Service Centre for migrant workers, their families opened in Nuwara Eliya

Labour and Foreign Employment Minister Manusha Nanayakkara opened a new branch office of the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment in Nuwara Eliya on Sunday (7) which will also provide services in the Tamil Language, fulfilling a promise he made to the children of migrant workers on International Migrants Day.

During an event held in Nuwara Eliya on December 19, to mark the International Migrants Day the Minister responding to a request made by the children of migrant workers said he would provide a SLBFE office with Tamil language speaking officers to Nuwara Eliya within the first seven days of 2024 to provide a better service to migrant workers and their families from the area.

Following the opening of the new office, the children of migrant workers expressed their gratitude to the Minister by way of a stage play.

The Minister who opened the Nuwara Eliya district SLBFE office also handed over the registration documents to the first worker to depart for an overseas job after getting duly registered at the new SLBFE branch.

Minister Nanayakkara said that four of the five requests made by the children of expatriate workers on December 18 had been fulfilled and the new SLBFE district office with Tamil language speaking officers was one of them.

He also thanked the SLBFE Chairman and the staff for taking prompt measures while acting on his instructions to open the new office.

He also expressed confidence that he will be able to help fulfil the fifth demand as well, which is the granting of voting rights.

The Minister recalled that when he came to Nuwara Eliya, the national anthem was sung in both Sinhala and Tamil.

Minister Nanayakkara said some politicians had divided the nation by making Sinhala the only official language and added that due to such imprudent decisions he was not able to learn Tamil and as a result he is not even able to speak a few words in Tamil during the event.

The Minister emphasized that it was not the time to keep blaming the past, and while correcting such mistakes all should join hands to secure the future generation a country with harmony and prosperity.

He also said that the Government today has to take even some unpopular decisions, such as tax increases and wage cuts, to usher the necessary changes thinking about the future well-being of the children.

The Minister also said that following in the footsteps of the visionary leader he would like to mention in Nuwara Eliya that he too is not afraid of making tough and unpopular decisions to ensure the future well-being of the nation and the next generation.

The Minister said that the expatriate workers had responded positively to a request to become shareholders of sending US$ 500 million per month to the country through legal channels and they had sent nearly US$ 6 billion to the country last year.

The Minister said that only US$ 30 million more was needed to cross the US$ 6 billion mark, and that US$ 30 million could not be brought because of the officials of the Finance Ministry who make wrong policy decisions.

Minister Nanayakkara said that even though the President published the necessary gazette announcement and announced to act accordingly, the officials who made decisions during the Mahinda Rajapaksa and Gotabaya Rajapaksa regime were still active and they had stopped remittances from crossing the US$ 6 billion mark.

The Minister emphasized that they should be held responsible for that.

The Minister, responding to a request of the President’s Senior Adviser MP, Vadivel Suresh to increase the salaries of the plantation workers, said that the President will announce the relevant decision before end of this month.

Senior Adviser to the President said that he is proud of Minister Nanayakkara for providing an office of the SLBFE to Nuwara Eliya in a few days in the backdrop where seven or eight MPs have failed to establish even a Grama Niladhari office or a Divisional Secretariat office after trying for more than 15-20 years.

Along with the opening of the Nuwara Eliya District Office, programmes were also implemented to provide scholarships to migrant workers’ children and to support migrant workers to become entrepreneurs.

Ministry’s Acting Secretary Lal Samarasekara, Nuwara Eliya District Secretary R. P. K. Nandana were also present.

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