People seeking information under the Right to Information (RTI) Act are being severely inconvenienced due to there being no proper mechanism to make payments to public authorities situated outside the district where they are requesting information from.
The problem has come up when information has to be sought from the head offices of public authorities, which are situated in Colombo.
Recently, a request for information from the Department of Agrarian Development resulted in the requester being told by the Information Officer of the Colombo based head office to make a payment of Rs 42 to obtain the information. However, when the requester tried to pay the money at the Hambantota District Department of Agrarian Development, the official there refused. She also did not know how the payment could be made to obtain the information short of going to Colombo itself.
By Rahul Samantha Hettiarachchi
Ajith Gallage, the owner of a Bird Park in Nagarawawa, Hambantota, has been remanded over allegations of concealing illegally imported motorcycles, in a warehouse owned by him.
The final rites of veteran broadcaster, writer, and lyricist Nirmala de Alwis will be held today at Peradeniya.
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