ට් 500 ක් දැනටමත් සපයා අවසන්

ජාතික රුධිර පාරවිලයන මධ්‍යස්ථානයේ ඉල්ලීම පරිදි, ශ්‍රී ලංකා මහජන උපයෝගීතා කොමිෂන් සභාව සහ දිස්ත්‍රික් විදුලි කාර්මික සංවිධාන සමග එක්ව, රුධිර හිගය පියවීම සදහා දිස්ත්‍රික් මට්ටමින් ලේ දන් දීමේ කඳවුරු 12ක් සාර්ථකව සංවිධානය කිරීමට සමත් විය. මින් 5ක් මේ වන විට නිමා කර ඇති අතර ඉතිරි කදවුරු  මේ මස තුලදී පැවත්වීමට පියවර ගෙන ඇත.

කඩිනමින් රුධිරය අවශ්‍යව තිබු කුරුණෑගල , පුත්තලම, අනුරාධපුර හා රත්නපුර දිස්ත්‍රික්ක තුල, පලමු ලේ ද න් දීමේ කඳවුරු 05 පැවත්වු වු අතර  ඒ සඳහා රුධිර දායකයින් 800කට අධික සංඛ්‍යාවක් ලියාපදිංචි විය.

මෙම කඳවුරු 05 දී ඒ ඒ දිස්ත්‍රික්ක වල රුධිර පාරවිලන මධ්‍යස්ථාන වල අවශ්‍යතාවය අනුව රුධිර පයින්ට් 500කට ආසන්න ප්‍රමාණයක් දායක කිරීමට පියවර ගැනිණි. 

ජාතික රුධිර පාරවීලන මධ්‍යස්ථානයෙහි ඉල්ලීම පරිදි ශ්‍රී ලංකා මහජන උපයෝගීතා කොමිෂන් සභාව ඒ ඒ දිස්ත්‍රික්ක වල විදුලි කාර්මික සංවිධාන සහ අනෙකුත් ප්‍රජා සංවිධානවල ද සහාය ඇතිව සංවිධානය කරන මෙම ලේ දන් දීමේ වැඩසටහන් සඳහා රුධිර දායකයින් ලියාපදිංචි කිරීම, ඔවුන්ට වේලාව ලබාදීම සහ සංචරණ සීමා කාලයෙහි ගමන් කිරීම සඳහා අවසර ලබා දීම ඔන්ලයින් ක්‍රමයට සිදු කෙරේ.

මෙම කඩිනම් ලේ දන්දීමේ කදවුරු පිළිබද අදහස් දැක්වු ශ්‍රී ලංකා මහජන උපයෝගීතා කොමිෂන් සභාවේ, සභාපති, ජනක රත්නායක මහතා………..

ජාතික රුධිර පාරවිලයන මධ්‍යස්ථානය කඩිනමින් රුධිරය ලබාගැනීමට අපගේ සහයෝගය ඉල්ලා සිටියේ මැයි මාසය අගදී. ඒ අනුව අප කොමිෂන් සභාව මේ පවතින රුධිර හිගයට විසදුම් වශයෙන් රටේ විවිධ ප්‍රදේශවල අපි පිහිටුවා ඇති විදුලි කාර්මික සංවිධාන වල සහය ඇතිව, මෙම රුධිරය ලබා දීමේ කදවුරු කඩිනමින් සංවිධානය කරා.

දින 10කටත් අඩු කාලයකදී මුල් කඳවුරු 05 සංවිධානය කලේ රුධිර හිගය වැඩියෙන්ම පැවති දිස්ත්‍රික්කවල. ඒ ඒ දිස්ත්‍රික්ක වල රුධිර පාරවිලන මධ්‍යස්ථාන වල අවශ්‍යතාවය අනුව රුධිර පයින්ට් 500කට ආසන්න ප්‍රමාණයක් එම කදවුරු වලදී දායක කිරීමට  අපට හැකිවුනා. අපගේ ඉලක්කය රුධිර පයින්ට් 2500ක ප්‍රමාණයක් කඩිනමින් ලේ බැංකුවට දායක කිරීමයි. මේ මාසය තුලදී රත්නපුර, මහනුවර, පොලොන්නරුව, ගම්පහ, යාපනය සහ මුලතිව් දිස්ත්‍රික්කවල රුධිර අවශ්‍යතා සැපිරීම සදහා තවත් විශේෂ ලේ දන්දීමේ කදවරු 7ක් අප විසින් සංවිධානය කර තිබෙනවා. ඉදිරියේදීත් අවශ්‍යතාවය පරිදි රුධිරය සැපයීමට කදවුරු සංවිධානය කිරීමට අපගේ සහයෝගය අප ලබා දෙනවා.

රුධිරය දායක කිරීම සදහා මෙම ප්‍රදේශවල ජනතාව දක්වන විශාල උනන්දුව හා සහභාගිත්වය පිළිබද ශ්‍රී ලංකා මහජන උපයෝගිතා කොමිෂන් සභාව ඉමහත් ප්‍රසාදය හා කෘතඥතාව ද පල කරන බව කිව යුතුයි. ශ්‍රී ලංකා මහජන උපයෝගිතා කොමිෂන් සභාව සංවිධානය කරන තවත් ලේ දන්දීමේ කදවුරු 7ක් මේ මස තුලදී පැවත්වීමට නියමිතයි. ඒ්වා මහනුවර, පොලොන්නරුව, ගම්පහ, යාපනය හා මුලතිව් යන දිස්ත්‍රික්කවල රුධිර අවශ්‍යතාවය සපුරා ගැනීම සදහා සංවිධානය කර තිබෙනවා.”

වැඩි විස්තර සඳහා :- අනුශිකා කඹුරුගමුව , සහකාර අධ්‍යක්ශිකා ආයතනික සන්නිවේදන 0718622800

Anjalika Silva

Moderate Tamils living in the country are enjoying peace.  Muslims have a home in the East. Diaspora ruling from outside Sri Lanka to push a US Resolution to combine the North and East is not desired by the moderate Tamil People living in Sri Lanka. Muslims faced ethnic cleansing in these areas. 

Who in their right mind wants another armed conflict? Not for Sri Lanka.  US can promote a homeland for those who seek one in Tamil Nadu with 60 million of their ethnic group and not in Sri Lanka with less than 2 million who don’t want a separation– Anjalika Silva USA

US Bipartisan Resolution 413 pandering to terror proxies is going to harm the very Tamil Civilians who want to get away from pro LTTE, separatist, terror proxy domination that they suffered for decades alongside other ethnic groups in Sri Lanka.  No one group was immune from the same issues that were experienced by people.  It was twisted to show that issues prevailed only by race directed at one ethnic group.  This is furthest from the truth.

Human Rights were violated by the LTTE, and the suffering of moderate and helpless low caste Tamils is untold, unheard so far, they crave to have a voice. Muslims were ethnically cleansed.  All these people endured suffering unknown to the US legislators who have no understanding of the conflict and more likely they do not care if they get funded for campaigns without questioning the sources of funding.

 The people who deserve to be heard are silenced when they are citizens of Sri Lanka who deserve to have a choice between the suffering inflicted by LTTE domination or enjoy the peace that was hard fought. The men and women in uniform came from all walks of life and ethnicities.  It was not a homogeneous uniformed force that saved people and the country.  They were represented by all ethnic groups although referred to as a Sinhala dominated military. Obviously in numbers they exceeded the other ethnic groups and similarly those that laid down lives for the peace we see today were 95% from the majority ethnic group the Sinhala soldiers and others from minority ethnic groups. 

However, the loudest voices come from those who lived by eliminating any dissent that included innocent Tamil people from other armed Tamil independence organization that were committing acts of terror.  The LTTE destroyed members of those groups. The acts of violence were unfathomable and Sri Lanka needs to keep its national security intact although the resolution mentions a need  to eliminate the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA)  which is preposterous to say the least after a 30 brutal struggle against a US proscribed organization.  Where is common sense?

The LTTE diaspora hides the fact that in the conflict, the LTTE eliminated all other armed groups in cold blooded murder against fellow Tamils while calling themselves the sole representatives.  All these years, now 12 after the end of the war they have been kept behind a smoke screen and silenced so that they don’t reveal the suffering and killing among themselves for outright domination and brutality of the LTTE, against their own people.  Life must be restored for these people too just as the loss of life among families of the forces and suicide bombing victims struggle to survive.  Human Rights are for all people.  The military has been taken to task for alleged” Human Rights abuses with unknown sources, sealed for 20 years from verification.  However, LTTE violations  with documented proof and witnesses, named individuals that disappeared in their hands go unchallenged.  They killed indiscriminately and violated the following conditions of basic human rights.

Right to Security from Harm

While there are many accepted human rights, they tend to fall into a few specific categories. One of them is the right to security from harm, which really just means you have a right to not live in fear that someone will hurt you. This can mean that you are protected from threats from other people, which is why we arrest murderers, but also from governments.

Perhaps the most blunt example of this is Article 5 of the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights: ”No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment.” There is also an article in there forbidding slavery. So, get the point here? It’s not just physical harm that you have the right to be free of; it’s also harm to your psyche or status as a human. No matter what, you should always expect to be treated with the basic respect and dignity owed to a human being.

Refraining from a vote for this Resolution is the right thing to do for the Human Rights of the Tamil people who live in Sri Lanka and are entitled to a right to not live in further fear of the LTTE brutality they suffered.

After 30 years of conflict and 12 years of peace, they seek a voice to speak for themselves and not to be spoken for in the international media that reveals a convenient agenda supporting narrative that is not for the benefit of Tamil Civilians in Sri Lanka that include children forcibly conscripted, tortured and ill-treated if they cried to go home.  Out of those who came under the homeland proposes, already 60% have left to live in the South of the country.  They find Sri Lanka to be their home and enjoy their acceptance in the south of the country.  Contradicting the myth of Sinhala brutality, these civilians have found out firsthand, for themselves, how the truth applies to them.

Here’s what this Resolution 413 will do to Sri Lanka’s peaceful coexistence.  Listen to those living in the country and not those who have duped western nations for lucrative economic migration and carry foreign citizenship and dual citizenship in the country they claim as a land of Genocide to rationalize separating a homeland.  This agenda is paper thin and transparent as it has come up after 12 years of peace without any uprising.  This Resolution will create an uprising and the responsibility will lie in the hands of Law makers, elected US representatives who will violate the Patriot Act to incite dissention in another democracy if they render their support to Resolution 413 that is against humanity.  The people who will be affected have a mind to think and make choices not to be dictated by resolutions. 

Listen to the Tamil Civilians who are not in the equation but are the most important component of the population that will be affected by remote controlled uninformed resolutions. 

The US administration should not encourage their representatives to make rash, uneducated, uninformed moves that destroy democracy whether in Sri Lanka or elsewhere.  The US is already under the threat of losing its democracy and voting rights.  It is struggling with mass shootings and domestic terrorism. Police brutality, immigrant attacks are internal conflicts.  Why is it that elected officials think it is okay to go against the Patriot Act and cause disruption in another country?

This is an act of treason by the pro terror diaspora that violates the laws of the United States as citizens first for inciting a rift in another country while holding US Citizenship and in some cases the citizenship of Sri Lanka as dual citizens through an arrangement between the two countries. The diaspora that moves freely between USA and Sri Lanka, many of whom are US citizens holding dual citizenship with Sri Lanka, need to be taken to task for breaking the law in the United States of America under the Patriot Act. 

The proof of disproportionate allocation of land that can lead to disruption of peace in Sri Lanka appears below.

Conclusion based on 2012 Census Data: 

Out of a population of 21Million people in the country of 25,332 square miles, annexing the North and East provides a share of 28.77% of the entire country for a population of 7.67% Tamils and 4.83% of non-Tamils in the North and East.

Taking the entire population of the country, if this area is taken out of the 25,332 square miles in separating a homeland, 70% of the Sinhala population and 7.2 % of the Moor population will be left with 18,043 square miles which is 71% of the country for a combined 77% of the Sinhala and Moor population.

Whereas 12% of the Entire Tamil population will have 28.77% of the entire country.

77% of the non-Tamil population (Sinhala 70% plus 7% Moor) will have 71% of the country.

As Sri Lankan American citizens of the USA, all we can say is that we did not elect members to the US Congress to undermine the home country we came from and a country that has earned its dignity by defeating terrorism by a proscribed group the LTTE. Their supporters within the diaspora, most with dual citizenship are pushing an agenda although their doctrine came from a proscribed organization not only in the USA but in 31 other countries. They are heard, encouraged, supported and spoken for by US elected representatives who have earned the contempt of a majority of Sri Lankan Americans with voting power.

The Tamil Tiger Terrorists with the dubious distinction of calling themselves the sole representatives of the Tamil people, killed more Tamil people in their desire to eliminate rival groups and those that resisted their operation.  They are labeled as the most brutal by the US FBI and deadlier than Al Qaeda, and Hamas and it is pitiful that there are elected officials in the USA supporting a Resolution with a group that has blood on their hands. That blood has not dried even twelve years after the end of the war as they are at liberty to open old wounds with US elected officials.  Is it ignorance or lack of caring for another democracy?  We like some answers. 

To the elected representatives, we will make a note and remember the choices you make that are not those respected by us for admission to positions of office.

By Sarasi Wijeratne/Counterpoint.lk Courtesy NewsIn.Asia

Colombo, May 28:  The ill-fated container vessel X-Press Pear, which burned and sank off Colombo, could have been saved if the Nitric acid leak had been fixed before it sailed to Colombo.

The ship’s crew had detected the leak after it left Jebel Ali in Dubai where it had loaded cargo and was enroute to Hamad in Qatar. The leak was allegedly not fixed here and nor was it fixed in Hazari in India which was its next stop. The ship, which was on a fixed port rotation between these ports was a regular and the next port of call was Colombo.

‘In addition to responsibilities under the fixed port rotation system we have a Port of Refuge and support services obligation and we could not have turned the ship away,’ said a high–level source at the Sri Lanka Ports Authority(SLPA). ‘It could have resulted in a criminal prosecution’.

Denying the ship had not been allowed entry to Hamad and Hazari the source clarified that it was allowed entry into these ports to offload and reload cargo but the leak allegedly was not fixed. According to the source the prevailing ground conditions were instrumental. ‘The ship was in Hamad during the Ramadan season and in Hazari it could not get help because of Covid’.

Ports provide a rework and discharge facility that ships can make use of to repair a leak or replace the container. It is a service all countries are obliged to provide under international maritime regulations. ‘In this case, it could have taken about four hours for the leak to be fixed, depending on the cargo which had to be offloaded and reloaded for the corrective work to be done’.

Just before midnight on the 20th of May a fire broke out on the deck of the MV X -Press Pearlwhich was located 9.5 nautical miles from the Colombo port where it had dropped anchor early that morning. It is also 4.5 nautical miles or 8.5 kilometers from the Negombo coastline and 15 km from the mouth of the Kelani river and the Colombo Port City.

At the time the fire broke out the ship, which had been released from a yard in China in February and was registered in Singapore, was carrying 1486 containers of dangerous and general cargo.  The 81 containers which had dangerous cargo included 25 tonnes of nitric acid and caustic soda, methanol and other chemicals. The nitric acid was stored in 36 international bulk containers on the outside deck and the leak is believed to have originated in these containers because of poor quality packaging, one of the top reasons for fires on board ships. Among the general items were consumer products and cosmetics.  About 22 containers of a transshipment with cosmetics, aluminum melting products and environment hazard containers were to be offloaded in Colombo.

Before it enters the port a ship is routinely required to provide a detailed breakdown of the cargo it is carrying including the number of containers and the insurance cover that it has. ‘This information has to be provided 48 hours before the ship enters the port’, said the source who confirmed that details of MV X-Press Pearl’s cargo including items classified as dangerous had been furnished.  The SLPA however was not informed about the leak which was declared to them only after the ship had anchored. 

At 10.19 am on 20th May the ship’s local agent Sea Consortium Lanka sent the SLPA a mail informing it about the leak. When a team from the SLPA which included its deputy fire chief boarded the ship for an inspection after they detected smoke in cargo room 2 in the hold.  The location had been sprayed with carbondioxide with the consent of the vessel’s master. The fire which eventually raged through the ship had reportedly started on the top deck. 

‘It is still unclear what happened especially since the fire started where the deck cargo was and not where the smoke was detected’.   It could have been a combination of factors such as the poor packaging which caused the nitric acid to leak and mix with water and the caustic soda which was stored immediately below in the hold’.

The Meteorology department had issued a weather warning for those days and the ship was in an area where the weather was bad and the sea was rough, hampering the work of the tugs that were fighting the flames which had erupted on board.  A lightning strike sparking the flames is also emerging as a possibility.  According to eyewitnesses the clouds of smoke which were billowing from the ship were red, an indication that the nitric acid was burning.

Meanwhile the 25– member crew who had remained on board until then were evacuated from the ship and are currently in quarantine.  Two crew members who were injured during the evacuation had to be hospitalized for treatment. 

In the weeks to come while international investigators start looking to establish how the ship met with its fate the priorities for disaster responders now will be to contain the spread of the fire and minimize environmental damage.

The Navy spokesman Captain Indika Silva said they had spoken with the Indian coastguard which had sent two vessels to deal with eventualities leading to environmental pollution. He said the owners of the vessel have assigned a salvage company to deal with the fire and two tugs have been hired to fight the fire which is still raging and putting at risk the ship’s structural stability.

The Navy has also deployed its men along the western coastline from Dikowita to Chilaw and Wellawatte to Panadura to recover cargo that was washed ashore after eight containers from the ship fell in the sea. Local people were seen carrying the cargo away despite warnings from environment agencies to stay away from goods and debris because they can be toxic. Fishermen have been told to refrain from fishing in the area in the coming days. The Central Environment Authority and Urban Development Authority were expected to visit the location today to assess the situation.

Professor of Coastal Oceanography at the University of Western Australia Charitha Pattiaratchi said the ship will either burn up or sink. ‘You just have to sit it out and prepare for what could happen next. But the chemicals will not be persistent because unlike oil in the ocean chemicals get diluted and neutralised’. While danger to marine life will range from the short to long– term depending on the species and its peculiarities, the bigger concern is the potential of an oil spill.

Based on computer modelling done by him if there is an oil spill from the ship it could spread to the coast between Colombo and Negombo transported by the combination of wind and currents.  ‘It is likely that it will head more to the southwest.  Oil that reaches the coastline will stay there for a while and it will persist’. His projections anticipate the spill to extend about 10 km along the coastline. ‘In terms of preparation, it should be on gearing up to clean the beach and also to rescue animals and birds such as seagulls who will come to the beach’. 

This latest maritime disaster comes not so long after the fire on the MT New Diamond in September last year.  The ship was transporting around two million barrels of crude oil when a fire broke out in the engine room when it was 65 kilometers off Sangaman Kanda Point along the east coast of Sri Lanka. After burning intermittently for almost a week, the fire was finally extinguished but not before the waters around it were spiked with a diesel oil spill of about 1 km long.

Pattiaratchi who works closely with Sri Lanka during maritime disasters points out that in the case of the New Diamond which was a crude oil carrier the wind and waves took it further away from the coast. In the current case the ship is close to the coast and the southwest monsoon is also strong which enhances the risk of environmental damage on shore.

A major disaster was averted with MT New Diamond because of a combination of favourable atmospheric and ocean conditions and the effective management of the fire on board. But we  may be not be so lucky the next time and an incident can cause significant environmental, ecological, financial, social effects to coastal populations’. The is highlighted in the current incident where the weather conditions were challenging, the ship was closer to the coast and the winds and currents were such that debris and oil are being transported to the shore.

He underscores the importance of disaster preparedness with direct action and long-term planning to mitigate the impact of disasters such as tsunamis, extreme weather events and oil spills that pose significant environmental, ecological, financial, social and legal risks to coastal populations globally.

‘We have to develop and put in place structures that can respond to such disasters by not being reactive but being proactive’, points out Pattiaratchi.

One challenge is to centralize information to ensure the availability of complete data sets. Although information that is required to develop mitigation strategies during these events are available they are distributed across many agencies. For example, high-resolution topography data from the ocean and land are not readily available for input into computer models that predict locations where oil may come ashore and this data is fundamental to predict coastal disasters. 

Lack of preparedness including scientific and technological expertise, particularly in handling a crisis such as an oil spill is not a challenge that Sri Lanka faces alone it is an issue for many other smaller, developing nations of the Indian Ocean rim as well. These obstacles only make a stronger case for significant improvements in transboundary cooperation. Regional bodies such as the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) should take on a more proactive role in addressing and responding to challenges that small and littoral states find tough to meet individually.

උපුටා ගැන්ම ලංකා සී නිව්ස්

ප්‍රදානයක් ලෙස චීන රජය විසින් මෙරටට ලබාදීමට සූදානම් වූ කොරෝනා එන්නත් මිලියන හයක් ලබා ගැනීම අවහිර කරන ලද විශේෂඥ වෛද්‍යවරවෙකු පිළිබඳව කොමිසමක් පත් කරන ලෙස වෛද්‍ය අංශ විසින් ජනාධිපති ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ මහතාගෙන් ඉල්ලා ඇත.

කොරෝනා මර්දනය සඳහා නිපදවන ලද චීන එන්නත ගැන බොරු ප්‍රචාර හේතුවෙන් මෙම වෛද්‍ය ප්‍රබලයා චීනය ලබාදීමට සූදානම් වූ එන්නත සඳහා උදාසීනත්වයෙන් කටයුතු කළ බවද එම සංගමය පෙන්වා දී තිබේ.

එකී වෛද්‍යවරයා ඉදිරිපත් කරන ලද කරුණු මතය එදා චීන එන්නත ලබා ගැනීම මෙරට විසින් ප්‍රතික්ෂේප කරනු ලැබ තිබූ බවද සඳහන් වේ.

එම එන්නත් මිලියන හය ලබා ගත්තා නම් දැන් පවතින කොරෝනා රැල්ල මර්දනය කර ගැනීමට හැකියාව තිබූ බව ද වෛද්‍ය අංශ වල අදහසයි.

මේ තත්ත්වය නිසා චීන ප්‍රදානයක් ලෙස ලබා ගැනීමට තිබූ එන්නත් මිලියන 06න් පසුව ලබා දුන්නේ ලක්ෂ පහක ප්‍රමාණයක් පමණක් බවද ඔවුන් පෙන්වා දී තිබේ.

උපුටා ගැන්ම ලංකා සී නිව්ස්

නිරෝධායනයට ලක්කර සිටින නිරූපණ ශිල්පිනී පියුමි හන්සමාලීගේ ඇදුම් බෑගයත් එම නිරෝධායන මධ්‍යස්ථානය ගෙනගොස් දුන්නේ තම පුත්‍රයා නොවන බව මහජන ආරක්ෂක ඇමති සරත් වීරසේකර මහතා සඳහන් කරයි.

ඔහු සඳහන් කරන්නේ පියුමි හන්සමාලි කියන ආකාරයට ඇයට ඇඳුම් ගෙනත් දී ඇත්තේ ඇයගේ නිවස ළඟ වෛද්‍යවරයෙකු බවයි.

තම පවුල පදිංචි සිටින්නේ ඇයගේ නිවස අසල නොවන බවත් තම පුත්‍රයා ඇය හඳුන්වන්නේවත් නැති බවත් මෙම ප්‍රචාරයන් මඩ පමණක් බවද ඇමැතිවරයා පවසා සිටියි.

තම පුත්‍රයා ගේ විවාහ මංගල්‍යය ෂැංග්‍රිලා හෝටලයේ පැවැත්වූ බවට පළ වන වාර්තාද අසත්‍ය යයිද ඔහු සඳහන් කරයි.

කොරෝනා ව්‍යාප්තිය හේතුවෙන් මංගල උත්සව පැවැත්වීම තහනම් බවත් තම පුත්‍රයා ගේ විවාහ ගිවිස ගැනීම පමණක් පැවති බවත් සඳහන් කරන ඔහු එය පැවතුණේ ද පවුලේ සාමාජික සහභාගිත්වයෙන් පමණක් තම නිවසේ බව ද ඔහු කියා සිටියි.

පියුමි හංසමාලි තමන් හඳුන්වන්නේ වත් නැති බවත් පසුගිය දෙවැනි දා නීතිඥවරයෙකු තමන් අමතා නිරෝධායන මධ්‍යස්ථානයට ගෙන යන පිරිසගේ ඇඳුම් පැළඳුම් ගෙන යාමට අවස්ථාව දෙන ලෙස ඉල්ලා සිටි බවත් ඉන් පසුව පියුමි හංසමාලි නම් කාන්තාවක් තමන්ට ඇමතුමක් ලබාගෙන එම ඉල්ලීමම කළ බවද ඔහු සඳහන් කරයි.

මහජන නියෝජිතයකු ලෙස ඒ සඳහා අවස්ථාවක් ලබාදීමට කටයුතු කළ බවත් ඒ හැර වෙනත් කිසිම උපදේශයක් නොදුන් බවත් ඔහු තව දුරටත් පැවසීය.

Courtesy Kuwait Times

COLOMBO: In this photograph taken on June 4, 2021 a container vessel is being offloaded at the East Terminal of the Colombo port. – AFP

COLOMBO: The dramatic recent fire on a container ship off Sri Lanka highlighted the risks involved in the island nation’s ambitions to become one of the world’s busiest maritime transport hubs. The MV X-Press Pearl burned for 13 days, releasing tons of chemicals and plastics. The sinking ship’s nearly 300 tons of fuel oil may now leak into the Indian Ocean.

How important is Sri Lanka?
Thanks to its geographical location, around 200 container ships and oil tankers sail past every day on the busy routes between Asia, the Middle East and Europe. But Sri Lanka is also the biggest so-called transhipment hub in South Asia, meaning that some of the world’s biggest ships dock in Sri Lanka to load and unload containers. Colombo, four days by ship from Singapore and four and a half to Dubai, is the only port between those two places deep enough to handle ships with more than 18,000 containers.

What are its plans?
Colombo Port now hopes to double its annual handling capacity of 7.2 million containers in four years. We are strategically located and we are strategically important,” Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) chairman Daya Ratnayake told AFP. But, we have a serious problem here, the problem is (lack of) capacity.” India is developing a deep-water port at Vizhinjam on its southwest tip and is planning another in the Nicobar Islands in the Bay of Bengal, both of which may steal some of Colombo’s trade.

What do other countries think?
Two-thirds of the transhipment cargo going through Sri Lanka is goods going from or to India, and New Delhi has traditionally seen Colombo as an ally. However, since a big chunk of what passes through the Indian Ocean is Chinese-made, Beijing has also shown a keen interest in developing Sri Lanka as a key link on its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Since 2014, Colombo Port has been home to a $500-million Chinese-run deep sea terminal. To pacify New Delhi, Sri Lanka this year allowed India to build another new terminal right next door. This is how we are balancing,” Ratnayake said. We as a country must take all this competition to our advantage.”

What else is China doing?
Sri Lanka has also built a second deep-sea port at Hambantota on its southern tip, even closer to the ships steaming between the Malacca Strait and the Suez Canal. After Sri Lanka failed to service its debts to build the port, Hambantota has since 2017 been leased to China, alarming Western countries as well as India.

China wants Hambantota one day to resemble Shanghai, and aims to develop it as a container port able to service and refuel monster container ships 400 meters (1,300 feet) long. Currently the port does a lucrative business as a transhipment center for hundreds of thousands of cars every year made in India and South Korea on their way elsewhere.

What about the environment?
Plastic pellets that escaped the MV X-Press Pearl have blanketed beaches on Sri Lanka. Fishing in the area has been suspended, hitting the local economy hard. Hemantha Withanage from the Centre for Environmental Justice (CEJ) has petitioned the Supreme Court to force the government to get ready for more disasters as the ports get busier. We don’t have the equipment and the skills to deal with another catastrophe like this,” Withanage said. – AFP

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

Sri Lankans or dual citizens who are fully vaccinated arriving or transiting or having a travel history within the past 14 days from India, Vietnam, South African countries and South American countries will not be allowed for home quarantine but instead will have to go into a quarantine center, a revised set of guidelines from the Health Ministry said.

However, Sri Lankans or dual citizens who are fully vaccinated arriving from all other countries can go in for a mandatory 14 day home quarantine after undergoing a PCR test and after a negative result had been obtained.

All Sri Lankans or dual citizens irrespective from any country have to carry a negative COVID-19 test report in English Language.

All Sri Lankan citizens should mandatorily carry either a negative PCR test done within 96 hours prior to embarkation or a Rapid Antigen Test done within 48 hours prior to embarkation while dual citizens should carry a negative PCR test report done within 96 hours before embarkation.

Moreover, the travellers who have received the recommended doses of the COVID-19 vaccines should carry the original vaccination certificate or car, together with the certified copy of English language translation if it is not in the English Language or verifiable evidence of vaccination.

Then, they have to produce this to the airport health officer when arriving at the airport and to the officer in charge of the quarantine hotel or center, or the hotel doctor at a safe and secured certified level one hotel.

Also, Sri Lankan citizens or dual citizens including Sri Lankan seafarers arriving by air, other than from the above-mentioned countries, should stay at a quarantine hotel or center or a safe and secure certified level one hotel until the on arrival negative PCR test result is available.

Once a negative report is received, the officer in charge of the hotel or center, should discharge the fully vaccinated individuals after verifying the status of the PCR test. They should then issue these Sri Lankans and dual citizens a discharge document and email the details to the Epidemiology Unit.

The Sri Lankans or dual citizens should then arrange their own transport to travel to residence or home and should not use public transport for this purpose. They should travel direct to the destination without any stopovers.

Upon arrival to their home, they should immediately inform their area Medical Officer of Health by telephone or email.

Finally, they will be subjected to another COVID-19 PCR test on the day 14, at a Health Ministry approved laboratory and report should be submitted to the area MOH. They will be discharged from home quarantine only with a negative PCR report. (Sheain Fernandopulle)

Courtesy Adaderana

The prevailing inclement weather has severely affected ten districts in the country, the Disaster Management Center (DMC) said.

It has claimed two more lives pushing the death count to sixteen, DMC confirmed.

Further, three individuals have gone missing while another five have been reported injured.

Accordingly, a total of 270,912 have been afflicted due to the adverse weather conditions experienced on the island.

Rains have been pounding several districts of the nation since Thursday night, and many houses, paddy fields, and roads have been inundated, blocking traffic.

More rains are expected in the coming days, the Meteorology Department said.

The National Building Research Organisation (NBRO) has issued landslide warnings for six of the 25 administrative districts.