The Hon. (Dr.) Upali Pannilage - Minister of Rural Development, Social Security and Community Empowerment

¶ 01 Hon. Speaker, this is a village close to the Hon. Member’s district, within Batticaloa. In 2025 we launched a programme to uplift difficult villages, requesting District Secretaries to nominate such villages. The then Batticaloa District Secretary recommended Muruththanai GN Division (Koralaipattu South). According to data provided, this GN is among the lowest on Sri Lanka’s Multidimensional Poverty Index.

¶ 02 As of January 2025, there were 273 families and 909 persons. The village suffered displacement during the war—initially in 1990 and again in 2007. Remarkably, there were no government or semi-government employees, and no person employed in the formal private sector. There were 67 female-headed households and 7 persons with disabilities. Most households had monthly income under Rs. 30,000; none above Rs. 60,000. Of 273 houses, 130 were temporary. Based on these socio-economic conditions, the District Secretary selected this village, and our Ministry implemented development interventions under the difficult villages programme.