He also mentioned that a new sign language vocabulary of 320 election-related words has been introduced for the hearing impaired community and plans are being made to provide maximum facilities including accessibility to the activities of the disabled community.
He said this when the Departmental Oversight Committee on a transparent and accountable government met recently (11).
Member of Parliament Jagath Kumara Sumatirarachchi, Chairman of the Departmental Oversight Committee on Transparent and Accountable Government, said that it is the responsibility of all government officials to implement the recommendations given to government agencies invited to the Departmental Oversight Committee on Transparent and Accountable Government in the last one year and to take action in accordance with the Public Administration Circular 27/2023.
Senior officials of the concerned institutions were invited before the committee to examine the progress of implementation of the recommendations made to the Ministry of Public Administration, Home Affairs, Provincial Councils and Local Government, Ministry of Education, Western Provincial Council, Ministry of Transport and Highways, Ministry of Mass Media and Election Commission. The implementation of the Public Administration Circular No. 27/2023 published by the committee was also examined here and the Electoral Commission’s 2023 performance report was also taken into consideration.
Attention was also drawn here to the Committee’s earlier instruction that finger painting is unnecessary to indicate confirmation of identity during elections. The Chief Election Commissioner Saman Sri Ratnayaka said that a cabinet document was submitted to cancel the import of finger paints and the cabinet has decided not to implement it on this occasion. It was discussed here that eliminating the finger painting process would save a lot of money, time and labor. Accordingly, the chairman of the committee instructed the Election Commissioner to submit all the proposals related to the amendment of the Election Act to the committee.
He also said that many more positive measures have been taken for the disabled people in the upcoming elections and for the first time in the presidential election, a special tactile ballot paper will be introduced for the insensitive community. He mentioned that a new sign language vocabulary of 320 election-related words has been introduced for the hearing-impaired community and plans are being made to provide maximum facilities, including access facilities, to the activities of the disabled community.
In addition, the committee also instructed to appoint individual officials at the ministry level and conduct awareness sessions to create awareness among all government officials about transparent and accountable government service. Chairman of the committee Jagat Kumara Sumathirarachchi said that he appreciates the government institutions that are already implementing this.
Also, the officials of the Ministry of Education have been instructed to take action to inform the education authorities including the principals in this regard.
The Director General of Pensions Department was also informed about the need to prepare a scheme for obtaining the names of persons who die during the payment of pension from the Office of the Registrar General. The committee also pointed out that it would ensure the ability to carry out the work with more transparency and avoid inconveniences in obtaining the life certificate.
The chairman of the committee also emphasized the need to prepare a fair program to pass on the benefits of fuel price reduction to the people. Officials here said they expect to take further steps to improve the formula used for bus fare revision as per the current status.
The chairman of the committee pointed out the need to run some special trains during the railway strike. The chairman of the committee suggested that special trains should be put into service for tourists especially since tourism, which is the main source of income of this country, will decline.
Members of Parliament Wajira Abeywardhana, Mohamed Muzammil, Rohana Bandara, Jayantha Weerasinghe, Marjan Faleel, W.H.M. Dharmasena participated in this committee meeting.
