2021-03-25
News Categories : Committee News
The Minister of Environment Mahinda Amaraweera, proposed at the Ministerial Consultative Committee on Environment held recently in Parliament to establish a special unit that can act expeditiously and efficiently in the current context of controversy in the country regarding the destruction of the environment.
It was suggested at the meeting that the unit should include responsible officials from the Ministries of Environment, Wildlife, Forest Conservation, Public Security as well as government agencies such as the Central Environmental Authority.
At the same time, it was decided at this meeting to set up a new media unit to prevent the circulation of fake news in the country regarding environmental destruction and to pay more attention to the important news presented by the media.
The above decisions were taken at the Ministerial Consultative Committee on Environment chaired by the Environment Minister Mahinda Amaraweera, and the issues that have arisen island wide were taken into consideration.
In particular, due to the issues that have arisen with regard to sand mining, the purchase and sale of sand will be done by a state-owned technology company as a solution, the Minister said. Accordingly, low income Samurdhi beneficiaries will be given the opportunity to collect and sale sand.
In addition, the Minister said that a formal program is being implemented to stabilize the price of sand in the face of rising sand prices and steps will be taken to regularize it by obtaining more deposits from licence holders in sand mining.
At this meeting, MP Jagath Pushpakumara, drew the attention of the committee to the illegal sand mining taking place in the Thanamalwila and Buttala areas in the Moneragala District. Minister Amaraweera recommended to the Ministry officials to send a special team to the area to take legal action against the culprits and submit a full report on the matter.
Members of Parliament Charles Nirmalanathan, Thavaraja Kalai Arasan, Manjula Dissanayake and Kapila Athukorala, Dr. Anil Jasinghe Secretary to the Ministry of Environment, along with a group of senior officials of the Ministry were also present at the meeting.
2026-06-19
The Ministerial Consultative Committee on Environment focused its attention on the issue of water pollution in the Kelani River when it met in Parliament recently (10th June) under the chairmanship of the Hon. Minister of Environment, Dr. Dammika Patabendi.During the meeting, the Committee was briefed on the progress of discussions being held with companies that have expressed willingness to invest in a project aimed at cleaning the waters of the Kelani River.The Committee also discussed a number of proposals and other issues raised by Hon. Members of Parliament.The meeting was attended by Hon. Members of Parliament and officials.
2026-06-18
A meeting of the Women Parliamentarians Caucus was held in Parliament recently to discuss the importance of incorporating Gender-Responsive Budgeting into Sri Lanka’s national budget formulation process and to examine the challenges associated with its implementation.The meeting was chaired by the Chairperson of the Caucus and Hon. Minister of Women and Child Affairs, Saroja Savithri Paulraj. Hon. Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya also participated in the discussion.A key concern raised during the discussion was the lack of adequate data and indicators to accurately assess and measure women’s economic contributions within the budgetary process. Drawing on examples of approaches adopted in India and other countries, members of the Caucus underscored the need to identify and address existing systemic and technical gaps in Sri Lanka’s budgeting framework.The Caucus also emphasized the importance of disaggregating data by gender in project reporting and strengthening digital data management systems to support such efforts. It was further noted that identifying relevant gender-related considerations at the initial stages of project design and implementation at the ministerial level would facilitate more effective project analysis, monitoring, and evaluation of outcomes.The need to move away from existing traditional and time-consuming methods towards formal online systems and data-driven analytical tools was also emphasized.The current progress and challenges in integrating Gender-Responsive Budgeting into Sri Lanka’s public financial policy were discussed in detail during the meeting.It was also emphasized that such budgeting should not be limited to nominal percentages in documents, but that the need to establish a formal framework and data system to ensure it has a real and practical impact was also highlighted.The Hon.Deputy Chairperson of Committees Hemalee Weerasekera, Hon. Deputy Minister Dr. Kaushalya Ariyarathne, Co-Vice Chairpersons of the Caucus, Hon. Members of Parliament Chamindrani Kiriella, Attorney at Law and Samanmalee Gunasinghe, Hon. Members of Parliament Thushari Jayasinghe, Attorney at Law, Krishnan Kaleichelvi, Sagarika Athauda ,Attorney at Law, Nilanthi Kottahachchi, Attorney at Law, Ambika Samivel and Lakmali Hemachandra, Attorney at Law, along with a group of officials from the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development, also participated in the event.
2026-06-17
The Ministerial Consultative Committee on Public Administration, Provincial Councils and Local Government met recently (Jun. 12) at Parliament under the chairmanship of the Hon. Minister of Public Administration, Provincial Councils and Local Government, Prof. A.H.M.H. Abayarathna.During the meeting, Members of Parliament discussed a range of issues and proposals relating to their respective electorates, as well as several other matters of public importance.Hon. Members of Parliament and officials were present at the meeting.
2026-06-17
The Ministerial Consultative Committee on Buddhasasana, Religious and Cultural Affairs met recently (Jun. 09) at Parliament under the chairmanship of the Hon. Minister of Buddhasasana, Religious and Cultural Affairs, Dr. Hiniduma Sunil Senevi.During the meeting, Members of Parliament discussed a number of proposals and issues, including reviewing the progress of discussions initiated with the Ministry of Education, Higher Education and Vocational Education and the Department of Examinations regarding the formulation of regulations to prevent the conduct of private tuition classes on Sunday mornings, thereby facilitating the holding of Dhamma School classes on Sundays.The meeting was attended by Hon. Deputy Ministers, Hon. Members of Parliament and officials.
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