Sri Lanka Minister of Health Pavithra Wanniarachchi said that the government would support the people who could not bear expenses for the cremation of COVID-19 deaths. She said that a family member of a deceased bears the cost for a coffin. Answering a question by Opposition MP Mujibar Rahuman regarding charging Rs. 58,000 at IDH hospital for a coffin, Minister Wanniarachchi said that the
Sri Lanka police media spokesman DIG Ajith Rohana warned today to the persons who ignore summons for PCR tests, especially in isolated areas. He said that police had reports about the persons who had avoided PCR tests which were prescribed to them by the health authorities. The police media spokesman said that persons who avoid prescribed PCR tests could be penalized under the quarantine
Sri Lanka police say that a 35 years old man has been remanded until 18th November after producing before the Kandy Magistrate for posting fake content that says the Sri Lankans are dying on roadsides due to COVID-19.The person has been arrested from Egodawatta in Kadugannawa in Kandy district and police media spokesman Deputy Inspector General of Police Ajith Rohana says that four more persons
Sri Lanka's Maharagama police station arrested a doctor for shooting at a child who entered into his garden to pick a ball. The 17-year-old boy was shot with an air rifle on his chest as he was playing with friends in the playground of Dharmapala Vidyalaya school ground in Erewwala.The boy sustained minor injuries and he was admitted to Colombo South Teaching Hospital. The doctor works in Cancer
Out of Sri Lanka's over 10,100 public schools, around 5,100 will open today for students from grade 6 to 13.All schools sans few in the Provinces other than the Western Province will start today. The schools in Colombo, Gampaha and Kalutara districts will remain closed. Few schools in the Eastern Province, Sabaragamuwa Province and Kurunegala district will also remain closed. Secretary to the
Fishermen in Ramanathapuram in Tamil Nadu staged a protest on 21 November 2020, demanding the Union government to immediately intervene with the Sri Lankan government and take steps to bring back the boats seized from the fishermen by Sri Lankan Navy. The Ramanathapuram fishermen staged the demonstration on the Pamban seashore. They said that from 2013 to 2019, Sri Lanka seized 19 boats.These
Sri Lanka Ministry of Finance has increased the ban on import of vehicles for another year. The Ministry says that the country can save one billion US dollars per annum through this ban. However, the vehicle importers urge the government to import vehicles. To control foreign currency outflow, the government strictly imposed a complete ban on motor vehicles since March 2020.Government sources say ...
Sri Lanka police say that an engineer in public service has been arrested for assaulting a female junior officer. The arrested engineer works in the Provincial office of Road Development Authority in Udugampola. The victim of the violent act is a female Management Assistant who worked in his office. A video is going viral on social media in Sri Lanka that shows a person suspected to be an
Former Minister of Finance of Sri Lanka, Mangala Samaraweera said that the taxes on sanitary napkins totalled 101.2% when he removed 30% import tariffs in October 2018.However, the present government says that they have restructured the taxes. Several Ministers said in social media that taxation on sanitary towels has not been increased. Accordingly, the pre-budget import tax on sanitary towels
Sri Lanka opposition United National Party (UNP) leader Ranil Wickramasinghe has declined the offer to elect to the parliament through the national list, UNP sources say. UNP management committee members have demanded the leader in writing to accept this offer. Ranil Wickramasinghe first elected to the parliament in 1977 and failed to elect in the last election due to the party split. He became
Sri Lanka's National Operations Centre for Prevention of COVID-19 has issued an announcement regarding quarantine measures since tomorrow (November 23). Following police areas which are isolated now will not be isolated since 5 a.m. November 23, 2020. Colombo DistrictBorella (sans Wanathamulla Grama Niladhari Division)WellampitiyaColombo FortSlave Island (Sans Wekanda Grama Niladhari Division)
Government Medical Officers' Association (GMOA) of Sri Lanka protested the withdrawal of curfew in the entire Western Province on Monday without proper study. Haritha Aluthge, editor of GMOA said that there was a threat of the coronavirus spreading throughout the country if the country is opened without necessary precautions like travel restrictions to risk areas. He said that the creation of new ...
Opinion by Ajith Perakum Jayasinghe, EditorIn 2021 budget proposals, the Sri Lanka government invited the fraudulent businessmen to pump their hidden money to boost the ailing economy. "For the benefit of the country, I request all entrepreneurs to utilize the funds hidden locally or internationally in order to evade laws relating to taxes and foreign exchange. It is expected to make legal
Several Ministers of Sri Lanka said in social media that taxation on sanitary towels has not been increased. Accordingly, the pre-budget import tax on sanitary towels was 30% and there was no CESS tax on them. The government has reduced the custom import duty to 15% and added a new CESS tax of 15%. As a result, the tax amount remains the same. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa's son
Secretary of Public Health Inspectors' Association of Sri Lanka, Mahendra Balasuriya said that there is a drop of newly identified COVID-19 patients in Gampaha district. The official highlighted that the people in the district are better in terms of following health guidelines. The district is under curfew for more than a month now. However, about half of the 400 new COVID-19 cases identified
A video is going viral on social media in Sri Lanka that shows a person suspected to be an engineer of Udugampola office of Provincial Road Development Authority assaulting a female officer.The incident is suspected happened on 23 November 2020. Social media posts say the perpetrator of violence against women in this video is a man with political backing.A few weeks ago, a lady doctor in
While Sri Lankan pepper cultivators lament about the low price for their crops, Indian pepper growers complain that Vietnam pepper is entering into their market through Sri Lanka. The news from India proves that the business of mixing local pepper with Vietnam products and re-exporting illegally is continuing affecting the local as well as Indian farmers.Indian magazine website swarajyamag.com
Sri Lanka exceeded the first-stage capacity of hospital beds for COVID-19 patients. The country has a capacity for 5,000 COVID-19 patients and the number of patients exceeded 5,000 yesterday. The health authorities are increasing the capacity of the hospitals under the second stage to handle more cases. For example, the government announced it had converted the non-functioning Batticaloa Campus
Supreme Court of Sri Lanka ordered the Officer-in-Charge of Hettipola police station and the Crime Officer-in-Charge of the same police station to pay Rs. 50,000 each personally as the damage for violating the human rights of a soldier.Additionally, the government was ordered to pay another Rs. 100,000 as damage. The two officials arrested the soldier in July 2011 suspecting he had been an Army