Lanka News – Lanka Gazette – Sri Lanka News Portal

Twenty two schools in the Western Province continued to remain closed yesterday due to the water logged state of the school premises, educational authorities said yesterday.

In several other schools in the province the attendance was very low and authorities estimated that only around 50 per cent of children attended due to the prevailing inclement weather.

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The Colombo-Horana Road will be closed for traffic from Rathanapitiya junction to Pepiliyana junction till 5 a.m. on Monday. It was closed from 10.00 p.m. yesterday (Friday) to enable the Road Development Authority to build a new bridge on the instructions of Gamini Lokuge Minister of Labour Relations and Productivity Promotion.

The new bridge is being built to prevent bridge No.6/1 from getting submerged due to floods.

The new bridge is also aimed at preventing the hardships caused to the people living in the vicinity of Rathanapitiya Junction which gets flooded during heavy rains. Continue Reading

Police shot dead one of the four suspects who robbed a private tea factory owner in Pelmadulla. They also arrested another member of the robber gang with Rs 680,000.

The robbery occurred at Banagoda in Lellopitiya around noon on Thursday.

A private tea factory owner was transporting cash to be paid to tea small holders when the vehicle was waylaid and cash robbed. Continue Reading

The Sri Lanka Railways will resort to drastic action against unauthorised trenching by Local Government Authorities on both sides of the rail tracks, Commercial Superintendent, Wijaya Samarasinghe, said yesterday.

The signal cables have been laid underground a distance of two metres off the rail track connecting the signal system.

“There had been instances where the signal system had been damaged due to unauthorised trenching by various people.” Continue Reading

Mt. Lavinia Police on Wednesday produced three suspects including a self styled ‘Captain’ of the LTTE’s elite Charles Anthony Brigade before Mt. Lavinia Chief Magistrate Harsha Setunge. They were remanded till June 16.

The Magistrate allowed an application by Police to destroy the haul of weapons recovered by them in Nandikadal area after their arrest .

One of the suspects identified as Sivagnam Einkaran was a ‘captain’ of the elite LTTE Black Tiger Unit. Continue Reading

CHENNAI: Notable poetess, lyricist and litterateur Thamarai has come down heavily on the Bollywood actors who have agreed to arrive in Colombo for the IIFA event next month.

Her lyrics for the film ‘Vaaranam Ayiram’ won many awards in India. The film was also screened in Sri Lanka. Continue Reading

The Kelaniya University was closed indefinitely yesterday following clashes between two student factions.

The police were called in to quell the clashes but students pelted stones at them injuring a Sub Inspector.

Reinforcements from Peliyagoda and Kiribathgoda Police stations arrived at the scene and had to fire tear gas to bring the situation under control.

The university authorities attributed the clashes to a dispute over a tug of war competition during the Sinhala-Hindu New Year celebrations. Continue Reading

The Ceylon Teachers’ Union (CTU) yesterday warned that it would aunch a strike unless the salaries of assistant teachers were increased to Rs. 10,000.

CTU Secretary S. Priyantha Fernando told The Island that the assistant teachers had been recruited in 2007 on the 3 (II) Grade on a salary of Rs. 3,000 per month. Since their recruitment, educational authorities of the North Central Province had assured on several occasions that their salaries would be increased, the Union said.

Meanwhile, following a move by the Opposition, a unanimous resolution was adopted in the Provincial Council in April 2009 that salaries of Assistant Teachers be increased to Rs. 10,000. But, the CTU says the resolution has not yet been implemented. Continue Reading

Depression in Bay of Bengal grows into a cyclonic storm
Colombo worst hit with 21,404 families severely affected

The country will experience more thunderstorms during the next 48 hours in the Western and Sabaragamuwa provinces and in the Galle and Matara Districts in the South.

Disaster Management officials said that in Kalutara, Colombo, Gampaha, Ratnapura, Kegalle, Kurunegala, Galle, Puttalam and Trincomalee around 196,376 people had been affected by the rains and several houses badly damaged. The total number of families affected by the rains in these districts stood at 46,656 as at last afternoon. Continue Reading

Apropos our main news item headlined ‘Sexual harassment at govt. school: Sab PC dragging its feet,’ in last Monday’s issue, Provincial Educational Secretary H. P. Kularatne says the principal accused of raping a girl had been recently served a charge sheet.

According to him, the suspect had been interdicted on February 22 and served a charge sheet on May 7.

The official admitted that the alleged rape had taken place way back in 2004, though the suspect continued to be in the government service until last week. Continue Reading