The Chief Guest was Disaster Management Minister Anura Priyadarshana Yapa, while  Minister of Prison Reforms, Rehabilitation, Resettlement and Hindu Religious Affairs D. M. Swaminathan was the Guest of Honour.  
The welcome address was delivered by Dr.J M Swaminathan, Trustee. Minister Anura Priyadarshana Yapa gave a brief account of Sir Ponnambalam Arunachalam’s life and career.  
Sir Ponnambalam Arunachalam was a Scholar and Statesman, Administrator and Patriot. When we consider Sir Ponnambalam’s life as a whole, we come before a man of strong will, clear vision, character, industry and efficiency, who having towered above the giants of his own day still remains an example and inspiration to succeeding generations of Sri Lankans.   A short time after Sir Ponnambalam Arunachalam’s death the grateful people honoured his memory by erecting his statue on the grounds of the old parliament which house the present Presidential 
Secretariat premises.  

 

It was unveiled by the then Governor, Sir Herbert Stanley on 03rd April 1930. It was the 1st statue to adorn this premises and stood in solitary splendour till the statue of his brother Ramanathan was erected in 1953.   
The garlanding of the statue was done by Ministers Anura Priyadarshana Yapa and Minister D. M. Swaminathan.  
The family members Sega Nagendra, (Trustee ) Nirmalan Nagendra and Prashan Nagendra and the members of Colombo North Hindu Paripalana Sangam and other distinguished personalities also garlanded the statue.