News

Expeditious implementation of Indian housing project

Published

1 year ago

March 13, 2023

editor

High Commissioner of India – Mr. Gopal Baglay and Minister of Water Supply and Estate Infrastructure Development, – Jeevan Thondaman exchanged diplomatic notes, paving way for a three-fold increase in unit cost of a house under Phase-3 of Indian Housing Project (IHP).

This step would now enable expeditious completion of Phase-3 of IHP, under which 4,000 houses are being constructed through grant assistance by Government of India (GOI) in plantation areas of Sri Lanka, spread across 7 Districts in Central, Uva and Southern Provinces.

Close to 46,000 houses were built in different parts of Sri Lanka under the first two phases of IHP. Next phase for the construction of 10,000 houses in plantation areas, announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, shall commence soon.

Exchange of diplomatic notes takes place at an important juncture, when the Indian-Origin Tamil (IOT) community who are concentrated in the plantation areas marks 200 years of their arrival to Sri Lanka.

This also coincides with 100 years of establishment of the Assistant High Commission of India in Kandy, which has been instrumental in implementing several people-centric grant schemes by GOI for the IOT community cutting across areas such as education, health, vocational training, livelihood development and several others, in addition to housing.

These milestones shall be commemorated by the Governments of India and Sri Lanka through several joint initiatives along with the establishment of 75 years of diplomatic relations between the two neighbours.

News

This week’s Cabinet decisions

Published

4 hours ago

April 26, 2024

editor

A number of decisions have been taken at the Cabinet meeting held yesterday (April 25).

The decisions taken by the Cabinet of Ministers are as follows :

CabinetDecision_E24_04_25 Download

News

Salley, leading figure behind Zahran – Fonseka (Video)

Published

5 hours ago

April 26, 2024

editor

Former Army commander Sarath Fonseka told Parliament today (April 26) that the person who had groomed the main Easter Sunday suicide bomber – Zahran Hashim, is the current head of the State Intelligence Service (SIS) Maj Gen (Rtd.) Suresh Salley.

Although Salley is currently trying to wash his hands off the matter, he cannot escape this, MP Fonseka said.

‘When I was there, I had removed Salley from the SIS. But he was made SIS head by Gotabaya after my departure. Then, Boniface Perera, who was Salley’s right hand man, was made the Eastern Commander. If he starts to slander me again, I will release this file to social media, which will portray what kind of man he truly is. Such people were in contact with Zahran and made him a hero,’ he said.

MP Fonseka also said that Salley had recently said that he wasn’t in the country when the attacks took place. He cannot escape the responsibility by saying he wasn’t in the country, not with the present technology available, the MP added.

He has also said that the process of identifying and nabbing a terrorist cannot be done through commissions and committees and it is the officers Intelligence services and the CID who have the relevant capacity and experience in such matters.

MP Fonseka further said that strict punishments should be given to those who were responsible for the Easter Sunday bombings and who evaded responsibility.

If we secure power, I am confident that the perpetrators can be brought to justice within a year, he further said.

Today is the final day of the three-day adjournment debate on the 2019 Easter attacks.

(Video : VoiceTube)

BIZ

2 companies from Russia & India to take over MRIA management

Published

5 hours ago

April 26, 2024

editor

Accordingly, the Cabinet approval has been granted to hand over the management of MRIA to Shaurya Aeronautics Pvt. Ltd of India and Airports of Regions Management Company of Russia or an affiliated company thereof for a period of 30 years.

Earlier during a Cabinet meeting held on Jan. 09, 2023, approval was granted to invite EOIs from interested parties for utilizing the facilities of the MRIA.

EOIs have been called, for which 05 institutions have submitted offers for the purpose.