Political leadership, officials should collaborate in development work

COLOMBO:The district development activities of most of the areas of the country has been failed due to lack of cooperation.

But in the Matara district, the district political leadership and the district officials including the District Secretary and the other officials who are working in the development activities have achieved a good result due to their cooperation, said the Minister of Housing and Construction, Ferial Ashraff at the progress review meeting held at Matara district office of the National Housing Development Authority (NHDA) recently.

At this progress review meeting she said "It is not the responsibility of the officials to present the problems to the higher authorities or the political leaders when problems occur working as officials. They should present the problems to the management with a solution.

That is the expectation of the general public from the officials. Usually officials will present the problems to the relevant authorities and remain silent without taking any solutions. This has been highlighted in the process of finding a solution to the current ethnic problem in Sri Lanka.

After electing the President and the Government from people's mandate, the people will think that all solutions for these problems should be found by the President and the Government.

As the citizens of the country we have a responsibility and should perform certain duties when finding solutions for all the national issues.

We have to think whether we are doing any benefits to the society with the activities of the institutions we are serving at, as we care about our family affairs.

Present government has provided immediate compensation to the communities which were affected by the tsunami disaster due to the assistance provided by the political leadership, District Secretary and the other officials of Matara district. But in Kalmunai area which I am representing is totally different from this situation", she said.

Matara District Secretary Gamini Jayasekera, NHDA District Manager of Matara Soma Dolamulla also spoke at this progress review meeting. Chairman Mohamed Rafeek, General Manager Wasantha Wijeratne of NHDA and other district officials of the NHDA also participated.