Nine divisional secretariats in the Eastern Province have been recognised for their 2025 performance under the “Mehewara Pasasum” programme, held at the Swami Vipulananda Institute of Aesthetic Studies of the Eastern University under the patronage of Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya, the government news portal reported.
The awards form part of an effort to decentralise President’s Fund services to the divisional secretariat level, so that applicants deal with a local office rather than Colombo. Three offices were selected in each of the Ampara, Batticaloa and Trincomalee districts, judged on how efficiently they received President’s Fund applications and how promptly they responded to them.
The rankings
In Ampara, Sammanthurai placed first, followed by Addalachchenai and Kalmunai.
In Batticaloa, Kattankudy placed first, followed by Manmunai North and Koralaipattu Central.
In Trincomalee, Trincomalee Town and Gravets placed first, followed by Kinniya and Muttur.
Speaker Dr. Jagath Wickramaratne, Minister of Industry and Entrepreneurship Development Sunil Handunnetti, and Senior Additional Secretary to the President and Secretary to the President’s Fund Roshan Gamage attended, along with government officials.
This was the third Mehewara Pasasum event. The first was held in Colombo and the second in Batticaloa.
An unstated date, and a venue overlap
News.lk reports only that the programme was held “recently” and gives no date. The venue and patronage are the same as those of the third phase of the President’s Fund “Sarasavi Diriya Abhiman” scholarship programme, at which the Prime Minister presented Rs. 100,000 each to 50 students with disabilities at the same institute on Saturday, 12 September.
Both are President’s Fund initiatives, both were described as third instalments, and both were reported by news.lk within two days of each other. Whether the two ceremonies took place at the same event or on separate days is not stated in either report.
Not reported
The report does not say how many divisional secretariats were assessed, what criteria or scoring were used, how many President’s Fund applications the province handled in 2025, or whether the ranking carries any award or funding.
