The Prime Minister pointed out that even though it has been more than three months since the instructions were given to submit a district development plan, the district secretaries have not taken steps to submit even a rough plan, and reiterated that the plan should be submitted immediately.
Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena mentioned this when the committee for preparing a suitable program for monitoring the activities of the local governments met at Temple Trees on 12.05.2023.
Many matters and methods including continuity of various projects implemented by the local government institutions, management of financial allocations of those institutions, supervision and maintenance of all activities are coordinated through this committee and its progress was discussed here.
The Prime Minister asked to identify the areas that should be given priority in the District and submit a rough District development plan to the committee as soon as possible. He also advised them to obtain the support of the officials in the District in this regard.
He further said that it should include information about development plans that can be implemented in each District, plans that are not yet implemented and the resources available.
Pointing out that the President has already received a complete report on the convening and non-convening of District Development Committees, the Prime Minister said that if steps are not taken to convene the District Development Committees with the participation of the Governors in consultation with the Chairpersons of the Development Committees, steps will be taken to notify the President’s Office regarding officials who are not fulfilling their responsibilities.
This committee was established three months back as per the instructions of President Ranil Wickramasinghe to properly manage the activities of the Local Government bodies as their term of office ended on March 19th.
Minister Douglas Devananda, Prasanna Ranatunga, Nasir Ahmed, State Ministers Ranjith Siyambalapitiya, Janaka Vakkambura, Shehan Semasinghe, Ashoka Priyantha, Governors, District Coordination Committee Co-Chairmen, Prime Minister’s Secretary Mr. Anura Dissanayake, Public Administration, Home Affairs, Provincial Councils and Local Government Ministry Secretary Mr. Ranjith Ashoka and several others were present on the occasion.