Indian assistance in reforming local authorities in Sri Lanka

Minister of Provincial Councils and Local Government Faiszer Musthapha was on an official visit to India recently, in order to study and discuss about the performance of local authorities in India, as per the request of the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh in India, Nara Chandrababu Naidu who visited Sri Lanka several months ago.

Musthapha attended several events organised by the Chief Minister’s office at Andhra Pradesh. He also held several discussions with some State officers about the local governance in the area. 

Addressing media after the visit, Musthapha said: “I got the chance to study about the best structure of local governance in Andhra Pradesh which we can follow in order to overcome the issues pertaining to the local governance in Sri Lanka. It includes the way how the powers should be implemented in a certain local authority and how the officers should word accordingly. Though we have long term issues in the local governance system in Sri Lanka, none of the officers try to overcome them.

“The performance of the Indian officers is really appreciable and we Sri Lankans have lot of things to gain from them. They have their own procedure of delivering a regular service through their institutes. The officers are very dedicated and the quality of the services rendered by them is high. They pay a special attention towards the welfare of the general public, including matters regarding public health and controlling the stray dog population.”

During the discussions, the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh Nara Chandrababu Naidu had promised to offer special training programmes to Sri Lankan State officers in local governance and to offer required resource persons to hold these training programmes in Sri Lanka. 

Minister of Human Resource Development Siriniwas Rao, Minister of Municipal Administration and Urban Development, Urban Water Supply and Urban Planning, P. Narayana and several politicians attended the discussion. 

The two parties discussed updated issues related to the waste management, public health, introducing smart city, controlling stray dog population, and controlling fraud and corruption in local government institutions. It is very important to maintain a quality service in local authorities, as it is the closest government institute to the general public.