Sirisena Cooray

Hon.
Sirisena Cooray
JP
Hon. Sirisena Cooray JP
Minister of Housing and Construction
	In office; 1989–1994
Preceded by	Ranasinghe Premadasa
Succeeded by	Nimal Siripala de Silva
Member of Parliament; for Colombo
	In office; 1989–1994
Mayor of Colombo
	In office; 1979–1989
Preceded by	A. H. M. Fowzie
Succeeded by	M. Hussain Mohamad
Personal details
Born	25 April 1931; Colombo, Ceylon
Died	30 November 2021 (aged 90); Colombo, Sri Lanka
Nationality	Sri Lankan
Political party	United National Party

Bulathsinghalage Sirisena Cooray, JP (25 April 1931 – 30 November 2021) was a Sri Lankan politician.

His political career:

He was the Mayor of Colombo 1979 - 1989. In 1989 and was elected from Colombo to Parliament in the 9th parliamentary election in 1989. He was appointed Minister of Housing and Construction in the Premadasa cabinet. He had served as General Secretary of the United National Party during the tenure of party leader Ranasinghe Premadasa.^[2]^[3]^[4]^[5] He submitted nominations for the Colombo Municipal Council elections in 2006 as the Mayor, however his party nominations list was rejected by the election commission on a technicality. The independent party backed by Sirisena won the election and Uvais Mohamed Imitiyas became Mayor.^[6]^[7]

Timeline:

• 1977 - 1978 Public President - Under Unicef - reconstructed 350 lands.

• 1978 Ambassador to Malaysia

• 1979 - 1989 - Mayor of Colombo (10 Years)

- Gave 24,235 families homes so they were able to receive water and power.

- Gave 6500 people permanent jobs at the Muncipal Council

- Reconstructed 40 play grounds

- Built Ketharama

- Built toilets (before Srilanka was using the bucket system)

- Provided garbage trucks replacing carts.

- Renewed/upgraded the Fire Brigade department

- Renewed Viharamahadevi park

- Built the new public library

- Renewed all markets in Borella, Kotahena & Maradana

- Provided snacks for all schools in Colombo

- Renewed and maintained all CMC buildings (in-house not outsourced)

- Provided water and electricity to some families of 77,612 living in shanty areas.

• 1989 - 1993 - Elected to the 9th Parliament - Renewed Mirissa Vatiya Temple

- Renewed Katharagamma Temple

- Renewed Sugathadhasa Stadium

- Built Henry Pedris Grounds

- Swimming Pool - Kotahena and renewed 8 other stadiums.

Above stadiums were renewed/built using the money and technical support from CMC in 6 months - no loans or donations.

• Built 4 community halls and 1 Wedding hall.

• Built 800,000+ houses

• Established 43 community development boards and savings cooperative societies.

• Releif funds for poor people

• Made 75 child communities

• Gave another 1000 employees permanent jobs

• 1992 - Buddha Gaya - inspection of construction - India

• 1993 - Instigated the golden fence around Buddha Gaya.

His brother Nandasena Cooray was a one time Deputy Mayor of Colombo.

Cooray died on 30 November 2021 at Colombo, aged 90 years.^[8]

References

^ "Former Minister Sirisena Cooray passed away". Colombo Gazette. 30 November 2021. Retrieved 30 November 2021.
^ "1989 Parliamentary Elections Results" (PDF). Official Website, Department of Elections, Sri Lanka. Retrieved 21 July 2018.
^ "The legacy of President Premadasa". C. A. Wijeyeweere. Sri Lanka Guardian. 23 June 2018. Retrieved 21 July 2018.
^ "Sirisena Cooray's incarceration and the then Supreme Court". The Island. 14 July 2014. Retrieved 21 July 2018.
^ "Past Mayors of Colombo". Colombo Municipal Corporation. Retrieved 22 July 2018.
^ Kumara, Sarath. "Local election results in Sri Lanka reflect widespread fears of war". Retrieved 12 October 2020.
^ "New Colombo Mayor sworn in". BBC. bbc.com. Retrieved 12 October 2020.
^ "Cooray denies helping JVP leader". gulfnews.com. Retrieved 12 October 2020.

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