The Island Page Three Wednesday 8th July, 2009 ! News! Financial Review Leisure Land ! World View INSIDE: ! MidWeek Review Joseph Michael claims JVP accuses Govt of allowing gas companies to fleece consumers The JVP said though the Ceylon The remaining 63 percent had to be he is under threat Petroleum Corporation sold 12.5kg imported. The import cost is adjust- of LP gas to Shell and Laugfs at Rs. ed when pricing a cylinder of gas. 980/- inclusive taxes, the govern- The companies are allowed to have Chief Opposition Whip cer threatened him ill person. assured that it would be ment had allowed them to sell the a 30 percent overhead margin and Joseph Michael Perera yes- that he (MP) had no The second caller investigated. same at Rs. 1,447 and Rs. 1,407 another nine percent for dealers,” terday said that Police option but to pay as had claimed that they Speaker W. J. M. respectively. he said. Inspector Upul Gunaratne even ministers had had found a mobile Lokubandara requested the JVP Kurunegala district MP The Minister said that the gov- had demanded Rs. 50,000 from paid him. phone belonging to MP to provide him with the Bimal Ratnayake said that the CPC ernment levied a tax of Rs. 31.50 per him recently. Participating at the Gunaratne at a shop in number of the telephone of charged Rs. 51.37 for one kilo of kilo of gas. He said the officer had emergency debate, the the Kelaniya police the Inspector who had gas. Bimal Though the JVP MPs shout and phoned him and warned him MP said subsequently, area where he had mis- demanded money. that he belonged to a gang another Police Joseph placed it. The Prime Minister The government had imposed a abuse the government for increas- responsible for the assassina- Inspector phoned him He urged the gov- assured that the House would Rs. 27.50 tax on each kilo of LP gas. ing gas prices, what actually took place in tion of TNA MPs, Nadarajah and claimed that the ernment to probe the threat be informed of the inquiry. Although a domestic gas cylinder of the market was otherwise, the Minister Raviraj and T. Maheshwaran. Inspector who had made the on his life. Prime Minister 12.5kg costs only Rs. 980, the government said. Perera said that the offi- previous call was a mentally- Ratnasiri Wickremanayake had allowed the private sector to exploit “Even if the gas companies demand to the masses, he said increase the prices, I do not allow them,” Trade, Marketing Development, Co- he said. operatives and Consumer Services The price of a cylinder of gas has been Only 800 of 212,000 archeological Minister Bandula Gunawardena said that reduced dramatically. the price of gas was determined in accor- “In January, prices were reduced by dance with a formula introduced by the Rs. 160, in March by Rs. 310/-, last month sites gazetted - Abeywardena Supreme Court. by Rs. 53/-. So, how do you accuse us of He said “Only 37 percent of the total increasing the prices?” Minister on Tuesday requirement is acquired from the CPC. Gunawardena queried. Cultural Affairs and National Minister said that the process could Heritage Minister Mahinda Yapa take a long time due to short- by Saman Indrajith Abeywardena yesterday said age of funds. These sites have that there were over 212,000 sites to be surveyed, demarcated Over 12,000 unqualified teachers of archeological importance in and then excavated and only JVP accuses India the country, but only 800 of them thereafter they could be had been gazetted. gazetted as sites of archeolog- appointed in 1988-89 - Susil These sites numbering over ical importance, he said. of meddling 212,000 has been recognised by Paying a glowing tribute to The JVP yesterday Education Minister Susil the minister answered in the negative. the Department of Archaeology overseas donors, the Minister accused India of undu- Premjayanth said that during the 1988-89 He said that every year since 2000, Mahinda as national heritage sites, but said that had Sri Lanka failed ly interfering in the period, nearly 12,000 persons had around 3,000 Advanced Level qualified Yapa they could not be surveyed and to receive foreign funding, internal affairs of Sri received teaching appointments from had been recruited to the teaching pro- demarcated due to absence of ade- Sigiriya would have remained a Lanka. the then Government under the fession and altogether 27,420 had passed quate funds, he said. jungle even today. He said nothing Participating in the Janasaviya programme though they did- out from these colleges. Responding to a query raised by could be done without adequate emergency debate, n’t have the required qualifications. JVP MP Vijitha Ranaweera, the funds. JVP MP Vijitha He said that some of them had even Herath blamed India Vijitha failed to secure a simple pass in mathe- Rs 75 mn sought to pay compensation with meddling in the internal mat- matics at the GCE O/L though they ters of Sri Lanka. had been absorbed into the govern- for dead and missing soldiers He also accused the Sri Lankan ment service. He said government of seeking Indian assis- that nothing could be The Ministry of Defence yesterday North and the East. tance to de-mine northern areas presented a Paper seeking the approval The paper had been presented by done with regard to of Parliament for a Supplementary Chief Government Whip, Urban instead of deploying the Sri Lankan these political Estimate of Rs 75,000,000 to pay compen- Development and Sacred Area security forces. appointees. sation for the dead and missing soldiers Development Minister Dinesh He said that the government had In the developed in the offensive conducted to liberate the Gunawardena. allowed the Milinda Moragoda world, a university Foundation to bring down Indian de- degree was required to miners. He said that deployment of …and Rs. 12,351,846 for Justice receive a teaching Indians had humiliated the Sri appointment. Susil Lankan forces responsible for Emphasising the impor- Ministry vehicle expenses destroying the LTTE created by tance of adopting tough criteria for The Government yesterday presented and Sacred Area Development Minister India. teacher recruitment, the Minister said a paper seeking the approval of Dinesh Gunwardena said that the alloca- He said that India was trying to Parliament for a Supplementary tion was needed for Rs 2,958,734 to pay impose a political solution based on that failure to do so would be cata- Estimate of Rs 12,351,856 to cover the rent for 10 motor vehicles obtained for strophic. expenses of 79 motor vehicles used by official use by the ministry and Rs the 13th Amendment to the Sri the Ministry of Justice and Law 9,393,162 to pay the rent of 69 motor vehi- Lankan Constitution. “We should He said that 12,000 Janasaviya Reforms. cles obtained for official use in Courts reject this outdated political solu- recruits had been taken in outside all The paper presented by Chief administration. tion,” he said. laid down procedures. Government Whip Urban Development There are 18 National Colleges of Education offering training in Sinhala, All Tamil parties should join President Tamil and English medium. Asked whether the Government had any plans Two arrested for to win their rights - Karuna to shut down these colleges by year 2011, Minister of National Integration taken by Tamil parties forcing woman Vinayagamurthy Muralitharan, said to join the All Party that all Tamil political parties should Committee on join hands with President Mahinda Development and into prostitution Rajapaksa to win their rights. Reconciliation on invi- Emergency extended The minority parties like the TNA tation of the President. by Denagama Dhammika Ratnaweera Parliament yesterday extended the too, should join forces with national “This is a very positive state of emergency by another month, parties, such as the SLFP, he told the development on the part with 103 voting in favour and 11 The police have arrested the Emergency debate. “The President of the TNA. The TNA owner of a hotel in the Matara police against. had assured that he would go even Vinayagamurthy should forget petty The main opposition, UNP, boy- area and a three wheeler driver for beyond the 13th Amendment to settle party differences. The allegedly forcing a 22-year-old mar- cotted the voting. The TNA voted the national problem,” he said, urging problems faced by the Tamil people against. ried woman into prostitution. The Tamil parties not to turn a Nelsonian could only be sorted out through the police said the suspects had deceived eye to the President’s offer. means of negotiation,” he said. the woman, a resident of Kekenadura, He also commended the move by promising her employment and then employing her as a sex worker. Ex-CJ sued by Chitra Weeraratne Retirement booze A petitioner, B. K. A. Padmasiri Balasuriya, from Bahirawakande, leads to grave Kandy has filed a fundamental rights violation applica- by Neminda Samarajeeva tion in the Supreme Court, against the The police said that a 60-year-old Sri retired Chief Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) employ- Justice Sarath N. ee, Ranasinghe Arachchige Bernard Silva, alleging Perera, had been hacked to death in an abuse of power. abandoned house in the Kandana The petition police area on Sunday (July 5). alleged that the A police official told The Island that retired Chief the victim on the day of the incident Justice advised a Sarath N. had left home with four friends to cele- District Judge of Silva brate his retirement from the SLPA on Kandy to make a July 12.