The Northern Province Governor, N. Vethanayahan, stated that the investigation report on the alleged fraud in previous pond renovation projects in the Mannar District has been forwarded to the Hon. Minister of Public Security, with a request to refer the matter to the Financial Crimes Investigation Division (CID). He added that further action is being taken promptly in this regard.
The Mannar District Coordination Committee meeting was held on Wednesday morning (29 April 2026) at the District Secretariat Auditorium. The session commenced with a welcome address by District Secretary K. Kanakeswaran and was presided over by Upali Samarasinghe, Chairman of the District Coordination Committee and Hon. Deputy Minister of Cooperatives.
Deputy Minister Upali Samarasinghe, who presided over the meeting, expressed concern over the unsatisfactory pace of project implementation. “In particular, road development works are not progressing as expected. Funds allocated for national schools have also not been utilized on time. Despite adequate allocations being released by the Treasury, projects remain incomplete within the stipulated timeframe, with officials continuing to offer excuses,” he stated.
“I serve as the Chairman of the District Coordination Committees for Mullaitivu, Vavuniya, and Mannar. In the Mannar District, certain officials continue to function as they did prior to our assuming office in 2024. They maintain links with former politicians, disregard the directives issued here, and fail to work toward the development of the people. These connections must be severed immediately. We are fully aware of what is taking place,” he said, issuing a stern warning to the officials.
Following this, new projects were presented for approval by the District Coordination Committee. Extensive deliberations were held, and decisions were made on granting approvals for tourism development initiatives, playground reconstruction, the Praja Shakti project, projects under the diversified budget, demarcation of landing sites and boundaries, pond rehabilitation under the “SARP” project, initiatives of the Ministry of Transport, and school development projects.
Furthermore, the progress of ongoing development projects in Mannar, along with the current status of decisions made at the previous Coordination Committee meeting, was reviewed.
The meeting paid special attention to the progress of the investigation committee appointed in line with a previous resolution of the Mannar District Coordination Committee, and a request was made to initiate an inquiry into the Kooraikulam issue.
Despite a special meeting having been convened on sand mining, the chairpersons of the local government councils pointed out that the related issues still persist.
Due to time constraints, several agenda items were deferred at today’s meeting. It was therefore decided to convene a special Coordination Committee meeting next month to further examine other key issues, including the sand mining issue.
The meeting was attended by Hon. Members of Parliament M. Jagatheeswaran, Selvam Adaikkalanathan, Kadhar Mastan, and T. Ravikaran, along with chairmen of local government authorities, secretaries of Northern Provincial Ministries, the Deputy Chief Secretary (Administration), provincial department directors, Provincial Commissioners, heads of central government departments, and representatives of the security forces and civil society organizations, among others.
