State Institutions must conform to national language policy

Chaminda Perera

The National Language and Social Integration Ministry will take stern action against the government officials who fail to provide service to citizens due to the language barrier.

The Call Centre established by the Ministry yesterday, will directly be in communication with the Government institution concerned when the people face obstacles with regard to the use of language of their preference at the particular public institution.

According to National Language and Social Integration Minister Vasudeva Nanayakkara, action would be taken against any officer who refused to obtain the services of Call Centre when the institution concerned does not have the facility to provide services due to the communication gap.

The Call Centre will also intervene when a Government institution fails to execute their duties in conformity with the National Language Policy, he said.

He said that all documents in State Banks has to conform to the of national Language Policy by December 31. The Languages Department operating under the Ministry has translated to a number of documents in State Banks.

The Public Administration Ministry has decided to appoint officials who have knowledge in two languages in 32 Divisional Secretariats where people e use more than one language following the intervention of the Ministry, he said.

The Minister said that the Tamil speaking people have some political expectation and the President and the Cabinet of Ministers should take action to meet the political aspiration of the Tamil Speaking people.

Minister Nanayakkara said that his Ministry is involved in the implementation of the language policy to ensure equality among the communities. Ministry Secretary Malkanthi Wickremesinghe also spoke.