{"id":93959,"date":"2019-10-16T16:21:21","date_gmt":"2019-10-16T23:21:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=93959"},"modified":"2019-10-16T16:21:21","modified_gmt":"2019-10-16T23:21:21","slug":"yahapalana-as-a-puppet-regime-part-13-b","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2019\/10\/16\/yahapalana-as-a-puppet-regime-part-13-b\/","title":{"rendered":"YAHAPALANA AS A PUPPET REGIME Part 13 (B)"},"content":{"rendered":"

KAMALIKA PIERIS<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

APPOINTMENTS (1)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A top official suspended for misappropriations\nof Rs 203,000,000 at Inland Revenue Department by manipulating eight files had been\nreinstated on a directive of Public Service Commission, reported the media. COPE\nwas investigating this. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

APPOINTMENTS (2)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nHome affairs Ministry had selected 103 Grama Niladharis who had passed the exam\nfor promotion to super grade in Aug 2017, and were promoted in 2018  but \nthe promotions have so far not been effected, media reported in August  2019. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

STATE VEHICLES (1)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Weerawansa observed in May 2016 that Cabinet\nhad approved Rs 600 million to import a bullet proof vehicle for Prime Minister\nRanil Wickremesinghe but only allocated Rs 150 million for disaster relief. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

STATE VEHICLES (2)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The media wanted to know in June 2018 why\nlawmakers continued to receive massive duty free concessions to import super\nluxury vehicles at a time vast majority of people were struggling to make ends\nmeet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

STATE VEHICLES (3)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yahapalana\ngovernment submitted a supplementary estimate, in October 2019, seeking\nparliamentary approval for 21.4 billion rupees including Rs 101,000,000 for the\npayment of the luxury tax on two security vehicles imported for President\nSirisena. JVP MP Bimal Ratnayake asked\nthe government to explain why two more security vehicles had been acquired for\nthe President when a presidential election had been announced. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

SRI LANKAN AIRWAYS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nMahinda Rajapaksa government was planning to buy four and rent five planes but\nYahapalana cancelled that arrangement and paid USD 98 million to those\ncompanies as termination fee, said Derana news of 18.7.18\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DEFORESTATION <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Deforestation\nhas continued during Yahapalana rule. Derana news of 21.2.17 showed deforestation\ngoing on in protected forests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Large swathes of Ritigala nature reserve have\nbeen destroyed,  cut and burned supported\nby a influential politicians supported by government officers and officers of\nthe Forest Department , reported the media in September 2018. This has been\ngoing on for the past 100 days. The forestry office nearby by had been shut\ndown and officers had left the area, the media said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SALAWA EXPLOSION<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When\nthe Salawa army camp\u2019s armoury at Kosgama exploded in June 2016, Mahinda Rajapaksa\nsaid that in during his time these installations were guarded day and night\nchecked at least twice a day and expired ordnance is regularly destroyed. There\nare precautions also for accidents such as electricity leaks. The central armory\nwas at Salawa since 1990 despite protests. During the war we took special\nprecautions to ensure the security of this installation, and the items were in\nthe process of being relocated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gotabhaya Rajapaksa said that the explosion was due to a failure\nto take necessary security measures. Gotabhaya said he had increased security\nmeasures at Salawa. He had moved some of the heavy weapons and their ammunition\nto Diyatalawa and Maduru oya camps. He decided to build two armories at\nOyamaduwa in Anuradhapura and Palugaswewa in Rambewa. Both were old farms\nbelonging to the Livestock Department. While we were doing the preliminary\nwork we lost the election.\u201d The   Yahapalana\ngovernment did not carry out the plan. If they had done so, both Kosgama and\nVeyangoda armories could have been shut down many months ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

COW ELEPHANTS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A wildlife conservation alarm has been raised with Wildlife\nofficials suspecting a possible human hand in the deaths of up to seven cow\nelephants, found dead in succession over the past week in the Habarana forests.\nThis is the location of a herd which is a popular tourist attraction. Three\ndead female elephants have been found in the Thunbikulam reserve in Habarana.\nFour dead elephants were found   the day\nbefore in the same reserve. Another dead elephant was discovered the day after.\nTwo dead female elephants were found in the reservoir. The officials said they\nbelieved all the animals were from a single herd, and they were females with\ntheir ages ranging between 25 and 35 years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

All the dead elephants are females that had either been pregnant\nor had delivered calves. Poisoning is suspected as a possible cause. Local\npeople reject speculation that the villagers are to blame for the elephant\ndeaths. Meanwhile, the body of a tusker had been found in Moragahawewa in\nPuttalam. The animal, around 7 feet tall and 15 years old, Veterinarian said he\nbelieved it had had died of poisoning. One of the tusks had been removed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

REPLACING PLAQUE<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Kalutara District official of the National\nHousing Development Authority told the Presidential Commission of Inquiry investigating\ncorruption in the current administration that they were instructed by HQ that\nthe plaque at Navodya Village, Bulathsinhala should be replaced by a larger\none. The original plaque had cost around Rs. 43 000 and the subsequent one over\nRs. 227 000. (Continued) <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KAMALIKA PIERIS APPOINTMENTS (1) A top official suspended for misappropriations of Rs 203,000,000 at Inland Revenue Department by manipulating eight files had been reinstated on a directive of Public Service Commission, reported the media. COPE was investigating this. APPOINTMENTS (2) The Home affairs Ministry had selected 103 Grama Niladharis who had passed the exam for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[104],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-93959","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-kamalika-pieris"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93959","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=93959"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93959\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=93959"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=93959"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=93959"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}