The Hon. Ananda Wijepala – Minister of Public Security and Parliamentary Affairs
The Minister reported police action on three alleged assaults involving estate personnel and workers in Palmadulla, Mocha Estate, and Udupussellawa, stating that suspects had been arrested or remanded and would be produced before court. He said the Government does not condone assaults and that the law would apply equally to officials and others, while offering to provide further clarifications later. He also outlined regulations under the Immigrants and Emigrants Act to grant free 30-day tourist visas via ETA to nationals of 40 countries, arguing that the expected increase in tourist arrivals would offset foregone visa fee revenue, with the scheme to be reviewed after six months to one year and ETA-based security checks retained.
Verbatim record (translated)
Machine-translated from Sinhala / Tamil / English¶ 01 Hon. Deputy Speaker, regarding the matters raised by Hon. Jeevan Thondaman and Hon. Mano Ganesan:
¶ 02 1) On 21 April at Palmadulla Estate, Neelagama Division, a complaint was received that a security officer assaulted a villager over an unauthorized construction. Police have acted; the security officer has been remanded and produced before court under Case No. 23445; next date is 03 August.
¶ 03 2) Last night at Mocha Estate, a manager allegedly assaulted his worker, B. Sivaraman Sivakumar. He was arrested at 9.00 a.m. today and will be produced in court shortly.
¶ 04 3) Also last night around 11.30 p.m. at Udupussellawa, Delta Estate, a sub-administrator (Field Officer) assaulted an estate worker, Mr. Sridharan. He was arrested this morning and will be produced in court.
¶ 05 We do not condone any assault. The law is equal for all—whether an official or anyone else—and action has been taken. I asked for half an hour to report; please allow me to present further clarifications later today. On the broader issue, our aim is to promote tourism as a key pillar of economic growth; hence, in coordination with the Minister of Foreign Affairs, we have moved Regulations under the Immigrants and Emigrants Act to provide free 30-day tourist visas to 40 countries via ETA, with security maintained through mandatory ETA processing. While visa fee revenue—estimated at around USD 75 million annually—will be foregone, we project at least a 10% increase (about 247,000 additional tourists), generating approximately USD 317 million in gross inflows, yielding net revenue of around USD 242 million after offsets such as the Embarkation Levy.
¶ 06 [List of 40 countries granted free 30-day tourist visas via ETA includes: Australia, Austria, Bahrain, Belarus, Belgium, Canada, China, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Iran, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Malaysia, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Poland, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Türkiye, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States.]
¶ 07 This scheme will be reviewed after six months (and up to one year) to decide continuation, with national security safeguards unchanged.
Provenance
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- Hansard, Thursday, 7 May 2026 ·No. 23540 ·English daily/uncorrected Hansard
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Cite as: The Hon. Ananda Wijepala – Minister of Public Security and Parliamentary Affairs. 10th Parliament, Parliament of Sri Lanka. Hansard, 7 May 2026. No. 23540. Politick, https://staging.politick.io/lk/speeches/3532