Chairman Of Ceylon Electricity Board Head Quits

Colombo

The Chairman of Sri Lanka's Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB), M M C Ferdinando has resigned days after he alleged before the parliamentary panel that Prime Minister Narendra Modi influenced President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to award a wind power project to the Adani Group in this island nation.
The top Sri Lankan official's resignation was announced by the Sri Lankan power and energy minister Kanchana Wijesekera on Twitter. He wrote that Ferdinando's resignation had been accepted and that he would be replaced by the vice-chairman as the head of Sri Lanka's Central Electricity Board (CEB).

Ferdinando's testimony before parliament's Committee for Public Enterprises (COPE) last Friday sparked a political controversy with the opposition in both Sri Lanka and India.
Meanwhile, on Saturday, Ferdinando apologized unconditionally for his recent statement before the COPE meeting regarding the awarding of the Mannar Wind Power project to Indian conglomerate Adani, The Island, source reported. Ferdinando, who is the former Secretary to the Ministry of Power, told the committee that the President had informed him to award the tender to the Adani Group as there was pressure from the Indian Government to do so.Rajapaksa issued a statement denying that he had exerted any pressure as regards the power project. India has sent assistance worth several billion US dollars to rescue the money-strapped Sri Lankan government accompanied by shiploads of humanitarian aid, cooking gas, large quantities of fuel, and medicinal supplies.
On June 3, High Commissioner to Colombo Gopal Baglay handed over a total of 3.3 tons of essential medical supplies to the 1990 Suwaseriya Ambulance Service.
These efforts prove that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Neighborhood First policy which places people-to-people engagement is still active.