Minister of Indigenous Medicine, Tissa Karalliyadda Cabinet granted approval to a memorandum submitted by the Minister of Indigenous Medicine, Tissa Karalliyadda for the construction of a four story complex for the Sri Lanka Ayurvedic Drugs Corporation.

Accordingly the construction work of the complex and the providing of consultancy service for the whole project will be assigned to State Estate Engineering Corporation at a cost of Rs. 92,035,205.66 including 15% Vat.

The Cabinet also granted approval to obtain the additional provision of Rs. 55 million from the General Treasury during the year 2010.

Sri Lanka Ayurvedic Drugs Corporation is the pioneer institution of Sri Lanka Ayurvedic Drugs manufacturing industry. At present the Corporation manufactures about 130 varieties of finished drugs and about 350 varieties of raw materials being used for manufacturing of drugs.

Settle the ownership of Buddhist temples located in Crown Lands

Cabinet granted approval to a memorandum submitted by the Minister of Land and Land Development, Jeewan Kumaranatunga to settle the ownership of Buddhist temples located in Crown Lands.

Accordingly a free grant will be issued at the first instance, instead of practicing the procedure of issuing Lease hold and Temporality deeds as per order under the Crown Land Ordinance and the lease recoverable from such temples will be subjected to a waive off.

This decision was taken following the discussion made with Mahanayaka Theros of Asgiriya and Malwathu Chapters of Siyam Sect, and Mahanayakes of Ramannya Sect and Amarapura Sect and their concurrence was granted to the matter.

Amendment to the Animals Act No.29 of 1958

Cabinet granted approval to a memorandum submitted by the Minister of Livestock Development R.M.C.B. Ratnayake to amend the Animals Act by increasing the penalty for illegal cattle slaughter and transport stipulated in the Animals Act No 29 of 1958.

The Ministry of Livestock Development has drafted an amendment Bill increasing the penalty for breaching of regulations and provisions of the Animals Act.

Accordingly the Bill will be published in the Extra Ordinary Gazette of the Government and will be submitted to the parliament.

Removal of Cess imposed on relevant specific enterprises

Cabinet granted approval to a memorandum submitted by President Mahinda Rajapaksa in his capacity as the Minister of Finance and Planning to present the Extra Ordinary Gazette Notification No 1570 of 07.10.2008, issued under section 31 of the Sri Lanka Accounting and Auditing Standards Act to repeal the order in relation to the imposition of the Cess on the specific enterprises, published in the Gazzette Notification No. 1530/15 of 01-01-2008.

This decision to repeal the order in relation to the imposition of the Cess on the specific enterprises was taken by the Ministry of Finance and Planning following the request made by the entrepreneurs of certain businesses (such as apparel) to remove the Cess as it causes an additional burden due to the adverse impact of the international market.

Supply of locally produced Soya Beans and Maize for the Triposha Programme

Cabinet granted approval to a memorandum submitted by the Minister of Healthcare and Nutrition Nimal Siripala de Silva for the purchasing of 4000 Metric Tonnes of locally produced Soya beans and 800 Metric Tonns of locally produced Maize for the Triposha programme.

Accordingly a kilo of Soya Beans will be purchased at Rs. 121.50+Vat and a kilo of Maize will be purchased at Rs. 46.00 following the recommendations made in the Technical Evaluation Report submitted by the Cabinet Appointed Procurement Committee.

The domestic prices of both Soya Beans and Maize have moved up in the recent past due to the factors such as short fall in local production, difficulty in getting foreign supplies arising out of export controls as well as due to increase in the demand globally.

Anusha Palpita
Director of Government Information