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The Philatelic Bureau of the Department of Posts has issued a new postage stamp in the denomination of Rs. 10.00 on 24th July, 2016 to commemorate the former Minister the late Dharmasiri Senanayake.
| Date of Issue: | 24th July 2016 |
| Denomination: | Rs.10.00 |
| Catalogue No. | CSL 2172 | Stamp Designer. | Ms. Wathmi de Zoysa |
| Sheet Composition: | 20 stamps per sheet |
Dharmasiri Senanayake who was born on March 30, 1933 to the parents MrSenanayakeSeneviratneWasalaMudalige Don David Senanayake o Patthanduwana, Minuwangoda and Mrs Dona laisaAbeysinghe received his primary education at Yagomullaschool and English education at Ananda Vidydlaya, Colombo. Having passed the university entrance examination with distinction from Ananda Vidyalaya he entered the University of Peradeniya in 1953 and continued his higher education.
He began his career as a lecturer in Economics in the Vidyodaya University in 1959 and during the same period got admission to the Law College and was sworn in as an Attorney-at- Law of the Supreme Court in 1963. He started his legal career as a Lawyer of Kegalle Magistrate's Court.
At the 1970 general election he contested the Dedigama seat as candidate of the United Front with the former Prime Minister, Hon. Dudley Senanayake and lost by a very few votes. Being appointed as Chairman of the Tourist Board of the 1970 United Front government, he rendered a yeoman service for the advancement of the tourist industry. In the by-election too he contested again the Dedigama seat which fell vacant in 1973 following the death of Hon Dudley Senanayake and lost with a slight margin.
In the general election held in 1980 Hon Dharmasiri Senanayake contested from the Kegalla District on the SLFP ticket and was elected to Parliament and in 1993 was appointed as the General Secretary of the Sri Lanka Freedom and Vice President of the People's Alliance contributing to the people's victory in 1994. He was appointed as Minister of Tourism and Aviation and Media in the Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga government and as Minister of Tourism and Aviation at the subsequent Cabinet reshuffle and performed a great service during his tenure of office.
As a mark of respect for the services rendered by the Hon Dharmasiri Senanayake for the world tourist industry, he was honoured with the office of Chairman of the World Tourist Board and with the offer of the distinguished citizenship of the government of Chile. As Minister of media, he gave freedom of news broadcast to private electronic media channels and at the time of his death he was taking steps to provide a pension to journalists after getting the Lake House freed from state control. He also took steps to re-establish the Pinnawala Zoo as a free zoo and to construct holiday resorts for local tourists and more rooms for foreign tourists in a bid to improve the tourist industry. He initiated a 100 billion dollar project for the construction of a new terminal at the Katunayake Air Port and commenced the Kegalla Development Foundation to expedite the development activities in the Kegalle district.
He was held in high esteem by all party members for the initiatives taken by him for the protection of the leadership of the party and for the unity of the party on the occasions when the Sri Lanka Freedom Party was faced with dispute situations in the 1980s.
Hon Dharmasiri Senanayake, the former Minister and General Secretary of the Sri Lanka freedom Party, who, having been born in the beautiful village of Patthanduwana in Gampaha of SiyaneKorale, dedicated a period of over half a century for the freedom of the people of the SivuKorale trekking the rugged terrain of most difficult areas such as Aranayake, Mawanella, Kegalla etc. bid farewell to the nation on July 24, 2001.
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