Quick Look

UC budget passed

P B Kirindeniya Nawalapitiya group corr

Nawalapitiya Urban Council, at a special meeting unanimously adopted its budget for the 2011.

The only opposition councillor present voted for the budget.

Chairman Nishantha Ranasinghe tabled the budget. It is a surplus budget.

Expected income for the year 2011 is Rs 66,221,556 and the expected expenditure is Rs 66,194,705. Accordingly there is a surplus of Rs 26,851. The highest allocation has been made for health care and sanitary facilities. It is Rs 24,220,810. Rs 49,56,735 for other public utility services and Rs 4385380 have been estimated for welfare services and sports.

Bee keeping program in Wayamba

A Keerthisinghe Alawwa special correspondent

The Wayamba Agriculture Ministry will implementing a bee keeping village program in Puttalam and Kurunegala district to raise the villagers living standards who are among the under privileged sector of society.

The bee keeping program targets housewives and women who could attend to the bee hives at home.

The could earn about Rs 15,000 to Rs 20,000 monthly by selling bee's honey.

The distribution of boxes for bee keeping was build at Alapolawa Prajashalawa, Alawwa, under the patronage of Agriculture Minister of North Western Provinces D B Herath.

Dairy farmers hard hit

A A L Dias Matale district group corr.

The Matale district dairy farmers are being inconvenienced due to lack of proper facilities to continue their farming activities.

The grasslands in the area are few.

Therefore the farmers have to face difficulties to collect fodder for their animals while other animal food varieties are very expensive in the open market.

The prices of milk based products have gone up unprecedentedly in the market.

But the price of fresh milk is limited to Rs 35 per litre.

They further mentioned that a bottle of drinking water is over Rs 45 in the open market.

Over 5,000 farmers are engaged with the dairy farming in the Matale district.

Missing

Police Public Relations and Media Director SP Prishantha Jayakody seeks public assistance to trace Edward Hettiarchchi (84) of Kapuwatta who is missing from his house since November 30, 2010.

A A Herttiarachchi of No 14, Fathima Road, Kurunduwatta, Kapuwatta, Ja-Ela complaint to the police that his father Edward Hettiarchchi is missing.

He is about 5' in height.

Any information about him could be given to the nearest Police Station or to the above address.

Help identify him

The Police seek the assistance to identify the above person who had died at the Piliyandala Hospital on December 13, 2010.

The Police suspect that he had been knocked down by a motorcycle at Boralesgamuwa junction and admitted to the Kalubovila hospital and later to the Piliyandala Hospital where he had died. According to police information he is Asgiriya Jayasena (71). He is about 5' in height. Any information about him could be given to the nearest police station or to the Police Headquarters on 119.

Floods displace families in H’tota

The heavy rain experienced yesterday have displaced 13 families in Siribopura, Hambantota. The flood victims are temporally housed at Samodagama Community Hall.

The Hambantota District Secretariat Social Services Unit has provided food and other basic needs to the displaced and Disaster Management Minister Mahinda Amaraweera visited them and look into their well-being.

Heavy rains disrupt bus service

Batticaloa group corr.

Bus services operated by the Kattankudy CTB depot has been disrupted during the last few days due to heavy rain and consequent floods. Most divisions of the depot including the administrative and accounts divisions and the worker rest rooms were inundated by flood waters and many bus crews failed to report to work due to inclement weather conditions.

This depot which was partly destroyed in the tsunami has still not been properly rehabilitated.

Man knocked down

Jaffna special corr:

A seventy year old man has been knocked down by a van at Vathiry junction. He has succumbed to his injuries at the Jaffna Teaching hospital. He has been identified as Ambalavan Kasiyan of Karaveddy, Kanpollai.

Steps to renovate damaged roads

A A L Dias

Matale district group corr.

Steps will be taken by the Provincial Highways Ministry to renovate the damaged rural roads in Matale Divisional Secretariat area.According to this program, Aluvihare – Ulpotha, Samandawa and Wijesekararama avenues are to be renovated.

These renovation activities will be completed soon and Rs 20 lakhs has been allocated for this purpose.

Illicit arrack seized

A Keerthsinghe Alawwa special correspondent

Alawwa police have seized a large stock of illicit arrack at several places in the Alawwa area.

Six persons were taken into custody hunting raids. They were from Nawatalwatta, Kendahena and Rattaranhena areas.

When those suspects were produced before Warakapola magistrate Ajith Masinghe they were fined Rs 75,000.

Man stabbed to death

Following an altercation between two groups at a 31st Night Party at a leading hotel at Kumarakanda, Hikkaduwa, a person has been stabbed to death when he was passing a house of the rival group after the party.

The murdered person has been identified as Pedurawahandi Susil (40) of Dodanduwa in the Rajgama police area.

MPL

Trishaw stolen

Mahinda P Liyanage

Galle Central special correspondent

A three-wheeler valued at Rs 175,000 belonging to Sri Sumanasara Temple of Yakkalamulla, Galle has been stolen on January 1.

At the time of the theft the three-wheeler had been parked at the temple garage.

Following a complaint made by temple chief incumbent Ven Talgampala Saddananda Thera, Yakakalamulla police are investigating.

AH1N1 claims six

Jaffna Special Corr.

Six children have died of swine flu at the Jaffna Teaching Hospital, sources said.

Shramadana to clean school premises

SM Wijayaratne Kurunegala Corr

The Kurunegala District, Education Ministry Secretary has instructed all school principals of the Kurunegala and Puttalam Districts of the NWP to arrange shramadana campaigns on January 3 at all schools and privenas to destroy mosquito – breeding grounds. The Bingiriya school principals’ Association President WM Somapala, told the ‘Daily News’ that 65 percent of school premises were found to be ideal places for mosquitoes to breed during last year and hence tough legal action would be taken against school principals who ignore their responsibility in the national task of eradicating mosquitoes that spread dengue, Malaria, brain fever and Filaria.

Scholarship award program

A M Gunasekera Banda Balangoda Central group correspondent

The Samurdhi Development Authority has implemented a program to award scholarships to Samurdhi recipients’ children in the Balangoda Divisional Secretariat Division.

Under this program scolarships have being awarded to 64 students who passed the GCE O/L Examination last year with Distinctions.

Monthly Rs 500 will be paid to each student till sitting the GCE A\L Examination said Aruna Nishantha Samurdhi Development Assistant, Balangoda.