Provincial NewsThe Island

The Gampola police recentlyraided an underground illicit dis-tillery in Panvilatenne and seized200,000 ml of illicit liquor.

The liquor had been pumped viaa pipeline to a tank in an under-ground room from a palatial housebelonging to the mastermindbehind the operation. and once itwas matured and processed the endproduct was pumped out throughanother pipeline and sold to tip-plers, the police said.

The distillery was located in aheavily populated area and thepolice said that those in the neigh-bourhood due to reasons bestknown to them had failed to informthe police of the illicit brewery, saidthe OIC of Gampola police IPChandra Jayaweera.

The police said that the rusted body of a carhad been left in the garage to conceal the kasippuoperation.

The police said that the man who was behind

the operation had been convicted by court on 22previous occasions.

The suspect was to be produced before theGampola magistrate Upali Gunawardane, thepolice said.

Nineteen students ofKolongoda MadhyaMaha Vidyalaya,Hasalaka who wereengaged in a shra-madana to clean theclass rooms of theirschool were admitted tothe KolongodaProvincial Hospitalafter they developed askin eruption.

The school authori-ties said that the stu-dents while cleaningthe ceiling of a classroom had removed thealuminium foil laid onthe roof to deflect theheat. “The studentsshowed symptoms of askin irritation follow-ing this,” a teachersaid.

Those affected wereGrade Seven and Eightstudents.

Tuesday 7th February, 2012 5

In the dry season, Eheliyagodaexperiences a severe watershortage. The “Biso Dola”

water scheme which supplieswater to Eheliyagoda is unable tosupply enough water.

It takes 24 hours to fill the 50,000litre tanks but when the water isreleased all tanks run out of

water within 15 minutes.The Eheliyagoda Water

Resources and Water Supply and

Drainage Board officials are try-ing to revive the old water scheme.Patients at the Eheliyagoda hospi-tal are also affected by the watershortage.

According to the Eheliyagoda

Hospital DMO Dr. D.A.Seneviratne,the best source of water inEheliyagoda is the“Hulangasdaluwa” fountain whichhas been supplying water to thehospital for a long time.

Water shortagein Eheliyagoda

BY EHELIYAGODA CORR.

As sea water has gotmixed with the water sup-ply in the Kalutara District,the Water Supply andDrainage Board has takenaction to distribute 245,000litres of pure water to peo-ple in the area. The WaterBoard gets its supply fromthe Horana Kanda WaterPurification Plant for thispurpose.

Pure drinking water isdistributed to Waskaduwa,Kalutara, Payagala,Beruwala, Dharga Townand Aluthgama areas. TheKalutara District SecretaryP. H. L. Wimalasiri hasinstructed the KalutaraWater Supply and DrainageBoard to supply water con-tinuously.

Bowsers distributefresh water inKalutara

BY SIRISOMA SUSEWHEWA, WADDUWA CORR.

The Gampaha ChiefMagistrate Ms KhemaSwarnadipathi has orderedto remand Dompe policecrime OIC and four otherpolice officers remanded tillFeb 14, 2012 in connection

with the murder of a 29-year-old man.

The CID told the courtthat a record book pertain-ing to the incident wasmissing.

Dompe OICand four copsremanded

GAMPAHA SPL. CORR.

Some of the affected students

Skin eruption afterschool shramadana

BY RANJITH SENAWEERA - MAHIYANGANA CORR.

Kasippu distillery inunderground hideaway

BY SURANGA DILHAN

The Island OMBUDSMAN

A 62 year old personresiding in Lunuwila,Sirigampolaarea died whena coconut palmhe had been try-ing to cut down,fell on him.

The incident took place

early this week. Hehad chopped offthe top part of thetree and wastying a rope tothe remaining

part of the trunk when itfell crushing him on thespot.

Killed by fallingcoconut palm

BY J. P. D. ARIYARATHNE, DANKOTUWA-KOSWATTE

Around 5000 small scale fishermen inNegombo protested against their counterpartsfrom Jaffna, Mannar and Kalpitiya who broughttheir catches to Negombo to procure dried fish.

Thousands of small fishermen protesteddemanding that the authorities ban outsidersfrom bringing fish to Negombo.

Fishermen’s turf war inNegombo

BY WIMAL KEERTHI, NEGOMBO CORR.