People’s Platform urges for joint action
On a request made by the public, the Divisional Secretariat of Kalmunai Tamil division will conduct a joint investigation with the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC) andTransparency International Sri Lanka (TISL) to look into the malpractices alleged to have taken place in the Tsunami housing projects in the area.
This request was made at the People’s Platform (PP) held on October 20th at Christha Illam hall in Kalmunai with the participation of officials from the Divisional Secretariat, CIABOC, TISL and the public. The PP took place after the successful completion of the exhibition organized by TISL. The OIC of Kalmunai Police and several other department officials also took part in the PP.
The residents of the area charged that houses built for Tsunami victims were given to other people who were either supporters or friends of the politicians on the recommendation of Government officials. While most of the people are suffering without shelter, the supporters of the relevant officers are enjoying with more than one houses in different places, they said.
Replying the critics, Divisional Secretary K.Lavanadan said his office has received several complaints from the public. According to him, several politicians also intervened and tried to solve the problem but failed. More than 1000 houses were built in a private land in Kalmunai and now no one can enter the premises. “We are working tirelessly with Government Agent to solve this issue”, he said.
He also revealed that some of the houses given to tsunami victims were not being used by the owners since their job stations are far away.
Another issue raised at the PP was corruption in road development. The works is done through rural developments societies where corruption is rampant and contracts were issued to several politicians and officers, they complained. The CIABOC official requested the public to make complaints so that action could be taken.
CIABOC received more than 25 complaints during the exhibition on corruption and the official assured that these would be followed up.
The absence of officials to serve the public was another issue taken up at the People’s Platform. Visiting the Divisional Secretariat, TISL found that most of the staff were not in their seats during the office hours.
Divisional Secretary Lavanadan said from Monday to Friday all the staff members were expected to be in office unless they were assigned for any other official duty. When they are on leave, special relief duty arrangements were made.
“The public did not know that every Wednesday is people’s day in the Secretariat. Now we have made arrangements to inform the public and we ensure most of the staff and ‘gramaseva niladharis’ are present at the Secretariat to sort out the problems. On other weekdays, either myself or the administrative officer attend to the public,” he explained.
Meanwhile, administrative officer K. Puwanarajah said that due to lack of knowledge and training, the officers found it difficult to cope with the problems raised by the public. A complaints box has been placed at the Secretariat for the public to drop their complaints. He assured that action is taken on the complaints made.
The moderator at the PP which was initiated by TISL was Vijaya Kumar.