Honourable Palitha Range Bandara MP |
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State Minister of Skills Development and Vocational Training | |
Assumed office 4 September 2015 |
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President | Maithripala Sirisena |
Prime Minister | Ranil Wickremesinghe |
Member of the Sri Lanka Parliament for Puttalam District |
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Assumed office 2000 |
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Personal details | |
Born | September 8, 1962 |
Nationality | Sri Lankan |
Political party | United National Party |
Other political affiliations |
United National Front |
Religion | Buddhist |
Website | http://www.rangebandara.com |
Palitha Range Bandara (born September 8, 1962) is a Sri Lankan politician and a member of the Parliament of Sri Lanka.
Range Bandarage Palitha Range Bandara was born on the 8th Sept, 1962 as the sixth child to a family of eleven children in the remote village of Karuwalagaswewa off Puttalam. Having completed his primary and secondary education at Ananda College Puttalam, he joined the Police Force to serve both his community and the country back in 1983. While working at Sri Lanka Police, he laid claim to an illustrious career which continued until 24 August 2000. Towards the latter part of his police career, he encountered a lot of politically motivated mistreatments due to his loyalty to the United National Party which in turn affected his ability to serve the people in his capacity as a police officer. This proved to be a vital juncture in his life where he decided that he no longer can serve the best interests of the people while facing these acts of political vengeances and decided to leave the police force.
It was the year 2000, and although he had the opportunity to migrate to Australia with his family; he decided against it. Instead, he took the decision to join the political fray of the country and contest the general elections to represent his community in the parliament. Taking a stand against the injustices faced by his people, he was selected to Parliament for the first time at the general election held on the 10th of October 2000 being the third on the preferential list. He was an unquestionable leader to his people and rose to fame quickly in the district, and soon after in the 2001 General Election he topped the list of preferential votes. He has continued to enjoy an immense popularity amongst the voters and has since then sustained the leading position in the list of preferential votes and has been a Member of Parliament continuously.
With the change of the ruling regime in the presidential election held on the 8th of January 2015, he was appointed the State Minister of Power and Energy, and has since rendered a massive service to the people of the Puttalam district as part of the 100-day government. As the State Minister of Power and Energy, Mr. Palitha Range Bandara has taken the initiative to provide more than 650 power line extensions under Rural Electrification Projects in the Puttalam district alone. Under his direction, 21 million rupees received from the Norocholai Coal Power Project to carry out community welfare service has been utilized to construct the ground and Pavilion at his alma mater Ananda College in Puttalam. Additionally, he has made use of the same funds to provide 450 motor bicycles to fishermen folk in the Norochcholai/Kalpitiya area and has intervened to provide 1200 families housing loans at low interest rates. As a minister he has furthermore provided Government employment opportunities to more than 450 youths