Author: TELO Admin

The Indian High Commissioner Gopal Baglay handed over 3.3 tons of essential medical supplies donated by Government of India for the 1990 Suwaseriya Ambulance Service to the Chairman of Suwaseriya Foundation Mr. Duminda Rathnayaka in the gracious presence of Dr. Harsha de Silva, Member of Parliament and Sohan de Silva, CEO of Suwaseriya Foundation in Colombo on 3 June 2022.

External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar was apprised of the looming shortage of medical supplies faced by the Foundation during his visit to the Suwaseriya Headquarters in Colombo in March 2022.

Responding to the urgent requirement, Indian Naval Ship (INS) Gharial was specially deployed for ensuring expeditious delivery of medical supplies to Sri Lanka. In addition to the Suwaseriya Foundation, medical supplies for General Hospital Hambantota, Teaching Hospital, Peradeniya and Teaching Hospital, Jaffna were also carried onboard INS Gharial.

It may be recalled that 1990 emergency ambulance service, spread across all the 25 Districts of Sri Lanka, is a shining example of India’s people-centric and demand-driven development cooperation partnership with Sri Lanka.

The ambulance service was realized through a grant assistance of around USD 22 million by Government of India. The service proves to be immense value to the people of Sri Lanka and plays an instrumental role in saving precious lives.

More than 25 tons of drugs and medical supplies which were donated by the Government and people of India during the last two months are valued at close to SLR 370 million. This is in addition to economic assistance of around USD 3.5 billion and supply of other humanitarian supplies such as rice, milk powder, kerosene etc.

Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said that the Party Leaders have arrived at a consensus with regard to the 21st Amendment to the Constitution.

“It will be an amendment that will avoid any provision which will require a referendum,” he said.

However, he said that will not be enough as the crisis worsens.

Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said the country is only at the beginning of the crisis, and the worst is still to come.

“At the moment, there are no queues for petrol, but you don’t understand that I not only have to do the job of the Prime Minister, but of the firefighter,” he said adding he needs to look for at least USD 40 Million daily for payment of shipments.

“We have run down the economy, we have state enterprises owning trillions of rupees to the banks, we have enterprises that are losing, we have projects that will not benefit Sri Lanka with no priority list,” he told a gathering on Friday (3) adding that agencies were using different credit lines for their requirements.

He said the food supplies in Sri Lanka will last until September to October, as Sri Lanka did not have sufficient fertilizer for either the Yala or Maha seasons.

“If we receive fertilizer for the next Maha Season, we will be self-sufficient by February next year,” he said.

The Prime Minister said a time would come when people will not eat three meals a day but will have only two meals per day.

He said the government is in talks with friendly nations for assistance, adding that Sri Lanka cannot get through this year alone.

“We need a few billion dollars from outside, otherwise this country cannot survive. We need to get that money. We have to reach out again to the people we rejected, to the Japanese who have been our friends since 1952, but today are hurt after what happened,” he said while asking what country rejects $ 3 Billion in aid without a thank you, and even without a negotiation.

The Prime Minister said Sri Lanka is lucky that India has come forward to help, while other nations too are chipping in.

“China came forward with assistance, but someone in the government went forward and negotiated a swap loan which we cannot use,” remarked the Prime Minister adding that though Sri Lanka needs to look at the West, the West unfortunately is facing a problem with inflation and Ukraine.

He said it is essential that Sri Lanka apologize for its mistakes and make up with friends for support.

The Prime Minister said there are two crises that are affecting Sri Lanka.

“One has already started. That is the economic crisis in Sri Lanka,” said the Prime Minister adding that it is followed by the political crisis, a reflection of a loss of confidence in a political system that allowed the country to reach its present level.

The Prime Minister said the second crisis is the global impact of the Ukraine Crisis, and Sri Lanka is only seeing the beginning.

Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said that Sri Lanka did not approach the International Monetary Fund early enough.

Speaking on Sri Lanka – Japan relations, the Prime Minister said it was Japan that came to Sri Lanka’s rescue when it hit a crisis before.

He said Sri Lanka must reach out to Japan for more support, along with the rest of its friends.

The Prime Minister said that Sri Lanka must push through with an agreement with the IMF and it must also decide on its debt structure.

Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe on Friday (03) briefed the representatives of Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and United Nations Development Program (UNDP) over possible food shortage and the plans to overcome the production gap, the prime minister’s office said.

The meetings come as the island nation’s agricultural experts have warned of a possible shortage of rice and other essential foods possibly in September because of lower production due to the impacts of chemical fertilizer ban last year and inability to import amid dollar shortage.

Wickremesinghe has already warned of an acute food shortage by August and said the island nation would require $600 million to import fertilizer amid Sri Lanka’s near zero foreign currency reserves. Crop scientists have warned that Sri Lanka could produce enough rice only for seven months of this year due to the fertilizer ban. Before the fertilizer ban, Sri Lanka had self sufficiency in rice production.

Wickremesinghe met Vimlendra Sharan, the Country Representative of the FAO and Malin Herwig, the Deputy Country Representative of UNDP on Friday.

“The Prime Minister explained that in view of the threat of a food shortage, a food security program was being compiled by the agriculture department officials. This program is due to be unveiled next month, with the UNDP expressing their support for the initiative,” Wickremesinghe’s office said in a statement.

“He (Wickremesinghe) stated that the biggest issue currently facing the agriculture sector is the fertiliser and fuel shortage. The Prime Minister also elaborated on the urban agriculture initiative that he had established to try and overcome a potential food shortage.”

Sri Lanka is unable to import fertilizer although President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has cancelled his detrimental fertilizer ban policy because it does not have dollars and sharp increase in fertilizer prices globally.

Sri Lanka produces no nitrogen fertilizer. Rajapaksa banned chemical fertilizer and requested farmers to go for only organic fertilizer. Paddy harvest has seen a decline of around 40 percent in the last two cultivation seasons, crop scientists have said.

The prime minister’s office said the UNDP explained that they were compiling an innovative farming assistance program which would help the farming community overcome the fertiliser shortage.

“The FAO also explained that donors had stepped forward to assist the country in the urban agriculture program, and was hopeful that a successful implementation would see more financial support provided,” it said in the statement.

“The FAO also stated they were drafting a food crisis response plan that can be enacted in Sri Lanka.”

“The Prime Minister explained that within 5-6 months the current agriculture shortages could be salvaged if swift action was taken to address the shortages faced by the farmers.”

Nine army intelligence officers accused in the case filed over the abduction and disappearance of journalist Pradeep Ekneligoda have been remanded until the 13th of June.

The case was called before the Colombo Trial-at-Bar today (June 03).

In November 2019, the nine accused had been served indictment over the abduction of Eknaligoda and released on previous bail.

Eknaligoda, who was a cartoonist, political analyst and journalist, was reported missing on January 24, 2010, two days before the presidential election.

During today’s proceedings, evidence statements were recorded from the witnesses in the case.

Further hearing of the case has been fixed for the 13th of June.