The Hon. Jeevan Thondaman
Hon. Jeevan Thondaman urged the Government to respond to grievances in Wevenden following the Ditwah cyclone, stating that residents were protesting over unanswered letters and needed practical solutions rather than political intervention. He called for implementation of Cabinet-approved land rights for hill-country people and asked that plantation wage issues be addressed through the Wages Board so companies could not avoid compliance. He also requested the President’s intervention to resolve the Wevenden concerns.
Verbatim record (translated)
Machine-translated from Sinhala / Tamil / English¶ 01 I thank Hon. Radhakrishnan.
¶ 02 Hon. Minister, a good government is not one that insists “we are always right,” but one that listens and corrects if there are shortcomings. Regarding the Ditwah cyclone, the Hon. President Anura Kumara Dissanayake spoke focusing on Wevenden. It is my home region too. People there face many issues and are protesting, saying they have not received responses to letters. There is no political motive; we need solutions through you.
¶ 03 As Hon. Radhakrishnan said, land rights for the hill-country people must be addressed. You have Cabinet approval—please implement it. The wage issue continues; if you bring this through the Wages Board, plantation companies cannot evade it. Today even trade unions cannot effectively engage because this decision did not come through the Wages Board. I trust you will consider this. I also trust the President will intervene on Wevenden and resolve the issues there.
Provenance
- Source
- Hansard, Tuesday, 9 June 2026 ·No. 23706 ·English daily/uncorrected Hansard
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/lk/speeches/2773
Cite as: The Hon. Jeevan Thondaman. 10th Parliament, Parliament of Sri Lanka. Hansard, 9 June 2026. No. 23706. Politick, https://staging.politick.io/lk/speeches/2773