Prime Minister, Mr. Dinesh Gunawardena

The Prime Minister, Mr. Dinesh Gunawardena, said that action will be taken to establish a sub-committee consisting of members of Parliament to revise the laws of local government that have been in force for nearly a century to suit the current social requirements. He said this at the meeting of the Advisory Committee of the Ministry of Public Administration, Home Affairs, Provincial Councils and Local Government held on …….

This sub-committee is to be appointed in order to obtain recommendations regarding certain changes that should be made in the laws of local government in view of the current rapid urbanization and the proposal brought by the Kegalle District Member of Parliament, Mr. Sudath Manjula, that since transferring the trained and experienced officers of the local government bodies is recognized as a serious problem that hinders the delivery of services by those institutions more effectively, the officers who were given training opportunities in each subject of the respective local government institutions, spending money of those institutions, should perform the duties related to that subject for at least 5 years.

The Prime Minister has paid special attention to performing the daily activities of the local government bodies, which currently function without public representatives, in a more people-friendly manner. The Prime Minister mentioned that people face many difficulties as certain local government bodies are slow in dealing with problems such as natural disasters and the dengue menace, and that special attention will be paid to the implementation of a planned program to minimize the situation in the future.

The Prime Minister also instructed that officers of the Administrative Service who have been serving in the provincial councils for a long time should be included in the transfer process on the same basis as other government officials without granting any special privilege to them.

The Prime Minister stated that the money allocated to the provincial councils in the year 2024 should be spent with the approval of the district coordinating committees and divisional coordinating committees functioning in each district.

Member of Parliament, Mr. K. Dileepan, mentioned that as a result of the Prime Minister’s visit to Vavuniya, the issuance of birth and death certificates, which has been delayed, is now being done without delay, and special thanks should be given to the Prime Minister for that.

The Prime Minister instructed the Secretary of the Ministry to promptly implement the proposal made by Member of Parliament, Mr. K. Karunakaram, to transfer Divisional Secretaries who have been serving in the same workplace for a long time in the Batticaloa district, within the same district, so as not to cause any discrimination based on their ethnicity.

State Ministers Mr. Ashoka Priyantha and Mr. Janaka Vakkambura, several members of Parliament representing the government and the opposition and several officials, including the Secretary of the Ministry of Public Administration, Mr. Ranjith Ashoka, were present on this occasion.