News

Sri Lanka using expired tear gas on protests?

Published

7 months ago

March 11, 2023

editor

Sri Lanka using expired tear gas on protests?

A report prepared by the Centre for Society and Religion on the use of tear gas in Sri Lanka has revealed that Sri Lanka Police has not conducted any laboratory test over the contents of tear gas munitions.

The report filed based on the information obtained via the Right to Information Act revealed that Sri Lanka Police had used expired tear gas munitions to disperse protests in 2022, and some of those munitions were produced back in 2000.

It noted that in 2012, a total of 20,000 tear gas munitions were procured and until 2016 only 2,306 of those units were used.

The report adds that the remaining munitions were to expire in 2017, however they were not disposed.

It added that from 2012 to 2019 a total of over 40,000 tear gas munitions were to expire, and during that period 8,265 tear gas munitions were used on protests, and another 31,735 expired tear gas munitions remain in service.

The report from the Centre for Society and Religion notes that the handling of tear gas munitions by Sri Lanka Police totally violates all instructions given by the manufacturers, including to not deploy the munitions close to live firearms, and not to fire them directly at protestors.

It added that from March to July 2022, during the period of the worst economic crisis in the country, Sri Lanka Police deployed 6,722 tear gas munitions on 84 separate occasions at a cost of Rs. 26 Million.

It also notes the highest number of tear gas munitions fired by Sri Lanka Police on a single day was recorded during protests in 2022, where around 100 munitions were fired on protests daily.

(newsfirst)

News

Govt. to set up mechanism to prevent & control forest fires

Published

4 mins ago

September 26, 2023

editor

Taking into consideration the number of forest fires reported in the recent past, the Cabinet has approved a proposal to implement a programme to prevent the occurrence of forest fires and extinguish forest fires.

Government said that there is a rapidly increasing risk of forest fire caused by man-made fires around forests, especially during dry weather conditions.

“This situation is common in Badulla, Kandy, Nuwara Eliya, Matale, Monaragala, Polonnaruwa, Kurunegala, Puttalam and Rathnapura Districts. The number of forest fires reported so far this year is about 150. As a result, around 2,600 hectares of forests have been destroyed,” it said.

Accordingly, the Cabinet approved a proposal presented by the Forest and Wildlife Conservation Minister to implement a programme with the support of the government and other relevant parties from the national-level to the rural-level to prevent the occurrence of forest fires and extinguish forest fires.

News

Cabinet approves proposal to obtain USD 200mn from ADB

Published

10 mins ago

September 26, 2023

editor

The Cabinet has approved a proposal to obtain an amount of USD 200 million from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) subject to an annual interest rate of 2%.

Initial discussions between the ADB and the Sri Lankan Government were held to obtain two loan facilities worth USD 200 million each based on policies to implement two sub-programmes under the economic stabilization and reformation programme.

It has been proposed to implement accelerated reformations to enhance the conflict management framework and the stabilization in the finance sector under the first sub-programme while it has been proposed to develop an all-inclusive resistant finance system under the second sub-programme.

Accordingly, the proposal submitted by the President as the Minister of Finance, to enter into a loan agreement with the ADB to obtain USD 200 million with a repaying period of 25 years inclusive of a grace period of 05 years in relation to the first sub-programme, was approved by the Cabinet.