Peace all over country - Acting Minister

The public and the private sector have gained an opportunity to work in an environment of peace with the defeat of terrorism, said acting Posts and Telecommunications Minister Nandana Gunatilleke when he attended a meeting to discuss problems in the Posts and Telecommunications sector at the Palindanuwara Divisional Secretariat office on Thursday. Gunatilleke said that even though the Government made a small saving from its income due to the ending of war, it had to bear a heavy expenditure now for the re-settlement and development program in the North and East.

Governments in the past had diverted all funds for the development of the South neglecting the North and East to a great extent. Now there was true peace in the North and East for free travel due to the sacrifices made by our war heroes, the Minister said.

He said urgent steps had been taken by his immediate predecessors to develop the postal system and he hoped to continue those measures without interruption.

The filling of vacancies had lagged behind due to lack of Treasury funds.

He said the discussion had helped him to identify many problems in the postal service such as transport, delay in settlement of bills and non-payment of increments which he hoped to solve in consultation with other institutions and postal officials.