North Central Governor Maheepala Herath said that some line Ministries neglect or bypass the Provincial Councils and 13th Amendment.
The Governor was participating in a discussion with the Monetary Commission through Zoom on the progress of the provisions for maintenance under the recurrent expenditure of the North Central Province for 2022.
The Governor also said that the line Ministries were not well aware of the Provincial Council System. “The Chief Secretary of a Provincial Council is the Chief Accounting Officer. The Central Government Ministries shall work preserving the dignity of the Chief Secretary portfolio. Some linear Ministries get down provincial council officials without the knowledge of the Chief Secretary to Colombo. It seems that the Secretary of Provincial Councils and the Local Government Ministry has a wrong impression that the Provincial Chief Secretary work under him and work without proper understanding. Therefore, it is very difficult to maintain amicable relationship between and among the institutions,” he said.
“The Provincial Council and the Chief Secretary are put in to a great inconvenience and difficulty when a linear Ministry continuously vesting various responsibilities on our provincial council officials. This is a very serious situation to be done away with. When the identity of the provincial council image is in jeopardy, the Provincial Council will find it difficult to administer its officials. Due to such type of unwarranted, unacceptable and unaccountable practices, the public think that the Provincial Council is a white elephant,” the Governor added.
North Central Provincial Council Deputy Secretary (Finance) W.M.G. Wijesinghe urged the Monetary Commission to have Rs. 210 Million to realise the bill arrears for continuing work. It was disclosed at the Progress Review Meeting that the progress in the provincial maintenance badly affected from the shortage of diesel.
Monetary Commission Chairman Sumith Abesnghe, Secretary A.T.M.U.B.D. Tennakoon, North Central Chief Secretary Chandrasiri Bandara, Secretary to the Governor Nayana Dassanayake and Chief Ministry Secretary N.H.R. Nishantha were present.
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