Fire destroys 35 acres of forest land
Around 35 acres of forest was destroyed on Saturday in a fire that erupted in the protected areas of the Castlereagh reservoir and Devon Falls. Police suspect that the fire has been deliberately caused
Daily News (Sri Lanka)
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Post-SAARC City Development in Colombo
On the direction of President Mahinda Rajapaksa a committee was appointed under the chairmanship of Minister of Urban and Sacred Area Development Dinesh Gunawardena mainly to carry out maintenance work especially on the roads, clearing up the unauthorized constructions and beautification of roundabouts and parks in the city. The SAARC Summit gave us an impetus to improve the living environment in Colombo and spruce up the city.
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Lanka to face acid rain threat
Sri Lanka is on the verge of facing ecologically harmful acid rains. Prof. O.A. Illeperuma of the University of Peradeniya said as indicated by the recent environmental studies carried out by environmental scientists, in Anuradhapura, Mahailuppallama and Uva areas for over many years during North-Eastern rainy seasons, Sri Lanka is likely to experience acid rains in the future. Acid rains cause acidification of lakes and streams and contributes to the damage of trees at high elevations and many sensitive forest soil and harm public health.
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Meeting on Chemical Weapons Convention in Colombo
The Regional Summit of the National Authorities and Parliamentarians in Asia on the National Implementation of the Chemical Weapons Convention will be held in Sri Lanka this year with the participation of 30 countries in the region. The authorities are due to meet at the Colombo Hilton for the summit on August 25 and 26, Government sources said.
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Rs. 500 million worth drinking water projects in Anuradhapura
Drinking water supply and sanitation projects in Anuradhapura district implemented by the Urban Development and Sacred Area Development Ministry at a cost of Rs.500 million are progressing, Minister Dinesh Gunawardane said. He said the project implemented with the participation of 90 community based organisations will be completed in three phases and nearly 18,669 families in the Rajarata will benefit. Minister Gunawardane was speaking at the progressive meeting at Anuradhapura Jayanthi Viharaya. A large number of community based organisation leaders participated.
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Traditional variety of rice for farmers in wet zone
A traditional variety of rice,
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SAARC leaders pledge action on Food Security
SAARC leaders yesterday issued a special
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Rs. 50 million for CP irrigation
The Central Provincial Council has got an allocation of Rs. 50 million for development of 63 minor irrigation schemes, said the Chief Minister Sarath Ekanayake. He said several minor irrigation tanks in the Central Province have escaped the attention of the authorities resulting a big threat to the agricultural activities of the province.
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NCPA help for tsunami - hit children
The National Child Protection Authority (NCPA) will implement a countrywide programme to upgrade the psychological and educational development of tsunami affected children. The main objective is assisting tsunami affected children to grow up as normal citizens in a healthy environment. The guardianship of all tsunami affected children have been granted to the NCPA by the Tsunami Special Regulation Act no.16 of 2005, a spokesman said.
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Good Manufacturing Practices to village level
Going by the Mahinda Chinthana policies under which one is the upliftment of the rural sector enterprises, the Ministry of Science and Technology in collaboration with the Sri Lanka Standards Institution (SLSI) launched a programme to introduce its Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) scheme to the village level small and medium entrepreneurs through a series of awareness seminars. These seminars are conducted through Vidatha Resource Centers (VRCs) scattered islandwide.
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Committee to decide on alternative Sethu route
The Indian Government has decided to do a re-think on the Sethusamudram project by finding an alternate route as suggested by the Supreme Court. On Wednesday, it told the court that a six member expert committee has been appointed to look at an alternate route that will not disturb the Ram Sethu. The panel will be headed by RK Pachauri. The SC had earlier asked the Centre to consider a route between the fourth and the fifth alignments for the Sethusamudram project.