Govt. pushes for decentralisation to minimise crowd gathering in cities

The Government has decided to decentralise the operations of several public institutions in the Colombo and Gampaha districts as part of its COVID- 19 pandemic measure aimed at reducing the number of people visiting the cities.

The decentralisation would be effected through regional offices and District/Divisional Secretariats.

In a circular issued by the Presidential Secretary, Ministries, government institutions and statutory corporations in the Colombo and Gampaha districts are instructed to take initiatives to ensure service delivery arrangements across the country with limited staff.

Among the 54 institutions whose services would be decentralised to their regional offices or Divisional/ District Secretariats a re: The Dep a r t m e n t of Immigration and Emigration, the Motor Traffic Department, the Department of Registration of Persons, the Department of Pensions, the Department of Labor National Transpor t Medical Institute, the Land Commissioner General's Department, the National Water Supply and Drainage Board and the S u r ve yo r G e n e r a l ' s Department.

The move, according to the circular seen by the Sunday Times, is to facilitate the gradual return to normalcy after more than a month long island wide curfew. The move is also aimed at minimising congestion in towns.

It comes as the government also makes plans with regard to other major challenges such as school reopening and reorganization of transport modes.

Heads of institutions are instructed to assign more staff to regional offices while maintaining a minimum staff strength at the head office to carry out only high- level and mandatory functions.

"This work arrangement will facilitate the general public to obtain their services more conveniently during this period of travel limitations and also ease people and vehicular congestion in the Colombo and Gampaha districts," the circular stated.

Heads of institutions are also instructed to delegate authority to officers in charge of respective decentralized offices where necessary and make use of digital communication tools to ensure smooth performance of newly assigned functions.

The circular also noted that additional spending should not be incurred for arrangements of work due to redeployment as strict measures have to be taken to control public spending.