Grama Niladhari officers began an islandwide trade union action on Monday, reporting sick leave rather than turning up for duty, in a campaign the Grama Niladhari Trade Union Alliance says will run through Tuesday.
Alliance Chairman Nandana Ranasinghe announced the action at a news conference in Colombo on Sunday (9), Hiru News reported.
Eight years without an increase
The central grievance is the travel allowance. “The Rs. 600 travel allowance provided to Grama Niladharis has not been increased for the past eight years,” Ranasinghe said.
The alliance also points to a Cabinet decision taken in 2024 to replace that payment with an allowance equivalent to the cost of 20 litres of fuel, which it says has not been implemented. Ranasinghe said the action was based on several further demands, which were not itemised in the reports.
Neither Ada Derana nor Hiru News reported a government response, a figure for how many of the country’s Grama Niladhari officers are taking part, or any comment from the Ministry of Public Administration.
Why a two-day absence matters
Grama Niladharis are the lowest tier of Sri Lanka’s state administration, and their divisions are the point of contact for the certificates and character references residents need for everything from land transactions and pension claims to police and court matters. A two-day withdrawal stops most of that counter work at divisional secretariats.
The timing overlaps with the start of the Advanced Level examination, which opened on Monday with 372,310 candidates. Under the Department of Examinations’ rules, a private candidate who has lost a National Identity Card may use two Postal Identity Card photographs as temporary identification only if they are certified by the relevant Grama Niladhari — a step that would be difficult to complete while officers are away from their divisions.
Sources: Ada Derana, Hiru News.
