20 persons, including a highly placed US diplomatic officer, have come to Katunayake today

A group of 20 people, including a senior diplomatic officer of the US, arrived at Bandaranaike International Airport in Katunayake today (14).

According to reports, they had arrived at around 07.00 pm in two special planes belonging to the US Air Force which had flown in from Greece, reports say.

Ahead of their arrival, heavy security has prevailed in the airport area, and had been further beefed up since this afternoon.

(Source : Lankadeepa)

President Ranil Wickremesinghe instructed officials to ensure no one in need is overlooked in providing rice to low-income families.

In addition, the President directed the officers to purchase adequate rice to feed 2.85 million (28,50,000) families subject to a maximum of Rs. 20 billion.

President Ranil Wickremesinghe made these remarks today (14) while attending a discussion related to the purchase of paddy at the Ministry of Defence.

The President further instructed that the paddy be purchased, milled and the rice be distributed among low-income earners through a transparent mechanism.

Previously, it was decided to allocate Rs. 10,000 million to purchase 61,600 metric tons of paddy under the program of providing 2 million low-income families with 10 kg of rice each per month over a period of two months, free of charge.

However, it was revealed during this discussion that 2.85 million families have been identified as being in need of this assistance.

Accordingly, President Ranil Wickremesinghe directed the officials to implement the program for all those people.

President Wickremesinghe further stated,

ìThe Government is set to purchase rice worth Rs. 20 billion to distribute to 2,850,000 low-income families as part of its food security program. The government will protect the rice price by providing a guaranteed price. District and Divisional Secretaries have been delegated the task of purchasing paddy stocks. The government will not sell rice, and a full-time team will be deployed to take this program forward.

A formal mechanism for distributing rice to eligible people in all 25 districts will be developed. The government is taking measures to prevent large-scale paddy mill owners from exerting unnecessary influence in purchasing paddy. The government aims to label the grant given to low-income families as “relief rice” to prevent its resale. Members of Parliament are being consulted, and discussions are on-going with the District Secretaries.

However, this necessitates the deployment of a full-time team. The agreement was expressed during the discussion with the security forces to release a group of officials from Ministry of Defence for this purpose.

Obtaining accurate data is crucial for the program’s progress. If government officials are uncooperative at the village level, a contracted team should be recruited to expedite data collection. They should receive priority for future vacancies, and retired officials may also provide assistance. All activities must be completed within a designated timeframe.”

Police have arrested 07 suspects who allegedly stole an ATM machine with money from a private bank in the Gampola area.

Police say they found the ATM machine as well as a pistol in the possession of the suspects.

They further mention that the pistol was one that was stolen from the house of Puttalam District MP – Ali Sabry, which was torched during the ‘Aragalaya’ protests last year.