800,000 textbooks given by the Ministry of Education for distribution are missing

Talangama Police have launched an investigation into a criminal breach of trust regarding a stock of textbooks and activity books, valued at approximately eight hundred thousand rupees, which were meant to be distributed to schoolchildren in the Eastern Province but were not delivered to the designated locations. These investigations are being carried out based on a complaint made by the Isurupaya Educational Publications Department.

These 19,892 textbooks and activity books, intended for first-grade students studying in the Tamil medium for their third term, were scheduled to be delivered to 12 distribution centers in the Eastern Province. A complaint regarding this non-delivery has been lodged with the police by Mrs. N.W.D. Niroi Gunawardena, Commissioner (Production and Distribution) of the Department of Educational Publications.

The relevant stock of books was contracted to be transported from the Isurupaya Department of Educational Publications premises by Tasma International, located on Samurdhi Mawatha, Siyambalape, Biyagama. Permission was granted to transport these books by lorry under the driver's custody on May 04th last year.

However, Mr. Jagath Wanniharrachchi, the Eastern Province Officer in charge of the Publications Division of the Department of Education, informed the Department of Educational Publications on the 7th that the said textbooks had not been received by the respective centers. Accordingly, the complaint has been registered, and further investigations are being conducted under the instructions of Talangama Police Station OIC Chief Inspector Nishshanka Silva.