Highest priority to developpoorest Divisional Secretariat areas

Rohan MATHES

COLOMBO: The development of the poorest Divisional Secretariats of the district should be of highest priority, observed President Mahinda Rajapaksa at the district development progress review meeting at President’s House in Kandy on Thursday.

On notification by the Ministers that funds are not utilised for beneficial purposes, President Rajapaksa stressed that the monies from the decentralised budget should be utilised strictly for useful purposes only.

“The plans and proposals for them should be submitted and funds for the implementation of the said proposals should be allocated,” he added.

Having identified certain demographic and other factors of the Kandy district and the impact of these factors on the development of the district, President Rajapaksa said a network joining all the Divisional Secretariats was necessary so that the benefits of development could be shared by all villages in an equittable manner.

The President added that the distribution of resources should not be in any way based on race or religion.

Explaining the legal aspects of granting approval for the ‘Development Projects Estimation’, the President pointed out that the Divisional Secretaries were vested with the powers of amending projects upto Rs. 500,000.

Development projects over Rs. 500,000 and upto Rs. two million could be amended by the District Secretary.

Projects over Rs. 20 lakhs in value could only be amended by the Ministry, the President added.