Patchwork remedies, no solution - President

The time has come to find lasting solutions to problems faced by the people by ending the era of resorting to mere patchwork, said President Mahinda Rajapaksa when he addressed a group of parliamentarians from the Kandy District at Temple Trees on Tuesday.

The President said Kandy is a heritage city which sheltered the Sacred Tooth Relic of the Buddha and as such people of Sri Lanka as a whole should honour and respect it and hold it in high esteem.

The parliamentarians present lamented that colossal funds allocated for the development of Kandy by the central government and the Central Provincial Council could not be utilized in a proper and fruitful manner due to inefficiency of the Kandy MC and the obstacles placed by it.

It was agreed at this meeting to allocate a permanent place for people engaged in self-employment schemes in Kandy town, including pavement hawkers, a press release by the President's Media Division said.

Environment Deputy Minister and UNP Parliamentarian A R M Abdul Cader who was present at the meeting, said he would make a dedicated effort to ensure a victory for the "Betel Leaf" at the forthcoming Kandy Municipal Council elections.

"Since the UPFA had received a massive people's mandate to govern the country a great service could be rendered to Kandy city if the UPFA was returned to power at the Kandy MC," he added.

President Rajapaksa who said that it was his prime desire to transform Kandy into a clean, full-fledged and active city added that the government on its part would make a dedicated endeavour to realise that aim.

Ministers Susil Premjayantha, Basil Rajapaksa, Sarath Amunugama, S B Dissanayake and Mahindananda Aluthgamage, Central Province Chief Minister Sarath Ekanayake, Deputy Ministers Faiszer Mustapha, and Earl Gunasekara, Parliamentarians Dilum Amunugama, Eric Prasanna Weerawardena and UPFA candidates contesting the Kandy MC elections were also present.