Author: TELO Admin

Sri Lanka Wednesday reported 18 deaths due to COVID-19 after the figures were confirmed by the Director General of Health Services on Tuesday, October 19.

Among the deaths reported today, 11 are of males and 07 of females. The majority of deaths – 15 – are of elderly people in the 60 years and above age group.

According to the data reported by the Government Information Department, the total deaths due to Covid-19 since the pandemic began last year has now risen to 13,543.

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has directed relevant authorities to continue ongoing interprovincial travel restrictions until 4.00 a.m. on October 31 (Sunday), says the Commander of Sri Lanka Army, General Shavendra Silva.

Sri Lanka lifted the island-wide quarantine curfew, which was in effect for over a month in a bid to curb the pandemic situation, on October 01 as the country started seeing a considerable drop in the number of daily COVID-19 cases and deaths reported.

The interprovincial travel restrictions however remained in effect despite the relaxation of the quarantine curfew.

A week later, the constraints imposed on crossing provincial borders were further extended until October 21. However, it was again decided that the restrictions would remain in place until the end of the month.

Hundreds of farmers in Polonnaruwa protested on Tuesday (19) rejecting any government attempt to import waste under the guise of importing organic fertilizer to the country.

“We have no party difference. We are here in unsion demanding fertilizer for the farmer community,” said one local farmer.

Some alleged that the decision makers have no understanding of the local agriculture standards, and thus they have caused a shortage in much needed fertilizer.

At the same time, another massive protest took place in the Mahaweli H Zone, also demanding fertilizer for cultivations.

A tensed situation arose when a lorry attempted to move pass the protestors, compelling local law enforcement to intervene to calm the situation.

“What we are showing is the might for the farmers and there is no politics involved here. We ask for at least half the quantity of chemical fertilizer and for the best quality compost,” echoed several farmers.

Effigies of political leaders were set on fire at another demonstration in Ambalantota, also demanding fertilizer.

For months, Farmers across many areas in Sri Lanka have been protesting against the shortage of fertilizer in the country.

The ban on chemical fertilisers — widely used in the tea and rice industries — was opposed by farmers who staged protests after reporting failing vegetable crops as existing stocks began to run out within weeks.

The promulgated regulation restricting and banning the import of fertilizers and agrochemicals is leading to widespread concern among Sri Lanka’s farmer community, industry associations, practitioners, and agricultural professionals.

The Sri Lankan Government has also decided only to use organic fertilizer in the country and plans on importing organic fertilizer from overseas.

Sri Lanka’s long delayed provincial council elections will not be held until a suitable election system has been decided on, a cabinet spokesman said on Tuesday (19) despite persistent Indian pressure to have the polls by the end of the year.

The provincial council system was introduced through the controversial 1987 Indo-Lanka accord aiming to devolve power to the provinces as a remedy for issues faced by ethnic minority Tamils in the islan’ds North and East. The accord was signed amid a civil war raging in the north and east and amid vehement opposition from the majority Sinhalese.

However, successive governments hesitated to fully implement the 13th amendment to Sri Lanka’s constitution which sought to incorporate the Indo-Lanka accord and the provincial council setup. Governments have repeatedly rejected full implementation by not devolving land and police powers to each province.

The tenure of each nine provincial councils in the island elapsed between 2015-2017 as the previous government proposed a new electoral system to hold the next elections to the provincial polls in 2017. However, the bill was not enacted by the parliament as there was no consensus on delimitation.

If Sri Lanka has to hold provincial polls, it has to pass an amendment with a simple majority to go back to the old system or with a two-third majority to go for a mixed system, legal and political analysts say.

“The amendment to the provincial council act submitted by the last government is a controversial one. We need to rectify that,” Cabinet Co-Spokesman and Media Minister Dullas Alahapperuma told the weekly cabinet news briefing.

“We cannot exactly say when the elections will be held. It will be held after the election system is changed.”

Last week, Foreign Minister G L Peiris said the provincial polls will likely be held before March 2022 but it will not be due to pressure from India or any other foreign government.

Alahapperuma further said Sri Lanka has four different election systems for presidential, parliamentary, provincial, and local government polls.

The presidential election considers the whole country as one constituency, a system similar to what is seen in most democracies.

“But parliamentary elections are fully based on a representative system. A local government election amendment changed the system to 50 percent representative system and 50 percent electorate system,” Alahapperuma said.

“The provincial council election is going to be based on a 60 percent electoral system and 40 percent representative system. This system is a joke to the entire world.”

Alahapperuma said Sri Lanka needs to move on from the current practise of having a different election system for every election.

“The president is of the view that electoral reform must take place while preserving the good characteristics of the representative system,” he said.

“When [Sri Lanka’s first executive president]J R Jayawardena introduced the representative system, there were important and useful attributes to it that we should not ignore. In particular, minority representation was ensured under the representative system.”

“That is a good characteristic of that system. So it will be preserved under a new electoral system when elections are held in the near future,” he said.

The Government today insisted that the 13th Amendment to the Constitution is not a precondition to obtain a loan from India.

Media Minister Dullas Alahapperuma said that while talks are ongoing with India to obtain a loan to purchase fuel, full implementation of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution has not been made a precondition.

India has been pushing for the full implementation of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution.

However, Alahapperuma denied claims that India has made the full implementation of the 13th Amendment as a precondition to obtain the loan.

Sri Lanka has sought a USD 500 million credit line from India to pay for its crude oil purchases amid a severe foreign exchange crisis in the island nation.

The move comes after Energy Minister Udaya Gammanpila warned that the current availability of fuel in the country can be guaranteed only till next January.

The state-run Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) owes nearly USD 3.3 billion to the two main government banks — Bank of Ceylon and People’s Bank. The state oil distributors imports crude from the Middle East and refined products from other areas, including Singapore.