Tuesday, 28th October 2014
Nushka Nafeel
The Northern Provincial Council which completed one year since its establishment on October 24 had spent less than 25 percent of the allocations made to it by the Central government and that too was for the purchase of vehicles and luxury goods to the Chief Minister and his Cabinet of Ministers and not for any development activities thereby failing miserably to solve the problems of the people in the North, Northern Provincial Council Opposition Leader S. Thavaraja said yesterday.
He issued an open challenge to the TNA and the Northern Provincial Council Ministers for a debate saying he would prove that the Provincial Council did not perform the entrusted duties to it and it was the government that pefromed all duties for the betterment of the Tamils and for the development in the Northern Province.
He issued the challenge at a media briefing at the Government Information Department.
The NPC election was projected as the forerunner for a new beginning for the stabilisation of peace, for the building of trust and friendship, for accelerated development and for solutions to urgent problems created by the war. The three decade war is over and expectations have been raised for a more tranquil future, Thavaraja said.
“But vicious campaigns were carried out within the last year against the government that it did not work for the betterment of the people living in north,” he added.
The NP Opposition Leader said that one year has passed since the formation of the Northern Provincial Council.
“The TNA appealed to the voters in the North to support them promising that they would remove the armed forces and rebuild the province. They emphasised that they will create a better future for Tamils in the North. People voted them to power believing that they would serve them. But that was a miscalculation. What they have done for the past one year is the primary question now. The TNA only acted for their own benefit pretending that they served the Tamils,” Thavaraja said.
The people are looking forward to a life enriched by greater equity in society, guided by enlightened leadership, with emphasis on fairness in governance.The TNA is speaking against the country at every turn instead of helping the people in the North to uplift their lives. The leaders of the Northern Provincial Council enjoyed all the benefits including luxury vehicles handed over to them by the government. But, why don’t they make people enjoy the same benefits that they enjoy if they are so concerned about the well being of the Tamils, he added. Thavaraja said the government had shown more concern with regard to the lives of Tamils much more than the TNA.
“For the past one year many resolutions were forwarded by the PC but none of them were relevant to the Province. Their resolutions were about requests to the UN and many allegations against the government.”
He said that in accordance with the Sri Lankan constitution, the Provincial Councils have legislative power over a variety of matters including agriculture, education, health, housing, local government, planning, road transport and social services.The PC under the TNA did not perform what they were expected to do. They should have shown more concern for improvement because their inability is a hindrance for the development of the Northern Province, he said.
From : http://www.dailynews.lk/?q=political/npc-squandered-allocations-luxuries
