WELIKADA PRISON MASSACRE: DESPITE DENIAL, GOTABHAYA IMPLICATED BY EX-STF CHIEF


By Chandani Kirinde.-15/10/2017

The deployment of a staggering number of 798 armed STF personnel to conduct a search of two wards of the Welikada Prisons in November 2012, in violation of all laid down procedure to be followed when Prison premises are searched, led to the riot there which resulted in the death of 27 inmates and caused injuries to many more, the report of a fact-finding committee states.

The 3-member committee, to look into facts pertaining to the incident that occurred at the Welikada Prison on 9.11.2012, was appointed by former Minister of Justice Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe. Its report was tabled in Parliament in February this year by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe. The Sunday Times filed an application under the Right to Information (RTI) Act to obtain a copy from Parliament early this month.

Among the disturbing findings of the Committee was evidence that, in the case of six of the inmates killed in the incident, T-56 automatic weapons had been introduced where the bodies were found, with a view to projecting they had used the weapons, and thus justify their extermination. As evidence, the Committee produced photographs in which the weapons are absent in the photos taken by the Prison Depts’ official photographer, soon after the incident, but the T-56 are clearly seen near the bodies when the Magistrate visited the scene for the inquest, a few hours later.

Also going by the evidence of the Judicial Medical Officer (JMO), the Committee concluded that three of the inmates were selectively killed.

Among those who gave evidence before this Committee were former Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa as well as senior Prison and Police Dept officials but when it came to the question of who had authorised the use of STF personnel to conduct the search, they either said they were acting on the directive of more senior officials or, claimed they were unaware of any such decision.

As the Committee said in its Report, “Ironically, the responsibility with regard to the use of the STF had been found to be nobody’s liability in this instance”

Mr Rajapaksa was among the witnesses who denied knowledge about either the search operation or, the use of STF personnel, stating it was not legally permissible to carry any arms and ammunition into a Prison facility. He had also told the Committee that it was up to the Prison Dept officials to prevent the entry of STF or police officials with arms to conduct a search.

However, the evidence of other officials who came before the Committee was in conflict with the evidence of the former Defence Secretary.

STF Commandant- Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG-Rtd) Chandrasiri Ranawana in his evidence, told the Committee that the search conducted on 9.11.2012 was not done on its own accord by the STF, but on the direction of the then Defence Secretary, with the coordination of DIG Nimal Wakishta [Director- State Intelligence Service (SIS) and DIG Terrorist Investigation Division (TID) during 2012], after a series of discussions with senior officers of the Prison Dept.

According to DIG Ranawana, the STF was functioning under the Ministry of Defence until the beginning of 2013, and thereafter, came under the purview of the Inspector General of Police (IGP). However, on the day the search operation took place, it was still under the administrative control of the Ministry of Defence.

The evidence by the then Commissioner General of Prions, P.W. Kodipilli, also supported the position of the STF Commandant, that the need for conducting search operations using 798 STF personnel was made at a meeting held at the Ministry of Defence on 17.07.2012, at which Mr Rajapaksa was present.

Mr Kodippili admitted the search was organised under his direct intervention and supervision, in a very secretive manner, to prevent it being leaked to other prion officers including the then Superintendent of the Welikada Prisons, Gamini Jayasinghe.

The Committee which heard from nearly 90 witnesses including inmates, Prisons, Police and STF officials, Defence Ministry and Prisons Reforms Ministry officials as well as JMOs and fingerprint experts, made several observations and recommendations in its report.

The Committee said it found a request had been made by Mr Kodippili to the Inspector General of Police (IGP) N.K. Illangkoon about three months prior to the incident, seeking the assistance of 300 STF personnel to conduct a combined search operation covering Colombo Remand, Magazine and Welikada Prisons. However, the IGP had responded unfavourably to the request, stating that “search operations inside Prison facilities have to be conducted with a proper action plan and coordinated in an organised manner by the STF and Prison officials.

However, in the search operation conducted on 9.11.2012, which took place when the IGP was overseas on an official assignment, the number of STF personnel had risen to 798, to conduct the search at only the Welikada prisons, that too only in two wards, namely ‘L’ ward and Chapel building. The Committee held the view that the presences of 798 STF armed personnel inside a prison facility will itself give way for the formation of a turbulent situation among the inmates, and the use of a paramilitary unit to conduct a search in a civilian institution, was an “appalling decision”, while their entry into the Welikada Prison with weapons, was in total violation of the law.

The Committee also condemned the firing of tear gas into two padlocked cells at the Prison, which was identified as the main cause for the provocation of the inmates.

“THIS ACTION OF THE STF COULD BE CLASSIFIED AS AN ACT OF INHUMAN TREATMENT, AS THE INMATES COULD NOT MOVE OUT OF A CLOSED AREA TO SURMOUNT THE EFFECTS OF TEAR GAS SMOKE. IT WAS EVIDENT FROM THE EVIDENCE THAT TRANSPIRED BEFORE THE COMMITTEE THAT THE TENSE SITUATION WITHIN THE WELIKADA PRION WAS A CREATION OF THE STF AND NOT THE INMATES.”

The Committee comprised retired High Court Judge Wimal Nambuwasam (Chairman), Rtd. DIG Asoka Wijetillake and Rtd. Additional Secretary (SLAS), Ministry of Local Govt and Provincial Councils, S.K.Liyanage.
Sunday Times

Sri Lanka’s Maritime Trade and Security in Indian Ocean

Importance of Increasing Maritime Shared Awareness in the Indian Ocean: An Analytical View on Challenges and Way Forward

by Dharmendra Wettewa-Oct 14, 2017

Introduction

( October 14, 2017, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) The Famous science writer Arthur C Clerk once stated that “How inappropriate it is to call our planet the earth, when clearly it is Ocean”. This evidently showcases the vastness of the ocean.

Sri Lanka’s Maritime Trade and Security in Indian Ocean.docx by Thavam on Scribd

We are what we consume

Sanjana Hattotuwa-October 14, 2017, 6:07 pm 

Conversations over the past week, in person and over social media, were anchored to a bizarre news report published in a leading daily newspaper on the purported private life of a woman who had visited a doctor. This is putting it politely and mildly. The actual news report was deeply sexist and replete with lascivious gossip and unsubstantiated allegations. It beggared belief that an Editor of any serious newspaper thought it fit to print and newsworthy. Ethics Eye, a media watchdog anchored to Verité Research, regularly publishes evidence based research and analysis around how print media in Sri Lanka publish content with scant regard for ethics, professional standards or robust editorial oversight. A diplomat your author met last week put this down to the nearly three decades of war, and near evisceration of independent and professional media standards in the country, in the North under the LTTE as well as in the South, under successive governments. This assertion was contested. Eight years after the end of the war, and two years after President Sirisena was elected to office, media standards continue to be what they are because of a cancer within the media itself. And yet to speak of this, to write about this, or openly admit to this, is anathema.

Therein lies the rub, because we are essentially what we consume. Morgan Spurlock’s critically acclaimed 2004 documentary ‘Super Size Me’ was a remarkable study in how the consumption of fast food led to a dramatic, visible decline of the filmmaker’s health, including, importantly, his psychological well-being. A constant craving for food, never fully satiated, led to obesity, high cholesterol and a dulled cognitive capacity, in just a few weeks. There is a parallel, not often drawn, around the consumption of sensationalist media, which parades the worst gossip and entertainment at best as serious news reporting, and citizenship. How we engage with polity and society is framed by what we know. If these media frames are constantly focussing or based on the banal, the unsubstantiated, the mainstream, the majoritarian, the male gaze or the dominant, our worldview over time becomes invariably prejudiced as well – to the extent that we will fight tooth and nail to deny it, and decry anyone who calls us biased. A critical deterioration happens without us knowing it.

Last week, I visualised all the updates from a major English language based SMS news alerts provider from July 2015 to October 2017. This came to around forty-seven thousand words, or a ninety-six page, single-spaced document. I stripped away the common phrases like the name of the service provider, prefixes and suffixes. The visualisation was in the form of a word cloud, which based on frequency, determines the size of a word. The higher the number of times a word has been used, the larger the typeface. Conversely, the least frequently used words appear smaller. I placed the visualisation in the public domain for others to also study and offered some preliminary thoughts around how, on the face of it, I interpreted the visualisation. Cricket (scores and updates), corruption and crime feature heavily. The Rajapaksas also continue to be in the media gaze – and my point was that all publicity, is for them, good publicity. Mainstream politics dominates, and that too, news around only political developments at a national level. What was absent from the visualisation was as important as what was present. There is little to no emphasis whatsoever on human interest stories, constitutional reform, transitional justice and reconciliation. The updates are extremely Colombo-centric, and what is important for or happening in the South, East and North are entirely absent. I asked on Facebook that with a (media) diet like this, what sort of citizenry and mind-set mainstream media creates.

Civic media – media platforms that exist independent of mainstream media and run by individuals or civil society institutions, almost exclusively online and over social media – have blossomed post-war in particular, but don’t yet reach a critical mass. While these platforms and what they produce or present influence a younger demographic, newspapers still command a larger footprint and additionally, are also now consumed over respective mobile apps and social media accounts. It matters then what they frame, and how they frame it. If in 2018 Sri Lanka is heading into a referendum over a new constitution, it matters than a leading SMS news provider has almost zero coverage of the key issues. If the country is reeling from the rise of fascist monks, it matters that the media doesn’t cover stories around diversity, the non-violent negotiation of difference, and inter-religious relations that have existed for centuries.

If the dominant social and political discourse is around race relations and notions of racial superiority or purity, it matters that the mainstream media hasn’t focussed on how, as author and renowned architect Sunela Jayewardene in her book ‘the Line of Lanka’ avers is the emergence of ‘today’s pristine Sinhala, Tamil, Muslim and Burgher’ from ‘the marriages of Rakusa and Naga, Yaka and Aryan, Veddah and Chola, Pandyans, Arabs and Greeks, Malays, Dutch, Portuguese, English and Persians’. If the South is to understand the enduring existential challenges of those in the North post-war, it matters that the media never really covers the daily lives and struggles of citizens in the Jaffna Peninsula and around it.

If we are to comprehend and act upon the extent to which this year’s drought has impacted farmers and agriculture, and how this in turn impacts the entire country’s economy, the mainstream media inability and unwillingness to frame a long-drawn out, catastrophic environmental disaster is particularly revealing. If reporting on reconciliation is only ever anchored to the rare instance the President or Prime Minister mentions it as a lofty goal of government in a speech, we will never know the plight of hundreds of mothers and others who are literally begging the State to give any information around the whereabouts of loved ones who have disappeared. If women are only framed as sexualised objects, and mental health is only ever reported as sensationalised suicide covered in horrific, gory detail, consumers will invariably react and respond in ways that perpetuate what gives life to and normalises gender based violence and self-harm.

All this of course is not new. Though urgent and desirable, what’s also entirely unlikely is that the mainstream media culture will undergo any significant transformation. From mercenary owners to conservative men at the helm, from political patronage to a reliance on advertising, from a lack of training to poor pay, from sexism in the newsroom to more generally, consumers who don’t really demand better, the mainstream media culture is rotten to the core. We will continue to complain about the state Sri Lanka is in and how much better she can be, but never really pause to think about the role of mainstream media in supporting our better angels, and a more democratic future. Unsurprisingly then, despite all our frequent mutter, reform will invariably stutter.

EPIC Lanka respones : "Registration of Persons, Immigration & Emigration Depts. are dens full of thieves."

Oct 14, 2017

EPIC Lanka has responsed to our news "Registration of Persons, Immigration & Emigration Depts. are dens full of thieves." which was published on 26 th September 2017.

The full text of response publish below as accepting ' Right to Reply'

Letter to the editor in response to the Lankanewsweb's article "Registration of Persons, Immigration & Emigration Depts. are dens full of thieves."

Your article "Registration of Persons, Immigration & Emigration Depts. are dens full of thieves" (Sep. 26, 2017) addressed the important issue of ensuring Government Procurement Entities getting the full benefit of an open, competitive and transparent tender process conducted in compliance with the relevant national procurement guidelines. However, we find that the article is incorrect, malicious and contains a number of falsehoods. We, EPIC Lanka (Pvt) Ltd. categorically deny the baseless allegations leveled therein, and wish to state that we were not involved in any unethical practices or conspire to manipulate printing prices to obtain undue and unrealistic profit margins.

We write to you to bring to your kind attention to correct these erroneous and misleading assertions in your article with humble request to make the necessary corrections in order to ensure that your website will have a reputation for the legitimacy and truthfulness of the news you publish.

EPIC Lanka (Pvt) Ltd., which was founded by Dr. Nayana Dehigama, was a member of the consortium led by HieTech Padu Bhd Malaysia, to whom the Tender for Supply of Blank Travel Documents and Printing and Personalization System was awarded by the Department of Immigration & Emigration, in 2003. We wish to place on record that said Tender was awarded after an open, 

competitive and transparent tender process conducted in compliance with the national procurement guidelines prevailed at the time. Our bid contained the lowest evaluated price of the tender, which was 60% less than the price at which the Department of Immigration and Emigration was then purchasing passports from a British company. This enabled Sri Lankan Government to save colossal amount of foreign exchange while introducing a better-quality passport compared to the previous.

We wish to confirm that, our consortium has never submitted any unsolicited proposal requesting for supply of additional orders for passports since the initial award in 2003. However, Immigration & Emigration Department made requests to us a few times over the past years to provide additional quantities of the same passport, of which we have always fulfilled the request in most cost-effective manner being a responsible corporate citizen. Those Procurement decisions were taken by the Immigration & Emigration Department with proper approval from the Cabinet after following national procurement guidelines. Therefore, we neither have any influence nor involvement in the decision to procure additional quantities of passports.

It is also pertinent to mention that secure documents such as passports and national ID cards by nature consist of many overt and covert security features embedded in its design. The security printing experts of our consortium created these designs for the Sri Lankan passport, therefore, our consortium and the Government of Sri Lanka jointly share the Intellectual Property Rights of such designs. As such, it is only our consortium has the legal rights to produce the current passport unless the Department of Immigration & Emigration introduces a new series of passports with a different security design. Therefore, it is not legally possible for Sri Lankan Government to assign a different contractor to produce the current passport.

Further, your article refers to the tender for the supply of ID cards to the Department of Registration of Persons too. We wish to place on record that we, EPIC Lanka (Pvt) Ltd was awarded the contract to supply the pre-printed cards for eNIC project by the Department of Registration of Persons through an open, competitive and transparent tender process where our bid carried the lowest evaluated price among the technically responsive bidders. The Price difference between Epic and the second lowest responsive bidder was more than Rs.30 million for a quantity of 1 million. As such Government could save a large sum of money by awarding the tender to the lowest evaluated bidder (Epic).

 However, the second lowest bidder challenged the award through a fundamental rights case filed in the supreme court of Sri Lanka (SC F/R 124/2017), which was duly dismissed by the 3-member bench clearly showing that the allegations were baseless. It seems that you have been misled by some party with a malicious intention of using your website to tarnish our reputation.

EPIC Lanka (Pvt) Ltd. is a pioneer in implementing e-Governance and FinTech solutions in Sri Lanka, and functioning as a socially responsible entrepreneurial organization over the past 19 years. Due to our unblemished track record, we have been able to secure continuous contracts from many customers in the region. As of today, Epic provides employment to 250 local talents. In addition, Epic has been awarded with more than 70 national and international accolades including Sri Lanka’s Best Software Company Award at the National Best Quality Software awards (NBQSA) in 2016.

Epic Lanka is the only Sri Lankan Company eligible to bid for tenders of secure documents such as passports and national ID cards in international markets.

In the circumstances, we request that you publish this correction with equal magnitude of publicity, highlighting the above facts.

Sincerely,
Thareendra Kalpage
Chief Operating Officer
EPIC Lanka (Pvt) Ltd

 

Editor's note

Previous article

VAC is alive & kicking though ACCS is no more

October 14, 2017

The thinking of those individuals who committed frauds and engaged in corruption and waste of public funds during the previous regime and of those who are engaged in destroying people’s assets and rob public money with the support of the present government that Voice Against Corruption (VAC) has been terminated just because the Anti-Corruption Committee Secretariat has been closed down is only a myth says the convener of VAC Wasantha Samarasinghe pointing out that the Anti-Corruption Committee Secretariat was founded in 2015 but VAC existed since 2011.

He said this participating in a media meeting of the series of media meetings held under the theme ‘Helidarauwa’ (Exposure).

Mr. Samarasinghe pointed out frauds and corruption committed in several instances including frauds at Lanka Transformers group of companies, the fraud committed by producing a bill for meals at a ceremony in the Ministry of Agriculture and the instance of evading paying tax by 23 individuals involved in iron related industries.

Mr. Samarasinghe also talked about slanders spread to disrepute him personally, VAC and the JVP by certain parties using the internet on YouTube, Face Book and by certain blogs.

“Qualifications Irrelevant To Be Director General Health Services” Says Unqualified ‘Director’ SJGH

OCTOBER 15, 2017

The post of director Sri Jayewardenepura General Hospital (SJGH) is held by an unqualified person, Colombo Telegraph learns. Thus, a mere medical officer without the required qualifications is enjoying a monthly income of Rs 600 000 of public money.

SJGH, a tertiary care hospital and a post graduate training institute is governed under the Act of Parliament of 54/1983. In March 2015, when Dr. Athula Kahandaliyanage assumed duties as chairman SJGH, a medical officer named Dr. Susitha Senaratne materialized, declaring that he has been appointed director SJGH. Senaratne is a medical officer with no post graduate or professional qualifications to hold this office. Kahandaliyanage, a director at Fonterra Brands Sri Lanka and family friend of Senaratne didn’t table this appointment at the SJGH Board, the appointing authority.

Fully aware that the Board cannot approve an irregular appointment of an unqualified person, Kahandaliyanage went on to obtain the approval of the salary for this unqualified, non-appointed ‘director’ while the Board members impotently looked on.

Dr. Susitha Senaratne with the President

When the 2016 Committee of Public Enterprise (COPE) chaired by Sunil Handunneththi (MP) met, Anura Jayawickrama was the secretary to the Ministry of Health (MOH). The COPE severely criticized SJGH Board for sitting on this irregular appointment. Kahandaliyanage revealed to the COPE that the only ‘letter of appointment’ he has was one issued by D.M.A. R.B Dissanayake the secretary to the MOH in March 2015, addressed to director Lady Ridgeway Hospital requesting Senaratne’s release ‘to cover up duties of director SJGH for three years from 26.03.2015’. Jayawickrama who understood the illegality, convened a meeting of the SJGH Board and instructed the chairman to table this appointment, and if it’s not accepted by the Board, to immediately advertise the position. Kahandaliyanage, promptly agreed and for the next two and a half years did nothing substantial to follow up. In spite of the subsequent written instructions by Jayawickrama via the minutes of the meeting, Kahandaliyanage bought time, stating lamely that he was waiting for the secretary to “tell him what to do”. Contacted by Colombo Telegraph, Kahandaliyanage accepted that to date he hasn’t tabled this letter appointing Senaratne for cover up duties at the SJGH Board.

Noting the delaying tactics of Kahandaliyanage, Jayawickrama via letter to the secretary of COPE, notified this serious irregularity. Kahandaliyanage who denied to Colombo Telegraph of ever receiving a copy of such letter or the minutes of the post-COPE meeting, didn’t inform the Board of this communication and played for time as Jayawickrama was due to retire in few months. In essence, Kahandaliyanage violated the law of the country, the Act of parliament of 54/1983 and the recommendation of the COPE. He systematically suppressed information from the Board playing in to the con artistry of Senaratne in convincing others that political servitude will save him from repercussions. Kahandaliyanage defended this appointment with Colombo Telegraph citing the appointment of 16 specialists to SJGH as per a ministerial directive issued by Nimal Siripala de Silva, former Minister of Health in 2007. Colombo Telegraph learns that while a ministerial directive was indeed issued, all sixteen specialists were fully qualified with Board Certification by the Post Graduate Institute of Medicine (PGIM). Some of them were recruited following competitive interview in spite of the directive.

Read More

Another consignment of controversial Russian cancer drug Trastuzumab to be imported

....lowest bidder elbowed out -Concerns of Consultant Oncologists disregarded

by SURESH PERERA-October 14, 2017, 

A move to procure another consignment of 2,500 vials of the controversial Russian-made oncology (cancer) drug Trastuzumab (Herticad) at a staggering cost of over Rs. 360 million, despite a competitor offering a more competitive price for a time-tested, FDA (Food & Drug Administration of USA) approved product, has triggered shock waves through medical circles.

Despite the Sri Lanka College of Oncologists (SLCO) warning that the Russian-made Trastuzumab biosimilar (a biologic medical product, which is almost an identical copy of an original product manufactured by a different company) has "only been tested on around 100 incurable metastatic breast cancer patients" (and not tested on adjuvant use on early breast cancer patients), the green light has already been given to purchase another substantial stock, medical sources said.

"The move to purchase another 2,500 vials of a product, which has generated much controversy over "efficacy and safety concerns" is beyond belief", industry officials noted.

While the competitor has offered to supply the Trastuzumab biosimilar (CANMAB 400) at the rate of Rs. 97,700/- per vial, the Russian product is being procured at Rs. 144,100/- per vial, they asserted.

The total cost to procure the Russian product works out to over Rs. 360 million, while the competitor has offered the stock for Rs. 244 million – a saving of Rs. 116 million as the difference in the price per vial is Rs. 50,000/-, they said.

Another registered party has also made a bid for Rs. 98,000 per vial, but quite strangely, the tender was awarded to the highest bidder instead of the lowest despite a hefty price difference, the officials aid.

This translates into the government paying more to procure the consignment at a higher price, which not only means a loss of Rs. 116 million, but also that another substantial stock of a product that has come under flak from oncologists, is being imported at enormous cost in lieu of an FDA approved drug accepted and administered world-wide, they pointed out.

Responding to a letter written to all hospital directors by the MSD (Medical Supplies Division) director, SLCO’s president, Dr. Damayanthi Pieris, and secretary Dr. Sujeeva Weerasinghe, says in a reply dated October 9, 2017, that the "performance of Biocad Trastuzumab (the Russian made drug) is adjudged by the overall survival in metastatic breast cancer patients and disease-free survival in early breast cancer patients. These parameters have to be calculated by analyzing all patient data collected systematically and comparing them with data of patients who received the reference drug.

"Data need to be collected over an adequate length of time for a statistically significant analysis of given end points. Without collected data related to all patients who received this drug and analyzing them correctly, it is not possible to find out the performance of the medicine. Therefore, we cannot comment on the efficacy/performance of this drug".

In an earlier letter dated September 18, 2016 addressed to the secretary of the Health Ministry, Dr. Pieris has noted that "recently a Russian made Trastuzumab biosimilar has been registered in Sri Lanka. The product has only been tested on around 100 incurable metastatic breast cancer patients. It has not been tested on adjuvant use on early breast cancer patients.

"Therefore, SLCO recommends that HER 2 positive early breast cancer patients should not be given this untested drug lacking evidence of efficacy and long tern safety. We recommend that this biosimilar be used only on metastatic setting with strict surveillance on efficacy and adverse reactions. We believe that the already purchased stocks will be adequate for metastatic patients, which form only a minority of patients needing this drug".

Who gave the go-ahead to import another consignment when even Consultant Oncologists, the final authority on the subject, have clearly stated that they cannot express an opinion on the efficacy/performance of a product, which remains largely untested as its use is still restricted to Russia and a handful of other countries in that region?, health officials queried.

Moreover, the SLCO has indicated that the "already purchased stocks will be adequate for metastatic patients, which form only a minority of patients needing this drug". Under these circumstances, what was the urgent necessity to import another 2,500 vials of this drug which, in any case, is being used only on few patients?, they asked.

"Oncologists currently use several other biotherapeutic products which have fulfilled the criteria on efficacy and safety. We fully support the government efforts for cost effective strategies on cancer treatment. However, the cornerstone for any such strategy should be on solid clinical evidence and patient safety", Dr. Peiris noted.

If the government is pursuing cost effective strategies on cancer treatment, how come the lowest bidder was ignored and the tender awarded for the Russian product at an additional cost of Rs. 166 million?, medical officials asked.

Somebody somewhere is apparently making a big kill on the bid, they asserted. "Otherwise, why opt for a higher price when a better, time-tested drug is on offer?"

The Sunday Island learns that a top Health Ministry official had recommended against importing more stocks of the Russian product, which has run into controversy over efficacy and safety concerns.

However, his objections have been overruled and a purchase order placed on October 3, 2017 with the local supplier for another 2,500 vials at a cost of Rs. 360,250,000.

Repeated attempts to contact Health Ministry Secretary, Janaka Sugathadasa were futile as he was "at meetings" all day long on Friday. His secretary promised that he would return the call for comment, but he didn’t. His mobile phone also went unanswered yesterday.

The Sunday Island was asked by the secretary’s office to contact MSD Director, Dr. Lal Panapitiya, but his mobile phone initially rang but was not answered. It was later switched off.

A senior health official, however, said the bid for the second consignment of the Russian-made drug was awarded on an earlier Cabinet decision to import 5,000 vials in two stages.

"This is bunkum", industry officials protested, referring to a document sent by the Health Ministry on August 22, 2016, which stated that the "Standing Cabinet appointed Procurement Committee recommended to award initially only 50% of the tender to the lowest responsive bidder".

This meant that the first consignment of 2,500 vials imported at a cost of over Rs. 360 million earlier encompassed the 50% referred to in relation to Cabinet approval granted for this purpose. No such approval was given for the balance 50% as clearly indicated by the Ministry, they pointed out.

Even if there was approval and if the country was saving Rs. 116 million by purchasing a more reliable, time-tested drug for the benefit of patients, surely it wouldn’t need an Albert Einstein to figure out what needs to be done, the officials said.

Panjandrums in the health sector will naturally duck discussing this ‘sensitive’ issue with the media, they laughed, and added "the political implications involved could leave them out in the cold".

Sri Lanka: Reality of the Uma Oya

The latest study of the Uma Oya basin was the trans-basin scheme prepared by SNC Lavalin Inc. (Canada) in 2000. This study was aimed at a comprehensive evaluation and assessment of the best scheme, from in-basin and trans-basin alternatives which have previously been studied.

by G.T. Dharmasena- Oct 14, 2017

( October 14, 2017, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Much has been reported about the Uma Oya debacle which has adversely impacted on the lives of people in Bandarwela in Badulla District. There are newspaper articles and TV debates, providing information on this, with either the present or previous government being blamed. Allegations are also levelled against officials of the Ministry of Irrigation, Mahaweli and the Environment Authority who were responsible for implementing this major engineering project. After evaluating these allegations, I thought it pertinent to provide some background information on the emergence of this project and slightly touch upon the current situation. Failure to provide vital material to the public could mislead the relevant officials and masses. Some of my concerns over this project were expressed at the beginning of implementation, in an article to Daily News on 29th of April 2008, coinciding with the foundation laying by former President Mahinda Rajapaksa and the Iranian President. The heading of the article was “Development of water resources of Uma Oya Basin ”

The Background

From the early planning stage of the Mahaweli Development Programme, several proposals for the development and utilization of water resources of the Uma Oya basin were made by United States Operations Mission (USOM) and the Canadian Hunting Survey Corporation (CHSC) as early as 1959. Later, UNDP/FAO Master Plan studies (1968/1969) for the accelerated Mahaweli programme proposed in basin development by the construction of Upper and Lower Uma Oya reservoirs, for hydro-power development.

In 1956, Lakshman Rajapaksa, MP for Hambantota (cousin of MR) was the Deputy Minister for Commerce and Trade under S.W.R.D Bandaranaike’s government, and he took the initiative to set up a cotton processing factory at Mirijjawila near Hambantota to encourage cotton cultivators in Hambantota and Monaragala. During this period cotton was a popular crop in the Eastern part of Hambantota and Monaragala, and cotton was cultivated under rain-fed conditions. This factory functioned satisfactorily and it started processing their home grown cotton. It was set on fire during the youth unrest in 1971 and became redundant.

Meanwhile, the Irrigation Department planned the Lunugamvehera Reservoir across Kirindi Oya in Hambantota District under ADB funding, with the objective of stabilizing the water storage in the existing Ellagala irrigation system with five tanks in Tissamaharama. In addition, cultivation of 8000 ha of irrigated cotton on new lands above Ellagala irrigation system was envisaged. The justification of cotton cultivation was mostly due to the ongoing practice of cultivation of rain fed cotton, which prevailed in Tanamalvila, Hambegamuwa and Hambantota areas. The availability of Reddish Brown (RB) soils in this area for such cultivation became an added advantage. Therefore, an ADB loan was obtained by the government for the construction of Lunugamvehera by giving the assurance for cotton cultivation under the new lands.

However, the original objective of irrigated cotton cultivation under the Lunugamvehera reservoir was forgotten soon after the construction of the reservoir, and the new irrigable area was converted to paddy cultivation. The shortage of water at Lunugamvehera arose as a result of changing the original cropping pattern from cotton to paddy, as paddy consumes very much more water in RB soil than cotton. Therefore, after completion of the reservoir project, the shortage of water at Lunugamvehera became a hot topic and the Irrigation Department was blamed for wrong planning. In view of this development, the Irrigation Department was thinking about various options to augment Lunugamvehera, including diversion of Menik Ganga and Uma Oya to Kirindi Oya.

In 1991, a pre-feasibility study of the Uma Oya Multi-Purpose Project (Trans basin option) was carried out by the Central Engineering Consultancy Bureau (CECB). In order to augment irrigation water supplies to Kirindi Oya basin, the CECB conceived a multi-purpose scheme for the development of the Uma Oya water resources as an alternative to the in-basin hydro-power development in the Mahaweli basin. According to this concept, water from Uma Oya would be diverted through a 24 km tunnel to the upper Kirindi Oya basin to augment the Kirindi Oya flows, and in the process generate a large block of electrical energy, utilizing a drop of about 600 m in a single stage.

Meanwhile, this issue of the Lunugamvehera water shortage was subsequently resolved successfully by the Irrigation Department, by diverting the Menik Ganga water to Kirindi Oya. For this purpose, the Irrigation Department constructed the Veheragala reservoir across Menik Ganga in 2006.Therefore, the diversion of Uma Oya to Kirindi Oya was never considered as a strategy by the Irrigation Department after the year 2000.

Hambantota Mega City

Then around the year 2000, development of Hambantota harbour, and airport at Weerawila were considered, with an objective of establishing an industrial city at Hambantota. This project was given serious consideration under the Southern Area Development Authority (SADA) during Chandrika’s government (1994-2005). The selected area of Hambantota for development is rich in land resources, but lacks in water resources. Therefore, finding water for industrial and domestic needs for these development activities became a priority. At this juncture, diversion of Uma Oya water to Kirindi Oya basin came to the stage again, and this time the objective was to provide industrial and domestic water for the Hambantota Mega city development.

The latest study of the Uma Oya basin was the trans-basin scheme prepared by SNC Lavalin Inc. (Canada) in 2000. This study was aimed at a comprehensive evaluation and assessment of the best scheme, from in-basin and trans-basin alternatives which have previously been studied. The consultant SNC-LAVALIN recommended the trans-basin diversion option to divert water to Kirindi Oya based on the conditions prevailing at that time. It was proposed to divert 192 mcm of water annually through a 23.2 km long tunnel to an underground power house at Randeniya on the right bank of Kirindi Oya. The installed capacity of the power house is 90 MW to produce 312 GWh of electrical energy. The total approximate cost of the project in year 2000 was Rs.16, 000 million.

Uma Oya diversion to Kirindi Oya:

After receiving the report from the consultant, SNC-Lavalin Inc. then government (2002-2004) wanted to make a decision regarding this proposed new diversion route, as it was originally planned to Randenigala reservoir according to the Mahaweli Master Plan. A meeting was held at the Power and Energy Ministry around 2003 headed by the Minister of Power and Energy and at least 7 or 8 Cabinet Ministers were present, and the Ambassador of Japan. At that meeting an agreement was reached to proceed with the investigation of Uma Oya diversion to Kirindi Oya for the purpose of meeting the industrial and domestic water to Hambantota. However, the Ambassador for Japan raised a question on water availability and requested to look into the varying flow figures provided by different consultants. Then a committee was appointed with Prof. KKW. Perera, then Chairman of the CEB, myself and some others and we were instructed to review the water availability and provide a report within a week.

After reviewing the available data by this committee, it was revealed that the availability of water is very much less than the estimates made by previous consultants, and therefore, our report was not encouraging. However, the expected report of our committee within a week was never tabled due to some reason, and the official process of project implementation by diverting water from the Uma Oya to Kirindi Oya was continued.

Cost and benefits:

Based on the current official figures, cost of construction is estimated at US $ 530 million and the expected benefit from the project is estimated at 290 GWh annually. It is expected to divert 167.0 mcm of water annually from Uma Oya through 120 MW power plants. The total length of the tunnel from Puhulpola to Wellawaya is 22.7 km. In addition to the power generation, it is planned to irrigate 4500 ha of new lands and 1500 ha of existing lands for rice cultivation in Wellawaya area. The original objective of supplying water for Hambantota industrial development and domestic water is now forgotten.

This cost excludes the resettlement and compensation to be paid to the victims of the project and this amount is yet to be estimated.

Current debacle at Uma Oya:

The current debacle is the damage to the environment as a result of lowering the ground water table due to the construction of the trans-basin tunnel. This leads to the interruption of the domestic water supply and geo-technical issues related to settlement of foundations of buildings, landslides etc. Some politicians, foreign experts and researchers are raising their finger towards the CEA and the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) already carried out.There may be lapses in the EIA report, but this debacle has nothing to do with the environmental studies. Because, technical issues that one would anticipate during a tunnel construction cannot be clearly identified during an EIA study in advance. However, it is the responsibility of engineers to rectify those issues while construction is progressing. This requires adequate previous experience in tunnel construction in different geological conditions, as problems cannot be foreseen before actual drilling.

According to a Sri Lankan tunnelling expert working in UK, “Tunnels are much more environmentally friendly than most surface schemes where flora, fauna and human habitation can have adverse effects upon them which require serious physical mitigation. No environmental study is able to establish the crack pattern and the solidity of underground rock formations. If at all, such perdition could be made only by the experts who are thoroughly involved with tunnel design and construction. These issues will only come to light during the construction and the TBM should be so designed to be able to investigate the rock formations forward of the excavation face, inject grout, and stabilise the rock before boring through it, and then install the tunnel lining and the grout seal.”

Further, according to the expert, “The rock here in the Badulla region is not granite. It is a mixture of sandstone and limestone, and hence amenable to be bored using a TBM. However, as I said before, they should have made provision for forward probing and sealing cracks to avoid the leakage of water and reducing the water table of the ground above, which was the cause of the cracking in the buildings constructed with shallow foundations on weak soil. Apparently there are no specific building regulations in Sri Lanka and these buildings on shallow foundations tend to crack with the slightest of movement in the underlying soil”.

Conclusions:

The most of the people who write articles and appear in TV debates have absolutely no idea of tunnelling, and very few people, if any, in Sri Lanka have any experience on Tunnel Boring Machines (TBM). The whole thing has been hijacked by some political elements to promote their ideology among the poor uneducated people in the Uva province, without giving room for someone with some expertise to explain the facts and the reasons behind this debacle. Most of the discussions are a pathetic display of ignorance by the “educated class”.

Superficially depletion of the ground water table and foundation settlement of a large number of houses and cracks are the critical issues at the moment. As explained by experts, provision has to be made for forward probing and sealing cracks to avoid the leakage of water and reducing the lowering of the ground water table after drilling.

According to the physical progress of the project at the moment, there is no possibility to turn back, as 70% of the work has been completed. Therefore, we have to go forward while rectifying the defects irrespective of the cost and economic viability.

Regarding the proposal for a fresh EIA, it is a matter of further wasting time and money. One of the issues related to an EIA study of this nature of work is whether we have experienced expertise in hydro-geology (not geo-hydrology) in Sri Lanka. The countless issues cannot be simply attributed to general Geography or Geology.

However, the crux of the issue at Uma Oya is the availability of water for diversion. There are more than 700 minor irrigation schemes above Puhulpola and Dyraaba reservoirs, and only the remaining water after diverting for upstream irrigation is available for diversion to Kirindi Oya.This concern can be seen only during the operation of the project after completion. Our concerns in this respect were highlighted in detail by the writer in the article published in the Daily News on the day of laying the foundation by the then President on 29th April 2008.

( The writer is the Former Director General of Irrigation)

Sri Lankan apprehended with Rs.3 million worth gold jewelry at BIA

By Sanchith Karunaratna-October 14, 2017

A Sri Lankan male passenger was apprehended by Officials of the Customs Staff at the Bandaranaike International Airport earlier today (14), with Rs.3 million worth Gold jewelry concealed in his trouser pockets. 

The suspect arrived in Sri Lanka from Dubai on flight UL 226 at 4.55am this morning. The apprehended individual is reportedly a 34-year old resident of Wellampitiya. 

Officials from the BIA customs unit charged him for the offence of non-declaration. 

Video: Why UN should say “good riddance” to Israel

Ali Abunimah- 14 October 2017

On Friday I spoke to Aaron Maté of The Real News about the decision by the United States and Israel to pull out of UNESCO over claims that the United Nations cultural body has an “anti-Israel bias.”

I explained that these claims are based on lies from Israel and its supporters that recent UNESCO resolutions deny Jewish connections to heritage sites in East Jerusalem and Hebron, both of which are in the occupied West Bank.

“I welcome Israel’s announcement that it plans to withdrawal from UNESCO and encourage Israel to go much further and to withdraw from other UN agencies and indeed from the United Nations altogether,” I told Maté. “I think that would be fitting, since Israel has since its establishment, shown nothing but utter contempt for the United Nations, utter disregard for international law, and is in violation of more UN resolutions by far than any other state.”

We also spoke about the recent “reconciliation” agreement signed by Hamas and Fatah. In spite of celebrations and fanfare, I warned that major obstacles remain – principally that Israel and its international backers reject any dealings with Hamas unless it surrenders its weapons and gives up the right to resist Israel’s occupation.

I said that this rejectionism by Israel and its international backers is making next Gaza war more likely

Watch the video above.

For more on these topics, read my article on the UNESCO, and Omar Karmi’s analysis of the latest round of intra-Palestinian reconciliation talks.

Tony Blair: ‘We were wrong to boycott Hamas after its election win’

Former prime minister says international community should have tried to pull militant Islamic faction ‘into a dialogue’ over its refusal to recognise Israel

 Tony Blair and then Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas in 2006, as violence raged in Gaza between Hamas and Fatah. Photograph: Muhammed Muheisen/AP

Donald Macintyre-Saturday 14 October 2017 20.01 BST

Blair did not elaborate on subsequent “informal” dealings with Hamas but he appears to be referring to clandestine contacts between MI6 and Hamasrepresentatives during and possibly after the kidnap of BBC journalist Alan Johnston by an extreme fundamentalist group in 2007. The kidnappers eventually released Johnston after heavy pressure from the Hamas de facto government.

Since leaving his Quartet post, Blair has held at least six lengthy private meetings with Khaled Meshaal, the Hamas political bureau chief until earlier this year, and his successor Ismail Haniyeh, partly to explore a possible long-term ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. But the international block on official contacts with Hamas has eroded western leverage in the region, increased the isolation and suffering of the Gaza public, and helped to drive the faction into the arms of Iran – all without dislodging it from its dominance of Gaza, say critics.

Blair’s rare rethink of a key foreign policy issue has surfaced as Hamas and Fatah embark on a new Egypt-brokered effort to end the schism between the two factions after a preliminary reconciliation agreement signed in Cairo last week. The split was triggered by the brief but bloody 2007 civil war in Gaza which left a victorious Hamas in charge of the coastal enclave and President Mahmoud Abbas running the West Bank-based, Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority

Also interviewed in the book, Jonathan Powell, Blair’s former chief of staff at Downing Street, goes further, saying the Quartet strategy was “a terrible mistake”. Negotiations with Fatah alone – long promoted by the US – meant that “you have to make a concession to Fatah, then you have to make a new concession to Hamas afterwards. You want to have one negotiation, not two … If you got a united Palestinian team to negotiate with, then life would have been a whole lot easier.”

The book also cites internal Whitehall documents from January 2006, obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, which warned immediately after the Palestinian elections against ostracising the new Hamas-led authority. A heavily edited minute from the Department for International Development points out that Israel and Hamas were already co-operating at a municipal level, and suggested it would be difficult in the short-term for Hamas to renounce “its commitment to the destruction of Israel and its support for terrorism”. Instead, it suggested that “ultimately Hamas’s participation in the realities of political responsibility might bring about Hamas’s transformation to a political rather than terrorist organisation”.

A Foreign Office “e-gram” from Brussels quotes a senior European commission official saying that a million Palestinians relied directly and indirectly on EU funding. The report added: “To withdraw it would have dramatic consequences and could lead to violence. The EU was under no obligations to align its position on financial support with that of the US and Israel. The EU had not done so in the past. The wider region was watching the EU response to these elections. If we seemed, by our actions, to be rejecting the results then our claims to promoting democracy would be undermined.”