2024-08-02
News Categories : Committee News
It was revealed at the Sectoral Oversight Committee on Environment, Natural Resources and Sustainable Development that the land acquired at the cost of 14 million rupees under a thirty-year lease in 2016 for the construction of the Ratnapura District Office of the Gem and Jewellery Research and Training Institute has not been used at all.
Accordingly, it was emphasized in the Sectoral Oversight Committee that spending the money of the people of the country for various needs and not taking advantage of it is a big loss.
This was discussed when the Sectoral Oversight Committee on Environment, Natural Resources and Sustainable Development met under the chairmanship of Member of Parliament Hon. Ajith Mannapperuma recently. Gem and Jewellery Research and Training Institute was summoned for this Sectoral Oversight Committee meeting.
Furthermore, it was revealed that the company pays 1 million rupees for the Kaduwela main office building and Rs.3.5 lakhs for the Ratnapura office building as monthly rent. The committee also focused on turning the courses conducted by Gem and Jewellery Research and Training Institute into profitable international level courses.
There was also a lengthy discussion on studying the international gem market and using those trends to improve the local industry including measures to be taken to improve the gem and jewelery industry in Sri Lanka.
The National Water Supply and Drainage Board was called before this Committee for the second session. During this meeting attention was focused on filling existing vacancies that require technical skills to run the work efficiently. The committee emphasized that urgent action should be taken regarding those vacancies.
The chairman of National Water Supply and Drainage Board emphasized that if the consumers clean and maintain their water collection tanks at least once in 03 months, the tap water supplied by their institution will be of high quality even for direct consumption. The chair further pointed out that even though it costs about 12 cents to provide a liter of tap water, the public who do not have any understanding in this regard spend about 150 rupees and use bottled drinking water.
Member of Parliament Hon. (Dr.) Tilak Rajapaksa and Hon. Upul Mahendra Rajapaksa participated in this committee 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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