UPFA Parliamentarian Salinda Dissanayake passed away at a private hospital in Colombo after brief illness.
He was 61. Dissanayake first entered Parliament at the 1994 General Election and held a number of Cabinet and non Cabinet portfolios in the People’s Alliance and the UPFA governments.
He held a number of portfolios including Minister of Lands Development, Minor Export Agriculture Crops, Deputy Minister of River Basin and Rajarata Development, Non Cabinet Minister of Coconut Development, Minister of Nation Building and Deputy Minister of Plantation Industries in the PA and UPFA governments.
Dissanayake introduced a novel farming method called Sri to paddy farmers in and around Ibbagamuwa which enabled them to record a harvest of 400 bushels per acre by sowing only four kilos of seed paddy.
Dissanayake received his primary and secondary education at Maliyadeva College, Kurunegala and Kingswood college, Kandy. He graduated from the University of Moratuwa. Dissanayake is a Chemical Engineer by profession.
He pioneered the establishment of the SLFP union at the university in 1980 and later became the SLFP Chief Organizer for the Hiriyala Electorate. Funeral arrangements will be notified later.
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