'Development should be done in consultation with the people'

W. T. J. S. Kaviratne Ambalangoda Special Corr.

"It is an unhealthy trend to impose development projects according to whims and fancies of certain politicians without consulting the people of the area on what they actually need," said the newly appointed Galle District SLFP Organizer and Presidential Coordinator, Sajin Vas Gunawardena making his keynote address at a media conference convened recently at Coral Gardewna Hotel, Hikkaduwa.

He further said that most frequently due to this faulty system which has been traditionally practiced by politicians, sometimes just to please certain political supporters, development programmes have been imposed unnecessarily and massive amounts of public funds and resources wasted.

Development projects for the rural sector should be identified not from the top but from the lower strata of the rural sector in accordance with their requirements benefiting the majority.

"In stakeholder development projects, the people of the area should be directly involved in it and they have the right to identify the development project which is most important for them. Then only they have a collective responsibility of its success." he said. During his survey in the whole of Galle district he had observed that many successful development programmes launched on the guidance of President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

In the development of the rural sector, the religious centres, temples, mosques and churches could play a pivotal role.

These religious centres should be the centres on discussing about the development of the villages. Unlike other politicians, he said he had no henchmen and any person in the Galle district could meet him personally without any agents, he stressed.

In order to identify the immediate requirements of the villagers and to facilitate the speedy collection of vital data he had already appointed his representatives in all the Gramaniladari divisions of the Galle district, he said.

According to this novel programme envisaged by him, the representatives were expected to meet the villagers at the religious centre of the particular village and interact with them about the rural level infrastructure development projects benefiting them. Consensus of the village community was of paramount importance in the success of the rural sector development, he stressed.