Arumugan Thondaman passes away

By Menaka Mookandi  

Community Empowerment and Estate Infrastructure Minister and President of the Ceylon Workers Congress Arumugan Thondaman passed away yesterday evening at the Thalangama hospital. 

He was 56.   He was the grandson of Soumiyamoorthi Thondaman, the iconic leader of the plantation workers who led the CWC, the one time leading Trade Union in the estate sector as well as in the country.   

Minister Arumugan Thondaman had met the Indian High Commissioner Gopal Baglay with a CWC delegation yesterday and discussed the Indian aided housing project in the plantation areas and later had met Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa before heading home.   

He had collapsed at his residence and was rushed to the Thalangama hospital. However, he passed away at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the hospital shortly afterwards.