'Development war must begin now'

Lakshmi de Silva

It's time to start a development war. We should work day and night without considering obstacles like in a war. Schools, private and Government institutions should now start the war on development, Labour Relations and Manpower Minister Athauda Seneviratne told the National Productivity Awards ceremony at the BMICH yesterday.

"Productivity was first introduced to the private sector and it was limited to Colombo. But now it has reached the rural areas and schools in remote areas.

"Private sector always looks for profits but the Government instead provides a service and thinks of social welfare. Now with productivity, Government institutions could also provide a better service," he said.

Productivity should be started from schools and it could be used even to manage beautiful home gardens and to increase domestic productivity. We all should work, work and work to develop Sri Lanka and a single leader could not it alone," he noted.

After a destructive war now it's time for us to build a beautiful Sri Lanka. There are many private sector institutions but there is only one State Service which provides 300 services form birth to death of a person and it should be provided systematically, Secretary to the President Lalith Weeratunga said.

The Sri Lanka Air Force had won the first place this year after an exemplary performance on the battle field.

Even schoolchildren were fortunate to learn about productivity because it paves the way to become a good citizen, he said.

He commended Labour Relations and Manpower Ministry Secretary Mahinda Madihahewa's time management.