Public Security Minister Tiran Alles has decided to suspend the Expression of Interest (EOI) with regard to the issuance of electronic passports or ‘e-passport’ and call for Tenders.
The Ministry says that Cabinet approval has been granted for a paper tabled by Minister Alles to appoint a special technical evaluation committee for the related matter and to call for a new Tender to issue ‘e-passport’ considering the current economic situation.
EOIs were initially called for the issuing of ‘e-passports’ and many applicants had complained to the Ministry of certain technical difficulties in the process.
Accordingly, Minister Alles has canceled the call for bids for EOI and decided to call for Tenders through the normal procurement process.
Meanwhile, a senior official of the Ministry said that over 700,000 e-passports should be issued during a year, which will cost around USD 15 million.
The official added that millions of USD had to be spent on the machines used to issue the passports and that the issuance of e-passports has also become difficult due to the high cost.
The National Transport Commission (NTC) has said that an investigation into the recent incident where a student fell from the footboard of a ‘Sisu Sariya’ school bus, has revealed that the accident had resulted from the careless and negligent behaviour of both the driver and the conductor.
Issuing a statement, the NTC noted that, based on the preliminary findings, the Road Passenger Transport Authority of the North Western Province has taken steps to temporarily suspend the services of the driver and conductor involved.
Minister of Agriculture, Livestock, Land and Irrigation – K.D. Lal Kantha has announced that the government has decided to import 300,000 MT of maize.
Speaking to the media after attending a District Development Committee meeting at the Kandy District Secretariat yesterday (July 03), the Minister explained that this decision was taken to prevent traders from artificially inflating maize prices.
He stated that certain large and medium-scale businesses dealing with animal feed have been hoarding maize, buying it from farmers at fair prices and reselling it at much higher rates.
According to the Minister, these traders were trying to push maize prices up to Rs.190-200 per kilogram, which would have driven up the cost of eggs to Rs.200 each and increased meat prices significantly.
The Minister emphasized that while businesses are entitled to make a profit, the government will not allow unfair price manipulation. He also noted that, in the past, even ministers profited from animal products, but those days have ended and racketeers will not be allowed to control the market.
To prevent excessive price drops that could hurt farmers, the Food Security Committee has proposed imposing a tax on imported maize, he said.
