Heavy rains to continue

Published

8 months ago

October 17, 2022

editor

Occasional rains or thundershowers may occur in the Western, Sabaragamuwa, Central and North-Western Provinces as well as in Galle and Matara Districts, the Department of Meteorology said.

It said that heavy showers above 75mm may occur in some places in Western, Sabaragamuwa and Central Provinces and Galle and Matara Districts.

Director of the Water Management Unit of the Irrigation Department, S.P.C. Sugeeshwara said that there is a risk of inundation of the lowlands along the rivers due to heavy rains.

Meanwhile, 61,792 people belonging to 15,632 families are affected due to heavy rains that have affected 11 districts.

The Disaster Management Centre (DMC) said that 5,460 people belonging to 1,661 families are being held in 33 shelters.

It said five houses have been completely damaged and 207 houses have been partially damaged due to inclement weather.

Meanwhile, DMC Director General Major General Sudantha Ranasinghe said that the programme to provide relief to the victims is being implemented.

CMC’s receivable income exceeds Rs.6,200mn in 2022!

Published

44 mins ago

June 9, 2023

editor

The receivable income of the Colombo Municipal Council (CMC) for the year 2022 was Rs.6,280.50 million, it was revealed during the Committee on Public Accounts (COPA) meeting.

This was revealed when the COPA met in Parliament on June 06 under the chairmanship of State Minister Lasantha Alagiyawanna to examine the Auditor General’s reports and current performance of the Colombo Municipal Council for the years 2020/2021.

The CMC’s total receivable income of the year 2021 is Rs.5,835.6 million, Rs.5,386.4 million in 2022 and Rs.4,481.5 million in 2019. It was found that these arrears are in the form of assessment tax, rent and other taxes.

Accordingly, the officials who were present pointed out that they are making arrangements to acquire the properties where the taxes are in arrears.

They said that there are issues related to the identification of the owners of certain properties, and that there is also a shortage of CMC officials available to look into these matters.

The COPA member MPs pointed out that assessment numbers have been given for unauthorized constructions as well.

Accordingly, the committee recommended that a programme should be prepared with specific dates to recover the arrears and a full report should be submitted to the COPA by July 06, 2023.

It was also revealed that the private companies contracted to collect parking fees have continued to default on the monthly rent due to the CMC and the amount of arrears to be collected from 38 companies as at December 31, 2021, was Rs. 265 million.

BIZ

Parliament SOC recommends not to privatise SLT

Published

55 mins ago

June 9, 2023

editor

The Sectoral Oversight Committee (SOC) on National Security has said that it does not recommend the privatisation of Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT).

This was stated in a report issued by the SOC on National Security headed by MP Sarath Weerasekera.

The report said that matters sensitive to national security can be exposed through the privatisation of SLT.

News

Fonseka resigns from SOC on National Security

Published

56 mins ago

June 9, 2023

editor

Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka has resigned from the Sectoral Oversight Committee (SOC) on National Security, Deputy Speaker Ajith Rajapakshe announced in Parliament today (09).

He said MP Rauff Hakeem has been appointed to the vacant position instead.