President Anura accepts TPA demand; action initiated
03-Apr-2026.
President Anura Kumara Dissanayake has accepted a request made by the Tamil Progressive Alliance (TPA) to appoint a high-level liaison officer at the Presidential Secretariat to address long-standing issues faced by Indian-origin Upcountry Tamils and Tamils living in southern Sri Lanka.
Accordingly, Chief of Staff of the Presidential Secretariat Prabath Chandrakirthi has been appointed as the liaison for Upcountry affairs, TPA Leader Mano Ganesan said.
This key decision was reached following a special meeting held between the President and the TPA delegation on April 2.
The meeting was attended by TPA Leader Mano Ganesan along with Parliamentarians Palani Digambaram and V. Radhakrishnan, and members of the Alliance’s political committee including Paranitharan, Bharath Arulsamy, Naguleswaran, Vijayachandran, Sasilkumar and Viswanathan.
Commenting further, MP Mano Ganesan stated that the Alliance emphasised the need for a mechanism to directly address administrative and livelihood issues faced by Tamils living in the Upcountry and southern Sri Lanka at the level of the Presidential Secretariat.
Accepting this request, the President appointed his own Chief of Staff for the role. In the future, the Alliance will directly engage with the liaison officer to reach agreements on public issues, and the President has agreed that relevant ministers will implement those agreements through their respective ministries.
During the meeting, several key issues affecting the Upcountry community were discussed in detail, including the Dithwa Upcountry disaster, land rights, and the rejection of multi-storey housing projects in plantation areas.
Discussions also covered the Rs. 5 million housing ownership programme, the current status of the Indian housing project, and the wage issue of plantation workers.
The TPA also stressed the need for administrative reforms such as increasing the recruitment of Tamil officials in the public administration, expanding Tamil Divisional Secretariats and Grama Niladhari divisions, and appointing additional Tamil Divisional Secretaries.
Teacher shortages in the education sector, and appointments of Tamil education directors and principals at provincial and zonal levels were also discussed.
Furthermore, the delegation raised concerns regarding the reduction of Tamil-medium classes and student admissions in prominent schools such as Royal College Colombo, D.S. Senanayake College and Isipathana College.
The need to recruit Tamil youth into the police service and to hold the long-delayed Provincial Council elections was also discussed extensively.
