In brief

National workshop on spices

A national workshop on 'Processing for Value Addition-Special Emphasis on Spices' organised by the National Committee on Post-Harvest Technology of the Sri Lanka Council for Agricultural Research Policy, in collaboration with the Department of Export Agriculture and Sri Lanka Spice Council will be held on Feb. 26 from 9.30 a.m to 1.30 p.m at the Plant Genetic Resource Centre, Gannoruwa, Peradeniya. It will be held in consultation with the Ministry of Agricultural Development and Agrarian Services.

The scheduled guest speakers will be L. Gunarathne, Director General of the Department of Export Agriculture, Dr. Shanthi Wilson, Head, Food Technology, Industrial Training Institute, Dr. D. B. T. Wijeratne, Director, Export Agriculture of the Ministry, and D. A. Perera, Chairman, Sri Lanka Spice Council.

More relief for GK depositors

by Shirajiv Sirimane

The Central Bank will release a further Rs. 1.282 million as compensation for 1,282 depositors by the end of this month. The payment will be for depositors who have deposits between Rs. 2.5 million - Rs. 5 million.This is the third payment made by the Central Bank since the Golden Key closed in 2008.

The Central Bank to date has paid Rs. 4,700 million for over 4,700 depositors. The repayment schedule was to make an advance payment of Rs. 100,000 to each depositor under three categories.

Initially, customers who had less than Rs. one million were paid an advance and subsequently customers with higher deposits were paid advances.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa has directed officials to expedite the payment to depositors.

“We are thankful to both the President and the Central Bank for settling the issue as quickly as possible. However, we are disappointed over the irresponsible manner in which Ceylinco Directors are acting in this issue,” said Dushanthi Hapugoda Vice President Ceylinco Golden Key Depositors’ Association.

Insurance package for 1.2m public servants

by Uditha Kumarasinghe

The Public Administration and Home Affairs Ministry has decided to introduce a new insurance scheme for the benefit of 1.2 million public servants.Public Administration and Home Affairs Minister Dr. Sarath Amunugama held discussions with top officials of the Sri Lanka Insurance Corporation regarding the proposed scheme for the new insurance package for public servants.Since there are 1.2 million Public Servants in the country, the Insurance Corporation will offer them many incentives and concessions to undertake life insurance under the new insurance scheme, Dr. Amunugama told the Sunday Observer yesterday.

"This will be a voluntary scheme which has absolute security because the Insurance Corporation is fully backed by the Government," the Minister said.

Full scale inquiry into food poisoning incidents

by Ananda - Kannangara

The Education Ministry said that both food poisoning incidents that were reported from Kandakuliya Sinhala Maha Vidyalaya in Kalpitiya and a school from Matale will be thoroughly investigated.

A spokesman for the Ministry said that, a team of senior officials has already been sent to the Kalpitiya and Matale schools and also to area hospitals to conduct a full scale inquiry into the incidents. Education Minister Susil Premajayantha told the Sunday Observer that although mid-day meals are provided by the school authorities under the supervision of Provincial Education officials, it is the duty of the Education Ministry to avoid such incidents in the future.