Ceylon
Daily News: Sri Lanka: Tuesday, September 25, 2018.
Public
officers should provide the required information under the Right to Information
(RTI) Act without any delay to the public who are the real heirs of the Act,
Additional Secretary to the Finance and Mass Media Ministry Thilaka Jayasundara
said.
She
was the chief guest at the RTI Mobile Service programme organised by the
Ministry yesterday at Weerasingham Hall in Jaffna.
About
700 beneficiaries of the Act including children, youths, and elders from all
the five districts of the Northern Province facing various difficulties and
social issues participated in this mobile camp yesterday.
Jayasundara
said the RTI Act introduced to the country by the coalition government under
the leadership of the President and the Prime Minister could be used to secure
the people’s rights and democracy in the country and also build a fair, equal,
and just society.
The
UN has proclaimed September 28 as International RTI Day and Sri Lanka plans to
celebrate that day on a grand scale this year, for the second time. The week
from September 21 – 28 has been declared as RTI Week and many programmes have
been launched to empower the public, she said.
All
these programmes are being implemented on the instructions of Minister Mangala
Samaraweera, State Minister Eran Wickramaratne, and Deputy Minister Lasantha
Alagiyawanna under the guidance of Treasury Secretary R.H.S. Samaratunga.
Government
Information Director General Sudarshana Gunawardhana, attorney-at-law Jagath
Liyanarachchi, Nalaka Gunwardhane and several others participated in the mobile
service as resource persons.