Former Sri Lankan president Rajapaksa defends himself, says served motherland to best of his ability
Colombo(PTI): "I served my motherland to the best of my ability and I will continue to do so in the future," former Sri Lankan president Gotabaya Rajapaksa has said, as he defended himself in his resignation letter which was read out during a special session of Parliament on Saturday.
Sri Lanka's Parliament met briefly to announce the vacancy in the presidency following the resignation of Rajapaksa, who fled to the country on Wednesday after a popular uprising against him for mishandling the country's economic crisis.
The resignation letter sent by Rajapaksa from Singapore was read during the 13-minute special session.
In his resignation letter, Rajapksa, 73, blamed the COVID-19 pandemic and the lockdown for Sri Lanka's economic woes.
Rajapaksa said he took the best steps like trying to form an all-party government to counter the economic meltdown. "I served my motherland to the best of my ability and I will continue to do so in the future," he said in the letter.
He pointed out that within 3 months of his presidency, the whole world came to be hit by the COVID-19 pandemic.
"I took action to protect people from the pandemic despite being constrained by the already poor economic environment that prevailed at the time," he said.
"During 2020 and 2021 I was compelled to order lockdowns and the foreign exchange situation deteriorated. In my view, I took the best course of action by suggesting an all-party or a national government to tackle the situation," Rajapaksa said.
"I decided to resign as you indicated to me on July 9 the wish of the party leaders," he said in the letter.
"I resign with effect from July 14," the letter read.
Rajapaksa fled to the Maldives on Wednesday and then landed in Singapore on Thursday after it allowed him to enter the country on a "private visit."
Singapore's Foreign Ministry said that Rajapaksa has not asked for asylum and neither has he been granted any asylum.
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Dense fog disrupts Delhi airport operations, over 130 flights impacted
New Delhi: Flight operations at Indira Gandhi International Airport were severely disrupted on Monday due to very dense fog that drastically reduced visibility across the national capital, officials said.
According to a report published by The New Indian Express, more than 130 flights were impacted, including 128 cancellations 64 arrivals and 64 departures while eight flights were diverted to other airports as airlines struggled to operate under adverse weather conditions.
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Sharing a passenger advisory on X (formerly Twitter), the Delhi Airport informed that "flight operations are currently being conducted under CAT III conditions due to dense fog, which may result in delays or cancellations."
The disruption comes amid worsening weather and environmental conditions in the city. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) had issued an orange alert for very dense fog across Delhi-NCR, warning of travel delays and poor visibility during early morning hours.
As per the report, the city’s Air Quality Index (AQI) hovered around 460 in the early hours, placing it in the “hazardous” category. As many as 19 monitoring stations reported hazardous air quality, with Anand Vihar recording the worst levels. Other areas reported air quality ranging from “very poor” to “severe.”
Meanwhile, the Delhi government is considering a partnership with IIT Kanpur to deploy Artificial Intelligence for pinpointing pollution sources and evaluating their impact.
Officials reportedly said the environment department is working on a roadmap for the partnership, including institutional mechanisms and phased implementation. Environment Minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa said the focus would be on data-driven decision-making. “We are moving towards a model where decisions are driven by real-time data, source identification, and measurable outcomes, not reactive measures.” he said.
He proposed initiative aims to enable targeted interventions across sectors by strengthening Delhi’s ability to track pollution sources at a granular level.
