Former Minister's funeral today

Chaminda Perera

The funeral of former Minister S.D.R. Jayaratne will be held today at the Madampe Pradeshiya Sabha grounds. He was 76.

He had been a member and chairman of the Madampe Village Council. Having won the 1960 General Election as an independent candidate Jayaratne entered the parliament as an SLFP parliamentarian.

Jayaratne represented the Puttalam district in Parliament for over 18 years. He was the deputy Minister of Fisheries in 1970 and later became the Minister of Fisheries in the coalition government led by late premier Sirimavo Bandaranaike.

Jayaratne was re-elected to parliament at the 1989 General election and was the Puttalam distric MP till 2000. He is the father of Puttalam district MP Priyankara Jayaratne.