The 05 PHIs who had recently inspected the kitchens at the well known ‘Avenra Garden’ hotel in Negombo, have been summoned to the Katana police, ‘Sri Lanka Mirror’ learns.
Mr. Upul Rohana, Upul Rohana, President of the Public Health Inspectors’ Association, says that the management of Avenra Garden Hotel has created a conspiracy based on false allegations leveled against Public Health Inspectors.
He pointed out that the hotel management is in hot water over the offense of storing cooked and uncooked food in the same refrigerator, an offence they had committed for the second time.
A similar raid was conducted in the hotel kitchen 02 months ago with the same fault found, he notes.
Cooked food and uncooked food such as meat had been stored in the same freezer and those food items were subsequently destroyed. The management was not prosecuted but was given a warning. he added.
Mr Rohana points out the inspection of the Avenra Gardens Hotel is a part of a series of raids being conducted in the wake of the festive period.
All star class hotels are subjected to such raids but all have bowed down to the law instead of leveling baseless allegations against the PHIs and lodging police complaints by attempting to take up the might of politics in a disgusting manner, he said.
Noting that no one from the hotel management had even signed the necessary documents despite the elapse of 45 minutes since they were informed to do so, the management had instead gone on to intimidate the officiers not to file a police case.
As an association, maximum legal measures will be taken against hindering the officials involved in the raid as well as levelling false allegations against them, Mr. Upul Rohana further notes.
The government’s proposal to reduce bus fares by a 2% effective from July 01 has led to the strong disapproval of bus associations, reports say.
It was also proposed not to revise the minimum fare.
The announcement was made during a meeting between officials of the Transport Ministry and representatives of private bus associations to discuss the annual bus fare revision, scheduled for July 01.
A group of activists and families of missing persons handed over letters and memorandums to the visiting United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk in Trincomalee today (June 25).
UN Human Rights Spokesperson – Jeremy Laurence, who is accompanying the High Commissioner, said while in Trincomalee that Mr. Volker Turk expressed sorrow and solidarity with the families of the disappeared.
Meanwhile, a peaceful demonstration was also held in Trincomalee during this visit, where a group of activists and victims of disappearances was seen holding placards and banners.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights will visit Kandy before concluding his official visit to Sri Lanka tomorrow (June 26) after a special press briefing in Colombo.
There is an urgent need to introduce new buses to the Sri Lanka Transport Board (SLTB) bus fleet, as nearly 52% of the regular bus fleet of the Sri Lanka Transport Board and nearly 94% of the luxury bus fleet have exceeded the economic life span.
As to the insufficient buses to meet the passenger demand on the expressway, the Sri Lanka Transport Board (SLTB) is currently operating 61 luxury buses belonging to the private sector on a profit-sharing basis.
Therefore, the Sri Lanka Transport Board (SLTB) has decided to purchase 200 new super-luxury buses by using their own funds.
Accordingly, the Cabinet of Ministers has approved the proposal presented by the Minister of Transport, Highways, Port and Civil Aviation to purchase 29 super luxury buses through the financially capable depots and to purchase the remaining buses by making a down payment using SLTB funds and the balance to be paid in monthly instalments over a period of 5 years.
