Local government institutions are servants of the people and should act as such at all times, says the President

Onlanka News – By Janaka Alahapperuma
(Pix by Chandana Perera)

President Mahinda Rajapaksa presided at a ceremony held at the Presidential Secretariat on 03 November at which up-to-date equipment and rescue vehicles, ambulances, and fogging machines were distributed, as appropriate, to local government authorities, the Disaster Management Centre, and the emergency and fire services. Of this, equipment to the value of 95 million rupees had been donated by the Royal Netherlands government. A further 12.5 million rupees worth of spray machines had been provided by the World Health Organisation ( WHO) to specifically assist local authorities in their fight against the dengue scourge.

In distributing this equipment to local authorities, His Excellency pointedly reminded them that ordinary villagers across the length and breadth of Sri Lanka had placed their trust in him and were looking to him to create a healthier and better future for them. He did not intend to let them down. Accordingly, he required local authorities as servants of the people to provide the services these villagers required with efficiency and effectiveness. The additional equipment distributed to them today, said the President, had been provided to enable them to better fulfill this requirement, and it would not please him if the authorities failed to deliver the service they owed to our village communities.

Mrs Leoni Kulenora, the Ambassador of the Royal Netherlands to Sri Lanka, Dr. F.R. Mehetha, the WHO Local Representative, Mr A H M Fowzie,Minister of Disaster Management, Mr A L M Athaulla, Minister of Local Government & Provincial Councils, Deputy Ministers W B Ekanayaka and Indika Bandaranayake, and other local government representatives were also present.