Minister of Labour and Foreign Employment has alleged that despite the government having taken several decisions pertaining to the welfare of migrant workers, they are yet to be implemented.
Addressing a ceremony at the Ministry’s premises, Nanayakkara further alleged that several state officials did not support these decisions and instead created ‘obstacles’ against them being implemented.
“When we began implementing various proposals on behalf of migrant workers, we did not find any support, instead, we were faced with obstacles. We had to fight with certain officials in order to give some sort of relief to our migrant workers”, the Minister said.
Speaking on the recent duty-free housing loan approved to be given to migrant workers, Minister Nanayakkara revealed that although the Cabinet has approved the relevant move, and all necessary discussions have been held with the respective authorities at the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) and other banks, the officials of the Treasury and CBSL have not yet taken necessary measures for it.
Meanwhile, the minister further revealed that Cabinet approval was received 14 months ago to increase the duty relief given for migrant workers to purchase confectionaries at the airport, proportionate to the foreign exchange they’ve generated.
Despite the President issuing the relevant gazette, Customs officials failed to implement the proposal to serve immigrant workers, the minister charged.
Ampara District Organizer of the Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal party and former member of the Eastern Provincial Council K. Pushpakumar alias Iniya Bharathi has been arrested.
He was arrested over the abduction and disappearance of the former Vice Chancellor of the Eastern University Prof. Subramaniyam Ravindranath.
Sivanathurai Chandrakanthan, alias Pillayan, the leader of the Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal (TMVP) and former State Minister, was arrested by the Colombo Criminal Investigation Department at his office in Batticaloa on April 8, over this incident.
He was later detained for 3 months under the Prevention of Terrorism Act.
Iniya Bharathi, also known as Kumaraswamy Pushpakumar, was arrested based on information revealed during the interrogation of Pillayan.
The Information and Communication Technology Agency of Sri Lanka (ICTA) said the electronic Revenue Licence system (eRL 2.0) is currently unavailable due to a critical technical infrastructure issue.
According to the ICTA, the disruption began on July 3, 2025, and has made vehicle revenue licence issuing services inaccessible.
The unavailability is expected to continue until July 9, 2025.
The ICTA expressed regret for the inconvenience caused to the public and assured that technical teams are working urgently to resolve the issue.
The agency also said that further updates will be shared as work progresses, with an official notice to be issued once services are restored.