The Hon. Mano Ganesan

¶ 01 Thank you for the nine minutes, Madam Deputy Chairperson. I raise an issue to draw the attention of the Government. This morning, I received a letter from the Hon. President Anura Kumara Dissanayake in response to my letter about abolishing the New Villages Development Authority for Plantation Region (NEVIDA), established under Act No. 32 of 2018. The Government has said it would abolish or merge ineffective or duplicate institutions. We support rationalization, but including this Authority is wrong.

¶ 02 We repeatedly appealed not to abolish NEVIDA. The plantation region has around ten lakh (one million) residents with low development indicators—in education, health, land, and more. NEVIDA was created to coordinate across ministries and intervene to uplift them. The President’s Senior Additional Secretary, Mr. Gunaratne, has now written that “the status of the New Villages Development Authority for Plantation Region (NEVIDA) is presently under review.” We welcome the acknowledgement that there is an issue.

¶ 03 However, the line Ministry’s State Minister, Hon. Sundaralingam Pradeep, has been stating—inside and outside Parliament—that there is no such move. The Presidential Secretariat’s letter proves otherwise; he should not mislead.

¶ 04 I must name three officials reportedly pushing abolition: Secretary Prabath Chandrakeerthi; Additional Secretary (Development) Deeptika Gunaratne; and Legal Officer G.A.C. Dilhani. Are officials more powerful than the President, Prime Minister, or Cabinet? Policies are made by an elected Government and laws by Parliament; officials implement, not decide. If they cannot follow Government policy, they should step aside.

¶ 05 We use “Malayaham” to describe the community, recognizing Lankan identity; some officials reportedly oppose even the terminology. They should follow policy and law.

¶ 06 I appeal to Minister Ramalingam Chandrasekar in Cabinet, and also to Deputy Minister Saroja Sachchithra Polraj, and other MPs from Badulla and Nuwara Eliya, to take this message to Government. I do not blame the President or line Minister Samantha Vidyaratne—he promised the Authority would not be abolished. But elected representatives must speak up. I now table the President’s letter in the Library.