Dingiri Banda Welagedera (31 October 1915 – 2 April 1989) also known as D. B. Welagedera was the Deputy Minister of Plan Implementation and Minister a former

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

representing

Kurunegala District Kurunegala is a district in North Western Province, Sri Lanka. Consists of and consists 30 Divisional Secretariats, 1610 Grama Niladari Divisions and 4476 total Villages. It consists of 14 Electorate Divisions, 02 Municipal Council, 19 Urban C ...

. Welagedera served as the 1st

Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

of North Central Province. He was appointed in May 1988 and was Governor until May 1989. He was succeeded by

E. L. Senanayake Deshamanya Edward Lionel Senanayake (known commonly as E.L Senanayake) (8 August 1920 – 29 January 2000) was a Sri Lankan politician belonging to the United National Party. He was the 12th Speaker of the Parliament of Sri Lanka, Speaker of the ...

. Born on 31 October 1915 at Panaliya,

Polgahawela Polgahawela is a town located in north western Sri Lanka. It is most notable for being a major railway junction. Polgahawela is situated in the North Western Province of Sri Lanka, and is located approximately north-east from the capital city ...

, as Welagedara Mudiyanselage Dingiri Banda Welagedera was the only child of the family. He was educated at Ananda College, Colombo,

Nalanda College, Colombo ''Āpadāna Sobhinī Panñā'' , motto_translation = Character Illumines Wisdom , established = , founder = Patrick de Silva Kularatne , type = National , grades = ...

and at

St. John's College, Jaffna '' , motto_translation = Light Shines in the Darkness , location = , streetaddress = Main Street, Chundikuli , region = , city = Jaffna, Jaffna District , state = , p ...

before entering

Colombo Law College Sri Lanka Law College (abbreviated as SLLC), formerly known as Ceylon Law College, is a law college, and the only legal institution where one can enroll as a attorney-at-law in Sri Lanka. It was established in 1874, under the then Council of Legal ...

. He joined government service in the first batch of Divisional Revenue Officers that replaced the native headmen system. He was elected the president of the Divisional Revenue Officers' Association. He resigned from government service to contest the 1952 general election from the

United National Party The United National Party, often abbreviated as UNP ( si, එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂය, translit=Eksath Jāthika Pakshaya, ta, ஐக்கிய தேசியக் கட்சி, translit=Aikkiya Tēciyak Kaṭci), ...

from the

. He was elected to the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

defeating

Herbert Sri Nissanka Herbert Sri Nissanka, QC (also known as ''Nissanka Herbert Mendis'') (7 December 1898 – 26 February 1954) was a Ceylonese lawyer and legislator. Elected to the first post-independence parliament, he was one of the founding members of the Sri ...

. He contested the July 1960 general election but lost to D. B. Monnekulama, but was successful in the 1965 general election and again defeated Monnekulama in the 1977 general election. He served as Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Nationalised Services from 1965 to 1970 and was appointed Deputy Minister of Plan Implementation in 1977. He served as Governor of the North Central Province from May 1988 to May 1989. He died on 2 April 1989 and his body was donated to the

Colombo Medical College Ceylon Medical College was a public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociolo ...

. The

Welagedara Stadium Welagedara Stadium ( si, වෙලගෙදර ක්‍රීඩාංගණය , ta, வெலகெதர விலையாட்டு அரங்கம்) is a multi-use stadium that has hosted international and local cricket matches a ...

and the Welagedara Ayurveda Hospital has been named after him.

References

* By B.D. Sumedha Aruna Shantha {{DEFAULTSORT:Welagedara, Dingiri Banda (D.B) 1915 births 1989 deaths Alumni of Nalanda College, Colombo Alumni of St. John's College, Jaffna Deputy ministers of Sri Lanka Governors of North Central Province, Sri Lanka Members of the 2nd Parliament of Ceylon Members of the 6th Parliament of Ceylon Members of the 8th Parliament of Sri Lanka Parliamentary secretaries of Ceylon People from Kurunegala Sri Lankan Buddhists United National Party politicians

See also

References