Coming soon: ICT-enabled Govt. institution to solve people’s woes

An ICT-enabled Government institution that can provide solutions to people’s complaints will be set up soon. President’s Secretary Lalith Weeratunga says that extensive study has been done in this regard.

This people’s complaint management programme will be implemented parallel to 1919 or Government Information Centre (GIC).  

Weeratunga emphasised that while this complaint management programme would be run directly under the supervision of the President, all its activities would be ICT enabled. The President’s Secretary said so while participating at the inauguration of the ‘e-Divisional Secretariat’ project at the Colombo Divisional Secretariat recently.

Delivering his address on the occasion, the President’s Secretary said that it was the duty of every Government official to provide a good service to the people. “The computer can do many things. But it cannot win the hearts of the people. Only a Government official can do this,” Weeratunga said.

The President’s Secretary said that the wish of President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who understood the pulse of the people, was to bring a smile to the faces of the people who come to Government institutions with tears in their eyes. The Secretary said that this could be done by Government officials and that the necessary environment was now being created toward this end.

Speaking further on the occasion, the Presidential Secretary said that the people were inclined to lay their problems directly before the President because they looked upon him as the person they elected and that he believed that this was a positive value of the executive presidency.

Participating in the occasion, Public Administration and Home Affairs Minister D. J. Seneviratne said that projects like this were helpful for creating a positive view about Government institutions in the minds of the people  and that steps would be taken to implement the ‘e-Divisional Secretariat Project’ islandwide in the future.

Colombo District MP Thilanga Sumathipala said that this project would contribute to making public service more efficient and that there should be no baseless fear about information and communication technology, which was a new experience to public service.

Sumathipala said that after the end of the war, people were keenly looking forward to the benefits of development and that Government officials had the responsibility to ensure that the people’s expectations were fulfilled.

ICTA COO Reshan Dewapura said that the ‘e-Sri Lanka’ initiative, which was a concept of President Rajapaksa, was rendered more meaningful by projects like this, which could be considered an important milestone in public service.