Development officers hold sick-leave protest over unresolved service demands

Development officers across Sri Lanka staged a sick-leave protest on November 9, pressing the government to resolve long-standing demands, including a formal service minute, through the budget.

The action was announced by the All Ceylon Combined Development Officers' Association at a media briefing in Batticaloa, with co-president Lokitharaja Deepakaran urging all development officers to support it. He recalled that members had held peaceful half-hour lunchtime awareness protests outside every department and divisional secretariat on August 31, mainly to demand a service constitution.

Deepakaran said the union federation had drafted the service minute months ago and handed copies to ministry secretaries, including the president's secretary, as well as to the opposition leader and MPs, but the demands remained unmet. The association's chief secretary, Thammika Munasinghe, said officials had repeatedly failed to respond despite being informed of the problems many times.

Attorney-at-Law Anuradha Senavirathna, general secretary of the All Ceylon Development Officers' Association, said the action could disrupt the internal work of government institutions, since development officers carry out most of it at ministries, departments, provincial councils, accounts branches, land divisions, personnel registration offices and immigration offices.

The action was organised by a federation of 12 trade unions, including unions representing all nine provinces and the central government. Discussions are under way to bring the demands to the attention of the president, prime minister and relevant ministers. Development officers in the Kilinochchi district also joined the sick-leave action.