The Minister of Public Administration, Provincial Councils and Local Government, Professor Chandana Abayaratne has stated that since the Divisional Coordination Committee is the foremost development mechanism in any area, officers must attend its meetings without fail and must prioritize this meeting over any other organizational meeting. 

The Minister expressed these views today (18) while participating in the Karuwalagaswewa Divisional Coordination Committee meeting in the Puttalam district.

The Minister had declared this stance while inquiring about the officers who were absent from the meeting. He emphasized that, according to the decisions taken at the District Coordination Committee meeting, if the relevant public officers summoned to the Divisional Coordination Committee meetings to resolve public issues fail to attend without providing a reasonable cause, it would disrupt the development work of the entire area, according to a statement issued by the Ministry of Public Administration, Provincial Councils and Local Government. 

He further stated that such committee meetings are held to resolve the issues of the people, and it is the responsibility of the relevant public officers to provide prompt solutions to those issues. 

Speaking further, the Minister instructed that public officers should not schedule any other external meetings on the days when Divisional Coordination Committee meetings are held, the statement said. 

The Minister mentioned that if an officer has another meeting scheduled, they could alter the dates of those meetings by informing them about the Coordination Committee meeting, or arrange for another officer to attend. 

“Officers must be aware of the decisions taken here. No officer is permitted to skip these meetings for activities of funeral assistance societies or other organizations, except under humanitarian circumstances such as a sudden illness,” Minister Prof. Chandana Abayaratne further emphasized. 

Requests received from the public regarding various sectors related to regional development activities and prompt solutions that can be provided for them were discussed at the meeting. 

It was also decided at this meeting to hold a mobile land clinic in the future to resolve the land issues of the people expeditiously, the statement added. 

The Chairman of the Karuwalagaswewa Pradeshiya Sabha Neil Navaratne, Vice Chairman I. M. Chandradasa, and other public representatives of the Pradeshiya Sabha, officials including the Coordinating Secretary to the Minister, Divisional Secretary Sandhya Mathara Arachchi, along with staff officers of the Divisional Secretariat and many public officers, participated in this event.