President Ranil Wickremesinghe returned to the island on Friday night (July 21) after concluding his official two-day visit to India.
This was his first visit to the neighbouring country after taking office in 2022.
Accompanied by a 17-member delegation, Wickremesinghe departed for New Delhi on Thursday (July 20) at the invitation of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The visit took place as both countries celebrate the 75th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations this year.
During the course of his visit, the Sri Lankan leader engaged in bilateral with his Indian counterpart Droupadi Murmu, Prime Minister Modi and several other top Indian dignitaries in New Delhi, including billionaire industrialist Gautam Adani, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and External Affairs Minister Dr. S.Jaishankar on a wide range of matters of mutual interest.
The Indian president told President Wickremesinghe that New Delhi’s prolonged support to Sri Lanka in the past year to tide over the economic challenges is a testament to its long-standing commitment to bilateral relations with the island nation.
President Murmu said that India’s partnership is enduring and beneficial to the common people of the two countries and the larger Indian Ocean Region (IOR) and that India looks forward to continuing and strengthening its developmental partnership with Sri Lanka under the leadership of President Wickremesinghe.
Delivering a joint statement with PM Modi following their bilateral talks, President Wickremesinghe expressed his sincere gratitude to the government and people of India for their continued support during Sri Lanka’s most difficult times in recent history.
Commending the impressive economic, infrastructure, and technological advancements made under PM Modi’s leadership, President Wickremesinghe emphasised that India’s growth would have positive impacts on both, the neighbouring countries and the Indian Ocean region.
Meanwhile, PM Modi appealed to the Sri Lankan leader to implement the 13th Amendment and ensure a life of “dignity and respect” for the island nation’s Tamil population.
He also announced a package of INR 75 crores for various development projects in the northern and eastern part of Sri Lanka.
During President Wickremesinghe’s visit, Sri Lanka and India adopted a vision document for our Economic Partnership. “This vision is to strengthen the maritime, air, energy and people-to-people connectivity between the people of both the countries. The vision is to accelerate mutual cooperation in tourism, power, trade, higher education and skill development. This is the vision – of India’s long-term commitment towards Sri Lanka,” PM Modi said.
To this end, the two sides agreed to work together for the establishment of a multi-product petroleum pipeline from the southern part of India to Sri Lanka, in a bid to ensure an affordable and reliable supply of energy resources to Sri Lanka.
Accordingly, it was also decided to undertake mutually agreed joint exploration and production of hydrocarbons in Sri Lanka’s offshore basins with an aim to develop Sri Lanka’s upstream petroleum sector.
The resumption of passenger ferry services between Nagapattinam in India and Kankesanthurai in Sri Lanka and Rameshwaram and Talaimannar, and other mutually agreed places, was alos discussed.
The two leaders agreed to further develop Trincomalee as a national and regional hub of industry, energy and economic activity on the basis of mutual understanding.
In addition, Sri Lanka and India also signed five key Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) on (1) animal husbandry and dairying, (2) cooperation in the field of renewable energy, (3) cooperation for economic development projects in Trincomalee District, (4) Unified Payments Interface (UPI) acceptance in Sri Lanka, and (5) energy permit for Sampur Solar Power Project.
The signed agreements were exchanged in the presence of the Indian PM and the Sri Lankan President.
The Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) today issued a clarification informing the public about the results of a comprehensive investigation conducted by an independent Expert Committee regarding the nationwide power outage that occurred on February 09, 2025.
The complete committee report is available on the website of the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL) for public viewing, it said.
The Expert Committee has confirmed that the primary reason for this blackout was low system stability, technically known as low “system inertia,” caused by an exceptionally high contribution of solar photovoltaic (PV) power at the time. On that day, solar power supplied more than half of the country’s electricity needs, the CEB said.
According to the investigation, the blackout began with a disturbance at the 33kV Panadura Grid Substation, causing a sudden voltage drop across the entire electricity network. This incident occurred during a low-demand weekend, commonly known as the “Sunny Sunday” effect, when many businesses and industries consume less electricity, it said.
With a high amount of solar power generation, the grid lacked sufficient inertia—normally provided by traditional power plants—to absorb the shock from the disturbance. This situation quickly led to a serious imbalance between electricity generation and demand, triggering cascading failures and ultimately the complete islandwide blackout, the statement said.
The investigation highlighted that traditional power stations, which typically maintain stability by providing inertia, were operating minimally due to the large solar generation share. To prevent future outages and enhance grid reliability, the Committee recommends urgent implementation of measures outlined in the Long-Term Generation Expansion Plan (LTGEP) and the Long-Term Transmission Plan.
These measures include deploying Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS), synchronous condensers, and adapting conventional generators to operate as synchronous condensers, it said.
Additionally, the Committee strongly advises including real-time inertia indicators on the grid’s control systems (mimic boards) to improve proactive management and prevent similar incidents in the future.
Importantly, the findings of this Expert Committee fully match the details provided by the CEB in its initial media statement released on February 18, 2025. “Thus, we categorically dismiss recent false claims alleging the blackout was due to a defect at Victoria Power Station or that CEB misreported the outage’s cause. Such claims are entirely baseless and contradicted by the committee’s evidence-based findings,” the CEB added.
The CEB said it remains fully committed to delivering reliable electricity services and maintaining transparent communication with the public.
“We sincerely thank all stakeholders for their cooperation and understanding as we take prompt action to strengthen the stability and resilience of Sri Lanka’s electricity network,” it further said.
(adaderana.lk)
(Except for the headline, this story, originally published by adaderana.lk has not been edited by SLM staff)
The Consumer Affairs Authority (CAA) is intensifying island-wide raids to punish vendors selling bottled drinking water above the recently set Maximum Retail Prices.
The MRPs are Rs. 70 for 500ml, Rs. 100 for 1L, Rs. 130 for 1.5L, Rs. 160 for 2L, and Rs. 350 for 5L bottles.
All bottled water regardless of production date must now be sold at or below these rates, with new prices required to be printed on bottles produced after the gazette.
Violators face heavy fines up to Rs. 05 million for companies and Rs. 500,000 or jail sentences for individuals, with harsher penalties for repeated offenses.
A Committee of Inquiry headed by a Supreme Court Judge has been appointed to investigate the allegations of misconduct and abuse of power against Inspector General of Police (IGP) Deshabandu Tennakoon.
Chaired by Supreme Court Justice Preethi Padman Surasena, the committee also includes Justice Neil Iddawala and the Chairman of the National Police Commission (NPC) – Lalith Ekanayake.
A resolution to appoint a Committee of Inquiry for the removal of Deshabandu Tennakoon from his position as IGP due to alleged misconduct and abuse of power was passed in Parliament on April 08 with 151 MPs voting in favour.
