Tea Board Chairman ignoring a presidential order

The tussle at the Sri Lanka Tea Board continued last week with its chairman B. A. C. Abeywardane refusing to budge from his position despite a presidential order. He had been asked to take up an appointment at the Presidential Secretariat, tea industry sources said.

Despite the calamity in the upper hierarchy of the Tea Board, work at this institution is functioning without any problems, according to an official. But the clash between Abeywardene and the suspended Director General H.D. Hemaratne has led to two factions operating in the office. Hemaratne said he hasn’t still been issued a charge sheet.

Industry stakeholders have taken the matters to President Mahinda Rajapakse and the Plantation industry Minister Milroy Fernando with the hope that the matter would be resolved with their intervention. “We are waiting for some constructive action to take place. Then we can decide on our course of action” said one of the board of directors who declined to be named.