Connect with us

News

Driver’s License issuance woes to be addressed by October

Published

on

Mr. Lasantha Alagiyawanna, the State Minister for Transport, assured that the ongoing issue in the issuance of driver’s licenses will be addressed by October, with a shift towards providing permanent licenses through a one-day service rather than temporary ones.

Speaking at a news conference held at the Presidential Media Centre under the theme ‘Collective Path to a stable country’ yesterday (17), the state minister outlined plans to elevate all district offices responsible for issuing driving licenses to the status of the Werahera head office by the end of this year.

Mr. Alagiyawanna, elaborating on the transportation initiatives under President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s guidance, emphasized the ministry’s commitment to delivering efficient public transport services through modern technology. He highlighted ongoing programs and the ministry’s efforts to amend the existing motor vehicle act, introducing a new act.

In the interest of road safety, steps are being taken to streamline the speed limit process to reduce accidents. While alcohol detection is currently operational for drivers, a new initiative targets legal action against drivers under the influence of drugs, implemented nationwide since this year, with an initial phase in the Western and Southern Provinces.

To enhance driver education and safety, plans include implementing a program to inform drivers about first aid in the event of an accident, with future intentions to incorporate related questions into the driver’s license test. With approximately 8.9 million vehicles and 8.5 million licensed drivers in the country, efforts are underway to standardize all district offices issuing licenses to the level of the Werahera head office by year-end.

Further developments include facilitating driver’s licenses for foreigners at airports by April and resolving the current challenges in license issuance by October. The commitment extends to replacing temporary licenses with permanent ones through expedited one-day services.

(President’s Media Division)

News

Names of Mayors and Chairpersons of several LG bodies gazetted

Published

on

By

A gazette extraordinary has been issued containing the names of Mayors, Deputy Mayors, Chairpersons, and Vice-Chairpersons of several local government institutions.

The names have been gazetted based on recommendations sent to the National Election by political parties and independents groups that secured a majority in local government bodies at the recently concluded Local Government (LG) election.    

Accordingly, the Election Commission has taken steps to publish the names from among the political parties and independent groups that secured a majority at the Local Government election held recently.

The names of the elected and nominated members for the respective local authorities, following the Local Government election were also published in the government gazette based on the respective administrative districts.

As per the gazette notification issued by the Minister of Public Administration, Provincial Councils, and Local Government on February 17, 2025, the term of office of local government bodies is scheduled to commence on June 2, 2025

පළාත් පාලන ආයතනවල සභාපතිවරුන්ගේ නම් ඇතුළත් ගැසට් පත්‍රය නිකුත් කෙරේ by poornima

Continue Reading

News

Weather Alert: Showers to ease in Southwest, strong winds forecast in North

Published

on

By

Prevailing showery condition in the southwestern part of the island is expected to reduced gradually from today (01st)

Showers or thundershowers will occur at times in Western, Sabaragamuwa, Central and North-western provinces and in Galle and Matara districts.

Showers or thundershowers may occur at a few places in Uva province and in Ampara and Batticaloa districts during the afternoon or night.

Fairly strong winds of about (30-40) kmph can be expected at times over Western slopes of the central hills and in Northern, North-central and North-western provinces and in Hambantota and Trincomalee districts.

The general public is kindly requested to take adequate precautions to minimize damages caused by temporary localized strong winds and lightning during thundershowers.

Continue Reading

News

Aluthgamage and Fernando assigned printing work in prison

Published

on

By

Former Minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage and former Sathosa Chairman Nalin Fernando, sentenced this week to jail for 20 and 25 years, respectively, have been assigned duties in the printing section at the Welikada prison, sources said.

Both of them are being held together away from the main section of the prison’s ‘chapel’ section, where prisoners serving life sentences and those convicted of murder and rape are held. The prison’s printing section prints its own documentation.

Prison sources said that in placing them in relevant wards to serve their jail term, the authorities had taken into consideration the security of the two convicts, as they might have had political enemies.

Mr Aluthgamage was handed a 20-year term of rigorous imprisonment, while Mr Fernando was given a 25-year term of rigorous imprisonment by a High Court trial-at-bar after being found guilty of causing a Rs 53 million loss to the state.

They were accused of importing carrom boards and checkers boards through Sathosa during the 2015 presidential elections and distributing them to clubs.

Their lawyers said yesterday they were awaiting the certified copy of the judgement to prepare the appeal papers. The appeal will be considered by the Supreme Court.

(sundaytimes.lk)
(This story, originally published by sundaytimes.lk has not been edited by SLM staff)

Continue Reading

Trending

Copyright © 2024 Sri Lanka Mirror. All Rights Reserved