Local Government Week in September

by Uditha Kumarasinghe

The Provincial Councils and Local Government Ministry in collaboration with all Provincial Councils has made arrangements to conduct this year's `Local Government week' from September 12 to 18 in a more productive manner.

A Ministry spokesman told the Daily News that the Local Government week is annually conducted as a regional development project throughout the country under the full supervision of Provincial Councils. Previous years' Local Government week was conducted in June or July.

However, Provincial Councils and Local Government Minister Janaka Bandara Tennakoon who conducted a progress review on previous Local Government weeks decided to conduct this year's Local Government week in September with a facelift, he said.

"This year's Local Government week has laid more emphasis on the rehabilitation of the Tsunami affected areas. Local Government institutions have formulated a series of projects to be implemented during this week for the material and spiritual development of the public. These projects will give correct understanding to the public on the role of Local Government sector by soliciting active public participation to further develop the Local Government sphere."

This year's Local Government week as been finalised in keeping with the Government policy of strengthening the local government sector. The objective of the Local Government week is to make the functions of Local Government institutions into more systematic entities.

Minister Tennakoon requested all Local Government institutions to actively join hands with this islandwide program with dedication irrespective of politics to provide a more efficient public service. The Local Government week should be given a prominent place in the local government diary and should be turned into a continuous development process, he said.

Each day of the Local Government week that commences from September 12 to 18 has been named under a specific subject. Common projects and development activities will be conducted daily in connection with these subjects. September 12 has been named as the health and sanitary day.

Instructions have been given to Local Government institutions to conduct activities relating to water supply, drainage and sanitary facilities, garbage disposal, removal of buildings which are hazardous to public health, prevention of diseases, food inspection, city cleaning and health clinics on this day.

September 13 has been named as Education Day while September 14 is the Environmental Conservation Day. September 15 has been declared as the Development Day, September 16 as Public Utilities Day and September 17 as Information and Communications Day. The Local Government week will conclude on September 18.