Category: News in Brief

Situation in the Maldives of no concern for India: President Waheed

India does not need to be concerned about the current situation in the Maldives, according to President Dr. Muhammad Waheed Hassan Manik.

Speaking on the day of the initial anti-GMR ultimatum date (November 15), Dr Waheed told Indian News Agency, Press Trust of India (PTI) that affairs within the Maldives were well, and India had no reason to be concerned.

Concern has been raised by the Indian government following the “anti-Indian” protests being staged in the Maldives, a statement released yesterday (November 17) said.

Protests calling for the government to “reclaim” the Ibrahim Nasir International Airport (INIA) from Its Indian operator GMR took place in the Maldives last week.

In response to PTI’s question regarding the turmoil surrounding INIA and GMR, the President revealed that the airport lease agreement between GMR and the previous government of the Maldives had been entered in “questionable circumstances.”

“The agreement [to lease INIA to GMR] was signed by the previous government, and the circumstances leading to the stamping of the deal were questionable. Hence, this is not a problem that we have with GMR, but with a bad agreement,” said the Waheed, according to PTI.

Responding to a question about whether the pressure from political parties in the Maldives to take back INIA from GMR is irresponsible – as former President Mohammed Nasheed stated – Waheed said: “We have to pay GMR 1.5 million US dollars per month under the current arrangement of the agreement in operation, and that is beyond our capacity.”

The Indian Government has since expressed its concern about the situation in the Maldives, according to a statement released yesterday (November 17).

The Statement also said that India had registered its concerns with the Maldivian authorities.

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Adhaalath party extends GMR ultimatum to November 30

The Civil Coalition’s ultimatum to reclaim the Ibrahim Nasir International Airport (INIA) from its operator GMR has been extended to the end of this month.

The initial ultimatum for the Maldivian government to annul the agreement with GMR had an original deadline of November 15.

Speaking at the artificial beach on Friday night, leading figure in the anti-GMR activities, Adhaalath Party President Sheikh Imran Abudlla, said: “The Maldivian President has heard our plea, [He] has said that he heeds and respects it, [He] needs some time to arrange a few things.

“Hence to give [him] some time even if the previously issued ultimatum is up. The work is being done in this manner. Hence to give some space and stay put.”

According to Sheikh Imran, the ultimatum has been extended to November 30 as the president has heard their plea and respected it.

He added: “However our patience will wear out at some point, after that point we will go for direct action. After November 30, we will go for direct action. We will not stay still.”

President’s Office spokesperson Abbas Adil Riza, announced that “GMR must go” at the Friday night rally.

He added that the anti-GMR campaign must continue until GMR is ousted, insisting that relations between India and the Maldives should not be affected by it.

“Maldives has always considered India as an uncle, we will never go up against India. It is not GMR who sells us potatoes and onions, it is not GMR who sells us construction material, it is our brothers in India. They will always remain by our side,” Abbas said.

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Statistics show just MVR 45 million left in Aasandha’s budget

Universal health insurance scheme Aasandha has MVR 45 million (US$2.9 million) left of its MVR 720 million (US$46.7 million) budget since its introduction on January 1 2012.

Records from the company show that from 1 January to 31 October 2012, MVR 675 million was used by 261,410 people – over 80 percent of the population.

Forty-five percent of the MVR 675 million was spent on government hospitals, whilst 22 percent went to private clinics and hospitals, and 9 percent to foreign clinics and hospitals.

Fifty-five percent of Aasandha’s budget was spent on the public sector, while 36 went to the private sector.

Free health care of up to MVR 100,000 was initially available to citizens under Aasandha.

Changes to the system were made by the government in August for the private sector, after concerns the scheme would run out of money.

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Parliament spent US$45,400 on food: Auditor General

Parliament spent MVR 700,000 (US$45,400) catering for parliament members and employees for the year 2010, Auditor General Niyaz Ibrahim has revealed.

According to the 2010 audit report of the parliament, there have also been changes made in the agreement with the catering company violating the Finance Act.

The report states that changes to the price cannot be brought after an agreement has been reached in accordance with the Finance Act. The price of catering for parliament was however amended, thus violating the act.

The report states that the parliament paid the company MVR 766,601 to cater meals, and that catering for the meetings held is carried out without ensuring the presence of members and staff.

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Gangs using children aged seven to nine: Dr Aishath Ali Naaz

A survey has shown that children as young as seven are being used by dangerous gangs in Male’, Clinical Psychologist Dr Aishath Ali Naaz has revealed.

Speaking at a meeting held to brief police on gang violence, Dr Naaz explained the results of the survey, showing that there are 20 to 30 active gangs across five districts in Male’.

She told police that these gangs consist of 50 to 400 members and include children and youth, most below the age of 25.

Dr Naaz, who met gang members to gather information required for the survey, said that the children not only obey orders from older gang members, but also get involved in crime.

“They get involved in gang activities as they do not have anything to do and have the time to spare. They obey older gang members, this is something I was saddened about,” Dr Naaz added.

According to Dr Nazz, political parties and businessmen funded gang activities, and that most of the youth involved in these gangs do it to earn a living.

The meeting was attended by Assistant Commissioner of Police Mohamed Sodig, Assistant Commissioner of Police Hassan Habeeb, police commanding officers and several police officers.

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Parliament’s food found to contain high levels of histamine

Histamine levels in the chili fish served for parliament members last week were over eight times the normal amount, the Maldives Food and Drug Authority (FDA) have revealed.

The fish were served for breakfast before an MP, some parliament employees and military personnel were taken ill with food poisoning.

During the sub-general committee meeting probing the food poisoning, Director General of the FDA Shareefa Adam Manik explained that histamine is detected in rotten fish.

“Based on the information we have received, it looks like histamine poisoning. We think the fish is the contributor,” she said.

As of last night It has not yet been determined whether the market or the caterers were responsible for the rotten fish used in the dish, Shareefa said.

The histamine level recorded in the dish was measured at 1,774.8, whereas the normal amount should be under 200. Shareefa added: “we haven’t detected such a level of histamine in the recent past.”

FDA revealed that more tests still need to be done and the results would not be ready before Monday.

It was explained by FDA that histamine is a poison created within the fish tissue after it is caught. To avoid this, fish must be stored at a temperature of five degrees Celsius as anything higher can trigger the growth of micro organisms and lead to histamine in the fish.

Caterer South Beach’s Managing Director Mohamed Thaufeeg told Haveeru Online that the fish is bought from the market on a daily basis, sufficient for the meals catered to the parliament.

Thaufeeg added that no issues were noted with the fish from the local market yesterday, however he raised concern over the quality of fish sold in the market.

The police revealed that the complaint had been lodged with them as an “intentional” attempt to poison the MPs.

Inspector of Police Mohamed Dawood confirmed that no arrests had been made, but four parties have been questioned over the case.

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Hulhumale Court legitimacy case scheduled for Sunday

The first hearing in the legitimacy case of the Hulhumale Magistrate Court is scheduled for Sunday at the Supreme Court.

The case is being examined by a seven-judge bench including the Chief Justice and is scheduled for 2:00pm.

The case was previously filed by lawyer Ismail Visham at the Civil Court, however a request for the case to be tried at Supreme Court was made by the Judicial Services Commission (JSC).

Originally submitted at the lower court about a year ago, the case had been delayed due to the Supreme Court order to halt the case until the Supreme Court decided on the matter.

All documents and files of the legitimacy of the Hulhumale Magistrate Court that were previously filed with the lower court have been forwarded to the Supreme Court.

Procedural points regarding the legitimacy of the Hulhumale Court had also been raised by former president Mohamed Nasheed’s legal team. Claims over the courts legitimacy were however dismissed by Hulhumale Magistrates Court.

The High Court earlier ordered a temporary halt of former president Nasheed’s trial until the court decides on the appeal of the procedural points raised by Nasheed’s legal team.

An order over the High Court to cease its cases regarding the legitimacy issue of the Hulhumale Magistrate Court was later issued by the Supreme Court until a decision over the matter has been reached.

Therefore former president Nasheed’s case can only resume after the Supreme Court and the High Court decide on the matter respectively.

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National airline expands services to India

Maldivian airlines have announced plans to expand regional services to a further three destinations in India this month.

The Island Aviation Services (IAS)-owned company is to introduce flights to Mumbai and Chennai as of tomorrow (November 15), operating services to both cities will three times per week.

Maldivian will simultaneously launch services to Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh via Chennai, and new services to the capital New Delhi from Male’ to commence in April 2013.

The airline currently connects Trivandrum from Male’ daily.

The move comes after IAS inducted an A320 aircraft into its fleet configured with 12 business class and 138 economy class seats.

GMR Male’ International Airport Pvt. Ltd CEO Andrew Harrison noted that the growing number of tourists from India as well as Maldivians travelling to India would benefit from these new services.

“We look forward to further expansion of Maldivian’s routes to India and beyond for the benefit of passengers and cargo shipments,” he added.

Flights to and from Male’ and Mumbai will operate on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday, whilst flights to and from Male’ and Chennai will operate Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.

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Funds for essential state projects “trapped” in parliament

Essential state projects are suffering from a lack of funds due to an excessive annual budget assigned for parliament, a 2011 audit report has revealed.

The audit report of the parliament states that MVR 35.4 million and MVR 20.7 million from the parliament budget was unused at the end of 2010 and 2009 respectively.

In 2010, MVR 89.2 million out of MVR 124.5 million was spent from the budget assigned for parliament.

The report states that: “Lack of proper studies in this regard results in money necessary for other state projects being trapped in the parliament.”

In 2009, only MVR 68.5 million out of MVR 241.6 million was spent from the budget assigned for parliament.

MVR 70.1 million and MVR 54.3 million went on the salaries of parliament employees in 2010 and 2009 respectively, and parliament travel expenses took up MVR 3.3 million and MVR 2.1 million in 2010 and 2009 respectively.

The parliament spent MVR 302,169 on phone bills, MVR 1.5 million on electricity, and MVR 3.8 million on insurance.

The audit report recommended the parliament to conduct proper studies, and determine planned activities when preparing the budget.

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