In Short

CMC suspended

Shirley WIJESINGHE

The Colombo Municipal Council(CMC) was suspended by Western Provincial Chief Minister Reginald Cooray yesterday.

He has appointed Commissioner Western Provincial Local Government Department. H. Sumanapala as Special Commissioner.

The Chief Minister told a news briefing that no councillor will be allowed to interfere in the activities of the Council hereafter.

The suspension of CMC was carried out under the power vested with Chief Minister of the Western Province, under the Provincial Council statute.

To fulfil the recommendations of One Man Commission led by retired Supreme Court Judge Dr. Chandradasa Nanayakkara appointed to probe the corruptions and malpractices, the Chief Minister also appointed a One Man Commission led by retired Supreme Court Judge Hector Seneviratne Yapa to name the councillors who were engaged in corruption and malpractices during the last administration.

Chief Minister said the above Commission has been appointed to examine the powers of rules and regulations of the Local Authorities as per the statute 4 of 1991.

It was obvious that all of the councillors were not guilty of supporting for the proposals which have led to corruption and malpractices.

He assured that the new appointment will fulfil the aspirations of the ratepayers of the Colombo City.

Western Provincial Governor Alavi Mowlana was also present on the occasion.

 

Two rogue job agents nabbed Rasika SOMARATHNA

Two rogue manpower recruitment agencies which were operating under the guise of foreign educational consultants were nabbed by sleuths of the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment in Kurunegala yesterday.

The two bogus agents who promised lucrative employment opportunities in countries such as UK, USA, New Zealand, Malaysia Etc. under the pretext of sending prospective applicants for educational purposes, were apprehended with a large haul of forged documents, visa’s, job agreements etc, SLBFE sources said.Also the officers had seized 80 passports from one agency which was operating an ultra modern office complex located at the Premachandra building in Kurunegala sources said.

According to SLBFE neither agency had a valid license to operate such a business and might have duped prospective applicants with false promises.

SLBFE Chairman Kingsly Ranawaka said that even for the purpose of obtaining student visas the relevant contract should be sanctioned by both local authorities as well as respective foreign missions.

The apprehended agents had neither a license to engage in recruitment for foreign employment, nor for educational purposes Ranawaka added.

Accordingly the apprehended agents are to be dealt for violating provisions in the SLBFE Act as well as the Sri Lankan Emigration and Immigration Act. Chairman Ranawaka yesterday warned all prospective labour migrants as well as those who seek education opportunities abroad to be vigilant and check their sources from authorities before committing themselves.

The SLBFE has set up a 24-hour hot line for this purpose. In addition they have also announced a cash reward scheme for any information which leads to the capture of such bogus agents.

The public are advised to call on 011-2880500 for any clarification from the SLBFE.

The latest raids were done by Chief Inspectors Prasanna Nagahawatte, N.yogeswaran and Enforcement Officers R.M.Rajanayaka and D.U.Shantha

Pakistan quake kills 170

Thousands of people in mountainous southwest Pakistan on Wednesday bedded down for a freezing night in the open, after a powerful earthquake destroyed their homes and killed at least 170.

The 6.4-magnitude pre-dawn quake flattened mud houses and triggered landslides in the impoverished province of Baluchistan, killing or injuring their occupants as they slept.

Survivors were sent screaming into the streets in panic, eyewitnesses said.

At least eight villages were badly hit by the massive tremors, local police and officials said, voicing fears that some 46,000 people living in the wider region could now be in need of shelter and other assistance.

An AFP correspondent in one of the worst-affected villages, Wam, said emergency tents had not yet arrived and exhausted villagers had hunkered down in the ruined shells of their homes as temperatures plunged below zero.

They spent the day in a desperate search for loved ones or burying the dead in mass graves, as aftershocks nearly as big as the initial quake pounded the landscape, sending rocks spewing from nearby peaks and sparking fresh panic.

“The local graveyard has been devastated and we have no alternative. We have to bury them in mass graves,” said local teacher Malik Abdul Hamid, 35. He said he had lost 15 family members.

“We have so far buried 140 bodies in two mass graves. The dead were mostly women and children.”

Dilawar Kakar, mayor of the historic hill town of Ziarat, about 50 kilometres (30 miles) north of the provincial capital Quetta, told AFP the death toll stood at 170, while about 400 people in the area were injured.

Virtually all houses were reduced to rubble either in the initial quake or by aftershocks. Schools and hospitals were also damaged, he added.

Earlier Khushal Khan, spokesman for the provincial revenue minister Zamarak Khan, said local people had told him about 6,000 people have been made homeless and in one case, 29 members of the same family died.

Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani both expressed their condolences to relatives of those killed and injured, the state-run Associated Press of Pakistan said.

Neighbour and rival India quickly offered any help that might be required while Turkey’s Red Crescent and other foreign aid agencies said they too stood ready to assist.

Two teams from the International Committee of the Red Cross have already arrived in the area and are assessing the situation and the needs of the survivors, the humanitarian body said from Geneva.

The first official government figures from the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) put the death toll at 115 so far, with nearly 300 injured, its chairman, retired Lieutenant General Farooq Ahmed, told a news conference.

Most of the victims were from outlying villages, but buildings collapsed in Ziarat and communications were cut while the main road to Quetta was also hit, with wide cracks and boulders blocking the way, an AFP reporter said.

Soldiers, helicopters, tents, blankets, food and medical help have been sent from Quetta to Ziarat and an aerial assessment of the damage has begun, the Pakistani military said.

The NDMA’s Ahmed said the situation was under control and there was no need for external aid.

But Ziarat’s mayor said the 3,000 tents sent so far were not enough.

“We have asked the government to send at least 10,000 tents as the temperature in the mountainous town is sub-zero and people need shelter during the night,” he added.

There were no immediate reports of casualties or structural damage in neighbouring Afghanistan, which borders the province, police there said.

Ziarat is a historic hill resort famed for its juniper forests. It receives visitors from all over Pakistan in summer who come to see the holiday home of the country’s founder, Mohammed Ali Jinnah.

A 7.6-magnitude earthquake in northwest Pakistan and Kashmir killed 74,000 people and displaced 3.5 million in October 2005.

In 1935 a massive quake killed around 30,000 people in Quetta, which at the time was part of British-ruled India. Wam, Wednesday, AFP