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UPFA members of the Central Provincial Council are openly expressing their dissatisfaction against the non-appointment of a minister for the industries portfolio. This portfolio also covers textiles, youth affairs and women's affairs. At present Chief Minster Sarath Ekanayaka overlooks the work of the ministry. It is believed that the UPFA is holding it vacant for a member of the CWC possibly Mr. V. Radhakrishnan who held the portfolio under the previous UNF-CWC administration. But the UPFA members of the CPC point out that this is unfair both to the members of their party as well as the people of the province. A senior member of the UPFA group in CPC who spoke to The Kandy News on condition of anonymity questioned whether the party leadership cannot find a single member who is competent to be a minister from among its ranks. “We have 30 members in the 60 member council and we do not need the support of any other group to run the administration,” he said. He also noted that of the Rs 8,900m that came to the CPC under the peace effort of the Wickremasinghe administration Rs 2,200m is set aside for the industries ministry. The money that is not used in the next two months will revert back to the Colombo General Treasury. This would be a great loss to the people of the province, he added. UNF leader of the Council Wasantha Aluviharare had given notice of a question on why the appointment was not being made but the Chief Minster did not answer the question at the last CPC meeting held on October 8th and 9th. Senior Staff Correspondent Sarath Doolwela contributed to this report. |
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text from home page At a time when the central province needs every cent it can get to finance essential development projects, the Central Provincial Council (CPC) is risking losing as much as Rs 700 million that the Central Government granted it at the beginning of the current financial year. The latest provincial accounts that The Kandy News scrutinized recently show that only Rs 184m out of a total of Rs 890m that the CPC had got from the Treasury at the beginning of the year had been spent by end of September. According to CPC sources Rs 670m had been earmarked for specific development projects. Of this amount only Rs 156m (23%) had been spend by September 30th. Rs 220m had been given with an open mandate to allow CPC to choose new projects and programs. Of this amount only Rs 28m (13%) had been spent by the end of September. From the accounts it is clear that only the education ministry had shown some progress in capital expenditure having used Rs 92m (50%) of the allocation of Rs 184m. In sharp contrast the health ministry had spent only Rs 21m (12%) of a total of Rs 174m. Minor irrigation has an allocation of Rs 20m but actual expenditure at the end of nine months was only Rs 15,000 or less than 1%. Over and above the Rs 890m CPC also has another Rs 380m in donor money for “special projects” Of this amount only Rs 74m (19%) had been spent by the end of August. The Matale Economic Development Project had Rs 225m, largest allocation in this segment, but only Rs 33m (15%) had been spent. A part of under-expenditure in CPC capital funds may be attributable to the fact that the Council was dissolved in the first half of the year and fresh elections were held to elect a new council. However, reliable CPC sources told The Kandy News that that was not the entire story. Under spending is partly the result of inefficient administration and a lethargic bureaucracy, they asserted. Moreover, corruption also played a role in this, they said. Some CPC members deliberately delayed spending in the first half of the year in order to justify accelerated spending in the second half. Claiming that time was running out they forced the Council to relax tender procedures and award contracts to their henchmen, our sources maintained. When The Kandy News asked the Chief Minister Mr. Sarath Ekanayaka (UPFA) for his opinion he pointed out that he assumed off ice only in Mid July and that he could not take responsibility for what happened in the first six months of the year under a UNF administration. He claimed that plans were afoot to spend at least 90% of the funds that were available to the Council. We will seek the cooperation of the opposition to accomplish this task he said. The leader of the opposition in CPC Mr. Wasantha Aluvihare (UNF) blamed the governing party for the under-expenditure. Mr. Jayawardane noted that CPC got Rs 890m partly as a “peace dividend” and partly based on the large amount of work that it did in 2003. We have offered our cooperation to the administration but the ruling party has spurned that offer he claimed. Full
text from home page Rs 65 million government grant for desilting Almost every institution and private residence in close proximity to the Kandy Lake including six tourist hotels, twenty-five guest houses, three schools, six religious institutions, and residences extending from Ampitiya to Peiris Watta and Rajapihilla Mawatha are equally guilty of polluting the lake. Director of Irrigation and Senior Engineer Mrs. Y G M C Godaliyadda stated this publicly at a meeting that Kandy Mayor Kesara Senanayake summoned recently to get the views of the public on conservation of the lake. She pointed out that domestic waste water and in some cases untreated sewage flowed to the lake. A plan was prepared a few years ago to divert the polluted water to the Meda Ela. But that was shelved in the hope that the proposed Kandy Sewerage Project would take care of the problem, she said. Central Province Governor Monty Gopallawa addressing the meeting announced that at his request the central government has provided Rs 65m as a grant for the conservation of the lake.
Mayor Senanayake lamented the fact that many of those who criticized
the Kandy Municipal Council (KMC) for neglecting the lake were not
present at the meeting when something constructive was happening
and the Council needed public support for it. In reply to a question raised by The Kandy News Mrs. Godaliyadda admitted that there was no Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) for the Kandy Lake. She admitted that such an assessment was essential. Several officials present including the mayor and the UDA Director Janaki Hettiarachchi made a public commitment to have an EIA done with the assistance of the Central Environment Authority. Kandy District parliamentarian Dimuthu Abeykoon pointed out that in addition to the committee of state officials assigned the task of conserving the Kandy Lake there is another body consisting of representatives of civil society and concerned public that Mayor Senanayake has established to assist in the task. Mr. Abeykoon urged that the latter body too should be regularly consulted when the lake is rehabilitated.
Kandy District MP Ven. Uduwe Dahmmaloka Thera, Deputy Mayor L B
Aluvihare, KMC Leader of the Opposition Sena Dissanayake, Municipal
Commissioner T. Wickremasinghe, as well as a large number of other
officials, business people, and private residents of the Kandy Lake
area participated in the meeting. |
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