President Anura Kumara Dissanayake has issued an Extraordinary Gazette declaring a wide range of public services essential under the Essential Public Services Act No. 61 of 1979, the first such invocation under the NPP administration. The gazette cites “the need to maintain normal public life amid the prevailing post-disaster situation across the country.”
The declaration, issued under Section 2 of the Act, covers services provided by state corporations, government departments, local authorities, cooperative societies and their branches. The full list of essential services declared includes:
- Electricity supply
- Fuel and gas distribution
- Hospital and healthcare services
- Public transport, road and railway services
- Airport and port operations
- Water supply and drainage services
- Food and essential goods distribution
- Ambulance services
- Telecommunications and media services
- Services by District Secretariats, Divisional Secretariats, Grama Niladharis, Samurdhi officers, agricultural research assistants and other field-level public officers
- State banking and insurance services
- Sanitation and waste management by local authorities
- Irrigation, land reclamation and development services
- Agricultural and agricultural insurance services
The “post-disaster situation” referenced in the gazette aligns with the ongoing monsoon emergency affecting multiple districts. NBRO issued Level 2 amber landslide warnings for Kalutara and Ratnapura on the same day, with 17 Divisional Secretariat Divisions on alert through May 29. Earlier in the month, flooding along the Kelani, Kalu and Attanagalu Oya rivers displaced thousands across the western and southern provinces.
Declaring essential services under the 1979 Act restricts workers in those sectors from striking or taking industrial action. The gazette notification does not cite any specific labour dispute.
