The Democratic Youth Congress and the Peoples Foundation organized a conference yesterday at the office auditorium of various cooperative services limited in Kandy based on the theme “Let the provincial council of our province protect our rights and our resources.” Chairman of the Commission Mahinda Deshapriya, former provincial council member Jayalath Bandara, former provincial council member Raja Uswata Keiyawa, Democratic Youth Congress leader K. Arjuna, and Peoples Foundation Chairman Eric Herath, among a large number of civil organizations and youths from Kandy district, participated in this event. In this conference, Mr. Mahinda Deshapriya said, As a democratic country, the provincial council is essential, and if someone says that the provincial council is not essential for this country, then a president or a cabinet is also not essential for this country.
It is also said that even now, the provincial councils are not functioning according to the standards of the people and are functioning under the control of government officials. Because of this, he further said that government officials are not directly responsible for those problems when questioning any activity of the Provincial Council, and if there are representatives of the people, this situation will change a lot.
When the provincial council is functioning at present, there is no system to get the opinion of the people for it, and therefore, people’s representatives appointed by the people should be appointed to the provincial council as soon as possible. It was further said that the people are being misled by saying that money is being wasted and not even one percent of the state income is spent on the members of the provincial council.
Meanwhile, the second conference, organized jointly by the Democratic Youth Congress and the Peoples Foundation under the theme ‘Let’s get the provincial council of our province to protect our rights and our resources’, was held yesterday evening in the auditorium of the Ministry of Agriculture of the North Western Provincial Council.
Former Chairman of the Election Commission and Chairman of the Delimitation Commission Mahinda Deshapriya, former Member of Provincial Council Jayalath Bandara, leader of the Democratic Youth Congress K. Arjuna, Peoples Foundation Chairman Eric Herath, Democratic Youth Congress Kurunegala district leader Mr. Dinuka Lakshan, and many representatives of civil organizations and young people from that district participated.
Presenting the guest speech of this program, Mr. Mahinda Deshapriya said,
“Women and young people should actively participate in politics, and at the time when the elections are kept hidden, the community can be informed about the provincial councils by organizing such meetings. Also, distributing power to provincial councils in order to develop the country He further said that there should be competition between the provinces for development, and he sees more improvement in the northern and eastern provinces due to this provincial council system than in the southern provinces.
