Admitting the fact that the Sri Lankan cricket team touring the USA for the T20 World Cup has faced inconveniences, Sports Minister Harin Fernando said Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) has already lodged a complaint with the International Cricket Council (ICC) over the matter.
Responding to a question by Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa, he said the ICC has treated Cricket Boards in various countries differently.
“Not only had the Sri Lankan team wait for about seven hours to take a flight as reported, the Ireland and South Africa teams also had faced a similar ordeal. Cricket Boards in various countries have been treated differently by the ICC. For example, the Bangladesh team is the first team that has to travel the most number of kilometres and the Sri Lankan team is the second. SLC has already lodged a complaint with the ICC,” he said.
The Minister said the ICC is hosting the T20 World Cup in the USA amidst many issues and added that the USA Cricket Board was facing a ban by the ICC at the moment.
He said the ICC had allowed the USA to host the tournament despite a ban and said Sri Lanka was not allowed to host the 2024 men’s Under-19 World Cup due to the ICC ban.
The Minister said the ICC Annual General Meeting (AGM) is scheduled to be held in Sri Lanka in July and that Sri Lanka will lobby its protest over the matter during this meeting.
(dailymirror.lk)
(Except for the headline, this story, originally published by dailymirror.lk has not been edited by SLM staff)
The National Transport Commission (NTC) has said that an investigation into the recent incident where a student fell from the footboard of a ‘Sisu Sariya’ school bus, has revealed that the accident had resulted from the careless and negligent behaviour of both the driver and the conductor.
Issuing a statement, the NTC noted that, based on the preliminary findings, the Road Passenger Transport Authority of the North Western Province has taken steps to temporarily suspend the services of the driver and conductor involved.
Minister of Agriculture, Livestock, Land and Irrigation – K.D. Lal Kantha has announced that the government has decided to import 300,000 MT of maize.
Speaking to the media after attending a District Development Committee meeting at the Kandy District Secretariat yesterday (July 03), the Minister explained that this decision was taken to prevent traders from artificially inflating maize prices.
He stated that certain large and medium-scale businesses dealing with animal feed have been hoarding maize, buying it from farmers at fair prices and reselling it at much higher rates.
According to the Minister, these traders were trying to push maize prices up to Rs.190-200 per kilogram, which would have driven up the cost of eggs to Rs.200 each and increased meat prices significantly.
The Minister emphasized that while businesses are entitled to make a profit, the government will not allow unfair price manipulation. He also noted that, in the past, even ministers profited from animal products, but those days have ended and racketeers will not be allowed to control the market.
To prevent excessive price drops that could hurt farmers, the Food Security Committee has proposed imposing a tax on imported maize, he said.
