Home NewsThe Island Page Two2 Thursday 18th March, 2010

Are you a lucky winner?

SATURDAY FORTUNEDate 24-02-2010 Draw No.2099Bones No55Winning No:

R- 18- 27- 28- 64

JATHIKA SAMPATHADate:03-03-2010

Draw No.01Bonus No:04Winning Nos:

D- 4 - 9- 3 - 6- 4- 3

MAHAJANA SAMPATHADate: 12-03-2010 Draw No. 2215Winning No:

U-0-0-7-9-9-7

JAYAVIRU Date:03-03-2010

Draw No. 501Winning Nos :

S- 18-37- 68- 71

SUPIRI VASANASAMPATHA

Date: 13-03-2010 Draw No. 540Bonus No. 25

30-40-45-52

VASANASAMPATHA

Date: 11-03-2010 Draw No. 810Bonus No. 15

E- 19 - 38 - 50 -64

GOVI SETHADate: 08-03-2010

Draw No. 745

L- 02 - 29 - 32 -52

DEVELOPMENT FORTUNEDraw No: 1174

Date 16-03-2010 Zodiac Symbol: Cancer

Winning Nos:21 - 36 - 39 - 47

DOUBLE CHANCEDraw No: 01

Date 09-03-2010 Super No.23

Winning Nos:03 - 19 - 21 - 28

Fonseka... From page 1

A UNP... From page 1

Expert... From page 1

1,000 jobless ...From page 1

by Shamindra Ferdinando

SLFP general secretary MaithripalaSirisena yesterday (March 17) saidUPFA candidates contesting fromPolonnaruwa electoral district hadensured a peaceful environment, thoughthere were a spate of clashes amongUPFA candidates in some other parts ofthe country. The Polonnaruwa districtleader said that eight UPFA candidatesin the fray had the opportunity to use all237 party offices set up in the district aspart of an overall plan to promote soli-darity among candidates. He said thatthe Polonnaruwa district had set anexample, which should be emulated.

He was responding to a query raisedby The Island at an SLFP press briefingat the Mahaweli centre. Asked whetherthe top SLFP leadership could not pre-vent in-fighting among candidates,though it (SLFP) had criticized UNPleader Ranil Wickremesinghe for failingto reign in members, trouble makerswould not be eligible for ministerial orother posts. Minister Sirisena said thatUPFA Gen. Secretary Susil

Premjayantha and he had received apresidential directive to inquire intoalleged clashes among UPFA candidates.

He emphasized that anyone floutingthe presidential directive to engage in apeaceful propaganda campaign wouldnot be considered for government posts.Asked whether the government plannedto reduce the number of ministers onthe basis of their conduct in the run-upto the April 8 election, Minister Sirisena

said ministerial appointments were notthe only opportunities available in thegovernment.

The minister said that the UPFAcould comfortably secure over 65 percent of the total polled at the forthcom-ing general election. He expressed confi-dence that the government could domuch better than at the recently con-cluded presidential election, whichPresident Rajapaksa had secured withover a staggering 1.8 million majority.

He emphasized that a stable parlia-ment was needed to introduce far reach-ing constitutional reforms required todevelop the country in the wake the ofarmed forces’ triumph over the LTTE.He said that an accelerated developmentprogramme could not be implementedwithout having full control of parlia-ment.

He said that a vote for the UPFA, too,should be considered a second vote forPresident Rajapaksa. The April 8 elec-tion would give the electorate an oppor-tunity to endorse the President again, hesaid.

Polonnaruwa candidates notinvolved in ‘Battle of the Blues’

While the police are fighting an uphill battle to clear election propaganda materi-al, some politicians use official vehicles to promote candidates contesting theforthcoming parliamentary election. Our cameraman, Gamini Munasinghe yester-day captured a government vehicle carrying a smiling photograph ofSabaragamuwa Chief Minister Maheepala Herath and his son, Kanaka contestingfrom the Kegalle district. The vehicle was parked at the Mahaweli centre, whereMaheepala Herath addressed the media along with SLFP general secretaryMaithripala Sirisena.

Maithripala Sirisena and MaheepalaHerath at Mahaweli centre. Pic GaminiMUnasinghe

by Franklin R. Satyapalan

Election monitors PAFFREL saythat the proliferation of illegal elec-tion offices has become one of themain reasons for the polls violence.

PAFFREL Executive DirectorRohana Hettiarachchi yesterday saidthe majority of party offices erectedat every junction and on roadsideswere illegal as they were not regis-tered according to the regulationsprescribed by the ElectionsCommissioner.

Each such office had to be regis-tered at the Election Secretariat inColombo through an assistant elec-tion commissioner and the police sta-tion in the area it belongs to by theGeneral Secretary of the respective

political party. “Otherwise they areillegal offices and police must act inaccordance with the law and removethem,” he said.

“The party offices had beenopened haphazardly with candidatesfrom one Political Party orIndependent Group opening Officesnext to each other leading to support-ers their supporters clashing,” hesaid.

Hettiarachchi said that there are7,620 candidates belonging to 36 polit-ical parties and 301 Independentgroups in the fray and they are alllegally entitled to open party officeswithin the districts from which theycontest. “But these offices have tomeet the conditions stipulated by theCommissioner of Elections,” he said.

Unauthorized polls officescause clashes - PAFFREL

President Mahinda Rajapaksa onTuesday (March 16), said that he neededa stable government, though he wouldnot ask for two-thirds, one-third or five-sixth of a majority in Parliament.Addressing a public meeting at Kotteorganized in support of ForeignMinister Rohitha Bogollagama, thePresident said that he would not talkabout a two-thirds majority in parlia-ment. He said that the UPFA had onlyone MP more than the Opposition at thetime parliament elected the Speaker, butat the time of dissolution, the rulingcoalition had a majority of 47 members,including the Speaker. He said that atthe parliamentary election, the vote forbetel leaf would be his manape (prefer-ential vote) and the voters could pickthree candidates of their choice.

The President said that during the

war against the LTTE, the ForeignMinistry and Foreign Minister RohithaBogollagama, who is the SLFP chieforganiser for Kotte, responded swiftlyand decisively to foreign interference.

In an obvious reference to the ongo-ing court martial of former ArmyCommander Gen. (retd) Sarath Fonseka,he said “the JR’s Constitution hasplaced me above the law. According toJR’s Constitution, the judiciary couldnot be moved against me, though everysoldier was subject to Military Law.”

Bogollagama said that under theRajapaksa presidency, the country haddefeated LTTE terrorism and restoredpeace. He expressed confidence thatunder President Rajapaksa’s leadership,the country could achieve what no pre-vious administration had attained sinceindependence.(SF)

Apropos our recent news items on gen-eration of wind power in the Puttalam dis-trict, the Sri Lanka Sustainable EnergyAuthority (SLSEA) said that concernsexpressed by a section of the CEB, partic-ularly engineers, were baseless.

The following is the full text of thestatement issued by the Director-Generalof SLESA:

“The wind power development pro-gramme, facilitated by the Sri LankaSustainable Energy Authority (SLSEA), isa part and parcel of the National EnergyPolicy and Strategies of the GoSL and is asignificant contributor to the diversity ofenergy resources used in power genera-tion.

The GoSL has given SEA a policy tar-get of meeting 10% of our electricity gen-eration from Non-ConventionalRenewable Energy (NCRE) sources by2015.

The Mampuri wind power project

which will be inaugurated by thePresident this month, is the first suchproject undertaken by the private sector.

The entry of the private sector intosmall power generation is a result of thedifficulty in catering to small plant sizesby the state sector.

It has to be kept in mind, that aftercommissioning the first ever wind powerplant in Hambantota by the CeylonElectricity Board (CEB) in 1998, allattempts to formulate a commercial scalewind power plant did not succeed.

Even the private sector encounteredmany issues, ranging from grid intercon-nection to lack of wind data to proceedfroth with a commercial scale wind powerproject.

However, with the establishment ofthe Sri Lanka Sustainable EnergyAuthority (SLSEA) in 2007) and the intro-duction of the cost-based tariff regime,the investment climate changed drastical-

ly resulting in the attraction of privatesector investments to the wind power proj-ects.

On the issue of paying a high tariff towind power projects, it has to be kept inmind that even though it appears consid-erably higher than the average consumertariff, unlike fuel-burning power plants,the tariff remains virtually unchanged tillthe very end of the contract period of 20years.

Further, if these projects are on 3-tiertariff, the higher tariff will be paid onlyduring the first 8-year period of the con-tract and the tariff could become very lowin the last tier of the contract, to a level aslow as LKR 5.06/kWh in present terms,which is only 30% of the average cost ofgeneration today, even at the prevalentsubsidised price paid by CEB for oil usedin both private and its own power plants.

We would also like to point out herethat similar, if not stronger, objections

failed to deter the lone crusader of SriLankan hydropower, Eng. D. J.Wimalasurendre, to steer the power gener-ation base from oil-fired plants to hydropower plants.

Even though he did not live long to seethe realization of the full potential ofhydropower being realised by the SriLankans, we hope to see the day when theoptimum potential of the wind resource isharnessed for an energy secure Sri Lanka.

“Support from all stakeholders, includ-ing the CEB Engineers Union is a direnecessity at this crucial hour to make ourjourney a less arduous one than one Eng.Wimalasuredra took 60 years ago,” theSLSEA statement said.

News Editor’s note: We stand byour position that the country wouldnot benefit from ongoing moves to gen-erate wind power, due to one-sidedagreements, reached at the expense ofthe national interest.

MATHQUIZ 2010, the islandwide quizof mathematical sciences, organized bysection E1 of Sri Lanka. Association forAdvancement of Sciences, theDepartment of Mathematics of theUniversity of Colombo and. the Ministryof Education, in collaboration with thescience magazine Vidusara is currentlyreceiving applications.

An abridged series. of articles on thequiz are published on Vidusara and alsothe application was published on the vol-umes on 3rd and 10th of March. This is

organized. with the aim of guiding thestudents towards mathematical sciencesin a proper manner and to entrust themwith the knowledge on both historicaland modern aspects of mathematical sci-ences.- The organizers expect to receiveapplications from a variety of students,since it is to be held in all three mediums- Sinhala, Tamil and English.

For further details contact: DrSanjeewa Perera (071-5352616) /Anuradha Mahasinghe- (077-8290095).

President Rajapaksa flanked by Rohitha Bogollagama and Mrs Bogollagama

Mahinda won’t ask for two-thirds majority

Wind power project row: SLSEA rejects CEB engineers’ concerns

MATHQUIZ 2010

reconciliation, the treatment of inter-nally displaced persons (IDPs) and the set-ting up of an accountability process sincehe reached the joint statement withPresident Rajapaksa.

Earlier this month Ban Ki-moon hadwhat he described as “a frank and honestexchange of views” by telephone withRajapaksa.

B. Lynn Pascoe, the Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, is slated tosoon head to Sri Lanka for talks with sen-ior officials in the government.

launching development programmes.The UNP had documentary evidence thatthe government had taken several unoffi-cial loans at high interest rates.

The UNP leader said that Parliamentwould decide on the repayment of suchloans.

Foreign debts posed a threat to thecountry’s economy, he said citing anHSBC loan as an example.

Wickremasinghe said that theConstitution had to be amended and theUNP had decided on a hybrid electoralsystem consisting of features of both PRand the first-past-the-post systems.Hundred and twenty-five MPs would beelected direct from the electorates, hesaid.

UNP Deputy Leader Karu Jayasuriyasaid that a concept of India’s PrimeMinister Manamohan Sing had helpedIndia generate employment through theBusiness Process Outsourcing (BPO). TheUNP had already formulated a plan toadopt the Business Process Outsourcingsystem to tackle the problem of unem-ployment.

SLFP (Mahajana Wing) leaderMangala Samaraweera said that politi-cization of the Samurdhi beneficiaries bythe UPFA government was a nationalcrime. It had been found that Samurdhifamilies who did not wish to support theruling party were harassed and their ben-efits removed. The UNP had decided toassist all Samurdhi beneficiaries irrespec-tive of political affiliations, he said.

ETF and EPF dues, though money hadbeen deducted from workers’ salaries.

They added that the management hadtaken advantage of poor supervision onthe part of relevant authorities to manip-ulate the process.

Speculation is rife that a US-based SriLankan had helped the company to securefunds from one of the Sri Lankan banksinvolved in the transactions.

A non-career diplomat, too, is widelybelieved to have backed the California-based Sri Lankan in his endeavour.

(SF)

hear the second set of chargesagainst the former Army Commander.

Maj. Gen. H. L. Weeratungainformed the tribunal that the membersof the court martial had decided on thatcourse of action as they were hearingseparate charges against the sameaccused.

The tribunal, considering submis-sions, maintained that although the pro-

visions in the Army Act empowered thejudges of one Court Martial to be inanother tribunal trying the sameaccused, provided the alleged prosecut-ing charges were of different nature.The Court martial had preferred to bereconvened for the sake of maintaininga high degree of transparency andunprejudiced nature, the army websitesaid.