Mr. Piyal Nishantha, Minister of State for Fisheries, has withdraw from the responsibilities of all the four government institutions that were under him yesterday (26th). This has been informed by the State Minister to the Fisheries Minister Douglas Devananda.
Ceylon Fishery Corporation, Nara Institute, Senor Institute and North Sea Institute were controlled by State Minister Piyal Nishantha.
According to the sources of the corporation, the problematic situation that has arisen in that corporation regarding the chairman of the Ceylon Fishery Corporation and the non-implementation of the action taken in that regard has been the immediate reason that led to the resignation of the state minister.
The Chairman of the Fishery Corporation was transferred to the Ministry of Fisheries due to the submission of three fake birth certificates and poor administration and the Secretary of the Ministry of Fisheries, Nishantha Wickramasinghe, had also started an investigation.
An official of the Fisheries Corporation said that the authorities of the Ministry of Fisheries have informed that the duties of the Chairman of the Fisheries Corporation should be assigned to the Managing Director, but the Chairman has put pressure on the Managing Director and General Manager of the Corporation.
The Minister of State for Fisheries, Piyal Nishantha, has also protested, but since no action has been taken regarding the Chairman of the Fisheries Corporation, the Minister of State has decided to withdraw from his responsibilities.
In this regard, in an inquiry to Fisheries State Minister Piyal Nishantha, he said that he will continue to work in the position of State Minister. He said that he along with Fisheries Minister Douglas Devananda will continue to work for the fishermen and that he made this decision based on several personal and professional reasons.
