A senior officer from the Health Ministry said that though some milk powder companies advertise that their milk powder does not contain chemicals, the food advisory committee has decided to conduct the tests as the companies have not produced certificates on them.

Companies advertise that their product does not contain dicyandiamide (DCD) and under the shade of it they market their product which is not legal.

It can be done only after getting it proved by tests and after providing the certificate to the Health Ministry.

The Commissioner of Ayurveda Palitha Weerakoon has added tat on the pretext of Ayurveda treatment a number of ‘spa’ institutions are increasing at alarmingly high rate. As a result the registration of these Ayurvedic based ‘spa’s have been temporarily stopped.

Currently there are 167 such institutions have been officially registered. But there a large number of ‘spa’ institutions running in a dubious manner without any registration. These have been registered under numbers of the Divisional Secretariat officers in several districts.

The commissioner went on to add in such ‘spa’s there should be an Ayurvedic doctor .trained staff, specious rooms and other facilities. The Commissioner Palitha Weerakoon added that in tourist hotels these registrations have been given

The National Organizer of Small Tea Estate Owners Association Lal Premanath said that since the government could not find solutions for the scarcity of urea in the market, the small tea estate owners of more than 5 lakhs have become helpless.

76% of the market is contributed by the small tea estates and this share will go down to lower levels due to this issue.

He further explained that for a good harvest the plantation should be manured once in four months and if it fails the harvest will be reduced by 25-30%.

Due to the existing scarcity of Urea, the planters, the tea small holders in particular have not been able to manure their plantation for 6-7 months.  So, this will affect the tea leave harvest in future.

The Minister of Information Technology and Atomic energy Patalie Champika Ranawaka who is formulating an Act with regard to standards of vegetarian foods which are sold in the market had not based on any religious background which is common to all consumers.

He had added this at a seminar he has had at the Standards Institution of Sri Lanka in this regard as this matter needed much needed emphasis.

This act would make people to consume more vegetarian food which is very much less harmful that the meat foods which people are more used to injurious to the health. He added that through this Act  growing , storing, packing, transport and marketing would make the consumer to have very much less dangers.

The cultivation of paddy fields using organic manure was started yesterday at Kumbulawela farm with the precedence of the Secretary to Defense and Urban Development Gotabhaya Rajapaksa.

His theme is “Let’s stop cultivation using agro chemicals and commence simple and healthy cultivation with organic manure”.

Colombo High Courts Judge Wimal Nambuwasam has ordered 15 years imprisonment to a police sergeant and a  police constable who have taken a bribe  Rs. 2000/- from a person to reduce his punishment  who was unable to provide license and insurance of the bike.

The police sergeant was U.A.Ranjith Podimahatattaya who was attached to Kalthota police was ordered to be  imprisoned  for 10 years and the police constable U.H Jayaratna  who helped him was ordered to be imprisoned  for 05 years with a fine of Rs. 30,000/-

A member of underworld who is responsible for kidnapping a businessman in Singapore for a ransom of Rs, 50 m, wanted by the Bureau of Terrorism Investigation has been arrested at BIA, Katunayake.

It is revealed that this member has been bundled away to Singapore and has come to Sri Lanka under a fake name.

The Secretary of the National Workers’ Union of Petroleum Corporation Ananda Palitha said that there is a plan of allowing Indian Oil Company to construct a refinery in Sri Lanka without repairing the existing refinery.

It is said that according to this plan there is an effort of letting the existing refinery to decay and as a solution of scarcity of petroleum products allow the multinational companies to construct a new refinery in Sri Lanka.

He further said that the construction of a refinery by the private sector is written in the Port Development act.

“It is planned to close the Sapugaskanda refinery after constructing the new refinery and purchase all requirements through them. All the plans are already drawn for this” he added.

From vert reliable sources of the Sri Lanka Cricket it is learnt that once more laptops are getting to get disappeared.

The  latest observation that about the three laptop computers belonging to trainers which have been handed over to the SLC for repairs. One of them has gone missing as nobody is aware as to what had happened to it.

Another laptop on an earlier occasion which had been provided for a certain cricket tournament too had disappeared. The strange thing is that no investigation had been carried out it is reliably learnt from internal sources.

It is also learnt that a replacement laptop computer had been given to an o official tournament had got misplaced. But another laptop computer has been given to him without any question made about the one that was lost, was quoted by a reliable internal source.

The Economic Development Ministry has decided to consider about the investments of more than Rs. 300 M for constructing a tourist circuit in Yala.

The investment can be presented with the combination local or foreign parties.

The hotel should be constructed in natural environmental base and the maximum space of 7 acres will be given to an investor for the first 5 years.

These lands will be given on the basis of more than 10 years and less than 99 years by the Sri Lanka Tourist Board according to the government valuation.