Harsha resigns as minister ; requests President Gota to oversee 'Suwa Seriya' service

Economic Reforms and Public Distribution Non-cabinet Minister Harsha de Silva has resigned from his position with immediate effect.

His resignation comes amidst a wave of resignations tendered by cabinet ministers after their fellow cabinet housing minister Sajith Premadasa lost the presidential race.

De Silva, in a letter to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, said he would be resigning to allow the newly-appointed President to appoint a suitable person to the ministerial portfolio.

He requested that the 1990 Suwa Seriya Foundation – which operates ambulances, be brought under the President’s purview, as it could be subject to “unnecessary interference elsewhere”.

The minister recalled that the project, initiated by him “in the face of much baseless allegations”, had been gazetted under his purview. “...the time is now right to place it under you, as envisaged in the Act”.

De Silva pointed out that the Suwa Seriya service admits over 900 patients to critical and emergency care daily, with an average response time of less than 13 minutes.