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| Sunday, 14 April 2002 |
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Coir-tex exports threatened The government has been alerted to a potentially major threat to the country's coconut products export industry following a lawsuit against local exporters by an US-based Sri Lankan businessman, Lanka Shantha. The newly emergent coir textile manufacturing sector is under threat by the lawsuit filed before the Kuliyapitiya Magistrate's Court, officials told the "Sunday Observer'. Mr Lanka Navaratne, proprietor, otiyawattha Fibre Industries, Kuliyapitiya, is the respondent in the lawsuit which seeks to ban the manufacture and export of coir-based textiles, known as geo-textiles. Mr Shantha is understood to have secured a patent in 1992 for the export of coir-based "geo textiles". His representative in Sri Lanka, T.M. Dhrmasena, has filed the case before the Kuliyapitiya Magistrate's Court claiming that Mr Shantha's patent would prevail until April 2007 and has sought a court ruling that no other person or firm is entitled to manufacture or export geo-textiles as defined by the patent. Mr Lanka Shantha is a son of the late famed singer-composer Sunil Shantha. The Coconut Development Authority (CDA) is monitoring the case and it plans further action to prevent any obstruction of the exports of the "geo-textiles". Lankans unite to pray for peace Thousands of Sri Lankan expatriates around Britain were united last week in three unique days of religious activities to celebrate the Sinhala and Tamil New Year, during which time they also prayed for peace in their motherland. These events at Buddhist temples and Hindu kovils across the country, saw Sri Lankans from all walks of life flocking and praying for the successful completion of the latest peace process now under way. Religious leaders here - both Buddhist and Hindu - told the "Sunday Observer" that the huge attendance which surpassed all other years demonstrated solidarity for the government's peace initiative. It is estimated that this spiritual occasion was held at over twenty places of worship. A senior Tamil resident attending a pooja at a kovil (Murugan temple) in North London said: "Myself and many of our devotees, are mainly Jaffna Tamils, and believe we have found that participating in a special pooja is the most appropriate way of associating ourselves with the peace process Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe started." Pura Handa Kaluwara at "Imagine Asia" "Imagine Asia", an exciting new festival celebrating films from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and new movies from British Asians is to be launched with controversial Sinhala film "Death on a Full Moon Day" (Pura Handa Kaluwara). It will be screened at the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) Cinema in London on April 25. Director Prasanna Vithanage won a Supreme Court appeal against the Sri Lankan Government which prevented releasing the film to the local audience saying it would demoralise the government forces fighting LTTE in the North-East. The Supreme Court also fined the then Minister Sarath Amunugama who authorised the ban. |
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