President calls for formal study on estate sector school dropouts

*Over Rs 130,000 m for Central Province development

*Focus on Hanguranketha- N’ Eliya highway construction

Asela KURULUWANSA Indika POLKOTUWA and Sanjaya MATHURATA

President Mahinda Rajapaksa yesterday ordered officials to conduct a formal study into estate sector school dropouts.

He emphasized the need to educate school leavers from estate families. The President was speaking at a meeting to review the progress of development activities in the Central Province at President’s House, Kandy yesterday.

He emphasised on the uplift of education and the health of estate sector children. This meeting also focused on the Government’s programs aimed to uplift the estate sector.

President Rajapaksa said the Government’s main duty is to ensure that people of all parts of the country enjoy equal benefits and rights after the end of the 30-year conflict.

He was of the view that every citizen should have an opportunity to spend a better life irrespective of their racial and religious differences. He opined that State officials should maintain very close coordination with people’s representatives.

President Rajapaksa said the Government gives pride of place to the education of the younger generation. It was disclosed that the government has spent over Rs 130,000 million to develop the Central Province during the past four years.

He discussed the development projects in progress in the Kandy, Matale and Nuwara Eliya districts extensively with the officers and the people’s representatives in the province. They reviewed the progress achieved by the province in the fields of irrigation, electricity, education and sanitation for the past four years.

President Rajapaksa stressed the need of a formal mechanism that would help prevent the delay in maintenance of power supply in the Kandy district.

He said consumers should not face inconveniences when maintenance activities are being carried out in the district.

The proposed high way development plan in the Kandy district was discussed at this meeting. The President instructed the officials to begin the construction of Hanguranketha-Nuwara Eliya highway soon.

Central Province Governor Tikiri Kobbekaduwa and Secretary to the President Lalith Weeratunga were among the participants at the meeting.