The Hon. (Dr.) Pathmanathan Sathiyalingam

¶ 01 Hon. Presiding Member, thank you for the opportunity. In Vavuniya District, the Vavuniya North DS division has 20 GN divisions. However, a peculiar arrangement exists: in the adjacent Manalaaru (Weli Oya) DS—created by taking lands from Vavuniya and Mullaitivu in the 1980s and settling about 15,000 people—five of its GN divisions are treated as four wards under Vavuniya North Pradeshiya Sabha for elections, while the remaining nine GN divisions are treated as one ward under Karaithuraipattu Pradeshiya Sabha. Nowhere else does such an anomaly exist: in one DS, one ward falls under one PS and four wards under another PS.

¶ 02 This was done for political purposes by previous governments. The people have to live under one administrative district but travel to another for local elections and services—going to Mullaitivu for the Kachcheri and to Vavuniya for other matters. Please stop this politically motivated arrangement and establish a proper local authority for them within their area, so they can serve as members and develop their region.

¶ 03 In Vavuniya North DS alone, there are 26 GN vacancies, badly affecting service delivery. Please fill these 26 posts. The Vavuniya Kachcheri is an old building from 1938. Other districts received funds for new District Secretariats; please allocate funds for a new building in our district.

¶ 04 There is a severe human resource shortage. At DDC meetings, we are told of vacancies: seven drivers; the entire technical officer cadre of seven is vacant. Please give me one more minute, Sir. There are 66 vacancies for Management Assistants, and 26 for development officers, plus 18 vacancies for Disaster Management Officers. Although cadres exist for the Disaster Management, Small Enterprise, and Foreign Employment divisions, those officers serve in other districts due to political influence and return to Vavuniya only to sign for their pay with the GA. Please ensure they serve in the assigned Vavuniya/Mannar district divisions. Thank you.