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Tit-for-tat: Govt. officials boycott NPC programme
View(s):Central Government officials boycotted a Northern Provincial Council mobile service, in what has been described as tit-for-tat, after Northern Chief Minister C.V. Wigneshwaran kept away from the District Development Council (DDC) meeting presided over by President Mahinda Rajapaksa in Jaffna on Monday.
The mobile service was organised in Nedunkerny in Vavuniya to resolve public problems related to land, passports, birth and death certificates and development activities among others. It was held on Friday and Saturday. However, only NPC officials took part in the event, while Central Government officials from Vavuniya kept away.
Vavuniya’s District Secretary Bandula Harishchandra said the mobile service was arranged without the consent of the Governor and the Chief Secretary, and hence, the officials did not attend the event. “They should have consulted the Governor or the Chief Secretary, who in turn would have contacted us to make the arrangements,” he said.
“The PC members and the local council members in Jaffna lost a golden opportunity to raise their issues and get responses directly from the President,” he said referring to the DDC meeting on Monday. “When they do not cooperate with the Central Government, how can we help them solve problems of the northern public,” he asked.
TNA MP Selvam Adaikalanathan charged that the officials did not show up at the last minute though they had informed earlier that they would come for the programme.
“The GA, the NPC Chief Secretary and other top officials did not attend the event. They are not representatives of the people to do politics. They are government servants. The People, who came here to solve problems with their National Identity Cards and Birth Certificates, went empty handed. There is a huge gap opening between the Central Government and the NPC, and the people are ultimately affected by this,” he said.
Earlier, the NPC Chief Minister declined an invitation to attend the DDC meeting, stating in a letter to the President, “The NPC was neither consulted nor informed of the necessity or agenda of this curious meeting that purports to deal with issues addressed in 2012, after a lapse of two years.”
During President Rajapaksa’s visit to the North, many development projects and infrastructure schemes were inaugurated. In his visit to the Kilinochchi District last Sunday, he gave away cheques worth Rs 100 million to 1,250 displaced personnel in the Northern Province, while land deeds and grants were offered to 20,000 settlers living in State lands in the province.