SARTUC Deputy General Secretary and National Trade Union Federations’ (NTUF, Sri Lanka) President Mr. K. Velayudam passed away on 13th of October 2015 at the age of 66. He was receiving medical care at a hospital in Chennai, India. Mr.Velayudam started his trade union career as a grass root level organizer in 1972. He took to leading the estate workers of Indian origin after quitting journalism. He became leader of the Jathika Estate Workers’ Union of the United National Party (UNP) in the Nuwara Eliya and Badulla districts and was later elected to the Uva Province Council. He entered parliament in 2001 and 2014. Mr.Velayudum devoted his entire life for the workers’ welfare and was best known for getting land, and building thousands of houses for estate workers. His untimely demise will be strongly felt throughout the trade union movement in Sri Lanka and in the region of South Asia. SARTUC General Secretary Mr. Laxman Basnet expresses his heartfelt condolences to the bereaved family of Mr. K Velayudam.