The Hon. W.H.M. Dharmasena

¶ 01 [1.56 p.m.]

¶ 02 Hon. Deputy Chairperson, thank you for the opportunity to present brief views on the expenditure head of the Ministry of Public Administration, Provincial Councils and Local Government.

¶ 03 From the recent local authority elections, we all learned that the electoral system is very difficult and unsuitable. Both government and opposition faced problems in constituting councils and electing chairpersons. Therefore, I request the Hon. President to revert local authority elections to the previous preferential (PR) system.

¶ 04 There are 341 local authorities in our country. They generate their own revenue and implement development programmes in their areas, but face great difficulty as they are required to contribute 20% of their salary bill—many cannot. Additionally, cadres are not properly filled; in Buttala Pradeshiya Sabha, there is an excess of Development Officers, while technical officers are short. When they already cannot meet the 20% salary contribution, demanding it also for excess staff makes it impossible to function. I respectfully request that excess staff be redeployed to needed locations and that the government increase reimbursement of salary costs from 80% to 100% for local authorities.

¶ 05 On Grama Niladharis: many perform duties day and night with minimal support. They are not given adequate office rent—Rs. 3,000 in urban and Rs. 2,000 in rural areas—and only Rs. 600 per month for travel. For difficult rural service, this is unfair. I request raising office rent to Rs. 15,000 (urban) and Rs. 10,000 (rural), and that electricity bills of service centers be paid by the government.

¶ 06 In difficult districts like Monaragala, Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa, some GN divisions are unsuitable for women to serve due to safety and night duties. I request that 30–40% of GN recruitments be reserved for males to meet operational needs.

¶ 07 In Monaragala, the Madulla Divisional Secretariat is the most difficult. Four GN divisions—Galgamuwa, Nelliyadda, Mulleegama, Iginigala—are extremely difficult and 70 km from the Divisional Secretariat with poor transport. Service seekers must travel these distances, and officers too. I request that these four GN divisions be administratively attached to the closer Bibila Division.

¶ 08 Further, these four GN divisions have not been gazetted under any judicial division, creating difficulties for police and administrative officers in legal proceedings, including land cases. I request gazetting Iginigala under the Ampara judicial division (being nearer Ampara), and Mulleegama, Nelliyadda and Galgamuwa under the Bibila judicial division, to avoid case dismissals on jurisdictional technicalities.

¶ 09 I respectfully request the Hon. President to consider these practical measures for public convenience. Thank you, Hon. Deputy Chairperson, for the opportunity.