Quick Look

Fisheries development

Rs 40 million has been allocated for the development of the fisheries industry in the Jaffna district.

The money will be spent for the construction of a fish market, fish wholesale centres and resting place for the fishermen, said Jaffna District Fisheries and Aquatic Resource Development Assistant Director E. Raveendran. A similar allocation has been made for Kilinochchi, Mullaitivu and Mannar, he added.

Woman robbed

An old woman was gagged on the road and her bangles robbed on the road by two youths who followed her on a motorcycle. This incident took place at Chunnakam Kathiramalai road. Incidents of this nature are common in Chunnakam and the people have appealed to the police to intensify their surveillance.

Bus spare parts repairing

Jaffna Special Corr.

Transport Minister Kumara Welgama after inspecting Point Pedro bus depot said the thirteen buses garaged in the bus depot in want of spare parts should be repaired immediately and put in service.

He asked the officials to get the necessary parts from the Central workshop in Colombo.

He instructed officials to complete the repairs within a month and improve the bus service immediately.

Coconut seedlings distributed

Kandy Daily News special

Divi Neguma beneficiaries in the Kandy district are provided with 168,000 coconut seedlings according to Kandy district Secretary Gamini Tilakaratne.

This includes coconut plant nurseries and seedlings planted in baskets.

The district secretary thanked Coconut Development and Janatha Estate Development Minister Jagath Pushpakumara for their efforts to provide the coconut requirement in the Kandy district.

Service appreciated

Kandy Daily News special

Computer and printing machines were distributed among 200 Provincial Secretariats by Kandy district Secretary Gamini Seneviratne, in appreciation of their service rendered to the government to reach the expected economic target.

This project was carried out under the grants of the Economic Development Ministry.

The cost of this project is Rs 2.2 million, said the Kandy district Secretary.

Unforgettable lesson for chain snatcher

Puttalam group cor

A snatch thief on a motorcycle who blocked the path of a woman riding another motorcycle and robbed her gold chain worth Rs 160,000 at Wennappuwa, was caught and beaten by residents on Tuesday. They later handed over the suspect to Wennapuwa Police along with the robbed chain.

The suspect, a resident of Sembukuliya, was due to be produced before the Marawila district judge yesterday.

Investigations are continuing.

Constables injured in drug raid

Indika POLKOTUWA

Two police constables were injured and admitted to the Matale Hospital when a police party which raided a hideout in Kaludewala, Matale to apprehend a notorious drug kingpin involved in the distribution and sale of heroin, was attacked by a group of people led by the suspect yesterday.

Australian schols

Applications are invited for the 2013 intake of the Australian Development Awards. Development Awards include Australian Development Scholarships and Australian Leadership Award Scholarships.

The Development Awards scheme is open to high achieving Sri Lankans in the public, private and community sectors for study at Masters level.

The Development Awards scheme is designed to develop capacity and leadership skills so that individuals can contribute to development in their country or region and to build people-to-people links at the individual, institutional and country levels.

Development Awards are administered by the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID) and align with Australia's development assistance in Sri Lanka.

Details on the application process can be found at http://www.ausaid.gov.au/scholar/eligiblecountries.cfm http://www.southasiascholarships.org/sri-lanka Applications close on April 30.

Handing over of house

'Siripura Viru Village', the first under the Janasetha Viru Gammana project will be handed over to owners today at 3 pm by Construction, Engineering Services and Common Amenities Minister Wimal Weerawansa.

The houses were constructed as part of the one million housing development programme under the 'Mahinda Chinthana Vision for the Future' programme.

OUSL Education Faculty anniversary

The Faculty of Education of the Open University of Sri Lanka (OUSL) celebrates its ninth anniversary at its conference hall on February 3 at 9.00 a.m.

Emeritus Prof. Swarna Jayaweera will be the chief guest and Vice Chancellor of the OUSL Prof. Upali Vidanapathirana will be the guest of honour.

A special event of the celebrations is a discussion by a panel of academics on "The role of Sri Lankan universities in developing the knowledge hub."

Emeritus Professor Chandra Gunawardana will chair the discussion.

The third volume of the Sinhala educational magazine named Adeeksha and the second volume of the Tamil educational magazine named Paaravi published by the Faculty of Education will also be released.

Kasippu distillery raided

Puttlam Group Corr

Excise officials attached to the Wennappuwa Excise Office raided a Kasippu distillery at Lucaswatta, Wennappuwa on Sunday and arrested a suspect along with 10 bottles of kasippu, three barrel of goda and several distilling equipment.

The suspect was due to be produced before the Marawila District Judge.

Photographic exhibition

Indian Cultural Centre, Colombo will hold an exhibition of photographs of Benoy Behl and Abhinav Atris titled "Islamic Monuments of India".

The exhibition will be inaugurated by Justice Minister Rauff Hakeem on February 8 at 6 pm at J.D.A Perera Gallery, 46, Horton Place, Colombo 7. Indian High Commissioner Ashok K. Kantha will preside over the function. The exhibition will remain open from 11 am to 7 pm from February 9 to 13.

For details - 2684698 or Email: iccrcolombo @gmail.com.

Houses for the disabled

Amila Prabath Wanasinghe

The Social Services Ministry has launched a housing programme for the benefit of disabled persons in the Anuradhapura district to coincide with the Deyata Kirula 2012 exhibition.

A total of 110 house will be built under this programme on the basis of five in each of the 22 grama niladhari divisions in the district, said Social Services director M D C Jayamanne. Rs 250,000 will be given as assistance for each house.

Clarification

With reference of our front page story of February 1 titled "President orders the reopening of Lankan mission in Iraq", we wish to clarify that we had inadvertently stated in paragraph two of the story that Presidential Spokesman Bandula Jayasekera had said that the announcement regarding the reopening of the Lankan mission in Iraq had been made by the President at a meeting with foreign media correspondents.

We wish to clarify that Presidential Spokesman Bandula Jayasekera did not refer to any meeting, the President had with the foreign correspondents when this announcement was made. The error is regretted

New SLTB chairman assumes duties

Atapattu Bandara

Newly appointed Sri Lanka Transport Board (SLTB) chairman Sashi Welgama assumed duties yesterday. Private Transport Minister C. B. Rathnayaka and Transport Minister Kumara Welgama attended the ceremony.

Welgama earlier served as the National Transport Commission chairman and chairman of the Sri Lanka Mineral Sands Limited. He said he would make all efforts to enhance the quality of SLTB services. Minister Welgama appointed Sashi Welgama as the the Sri Lanka Transport Board chairman recently.

Workshop

Sethsada Yoga Nikethanaya will hold a yoga workshop free on February 2 at YMBA, Jayanthipura, Battaramulla from 9.00 am-12.30 pm. The workshop will be conducted by Yoga and Hypno Therapist Chamin Warnakula and specialist Doctor R.M.N. Ramanayake. For details - 0722-855488, 0777-265240.