COLOMBO ; Mano Ganesan, Leader of the Tamil Progressive Alliance (TPA), has strongly objected to the government’s reported move to abolish the New Villages Development Authority for Plantation Region (NEVIDA), established under Act No. 32 of 2018 with the participation of Malaiyaha civil society. NEVIDA is widely known as the Malaiyaha Authority.
Posting on his official X account, Ganesan stated:
“I have urged President Anura Kumara Dissanayake to halt the government’s reported move to abolish NEVIDA. This Authority was created to address the historic marginalization of the Malaiyaha Tamil community through housing, education, healthcare, livelihood development, and youth and women’s empowerment. Reducing this statutory body to a mere division under a Ministry would weaken its mandate and risk dismantling one of the community’s few institutional gains.”
He further noted that as President Dissanayake marks one year in office, the Malaiyaha people still await tangible progress on promises made. Preserving NEVIDA, he stressed, is not just an administrative issue but a matter of justice, equity, and historic responsibility.”
