(Peanut vendor in Jaffna, Sri Lanka by Mark Wiens )
President Maithripala Sirisena has given the green light to Northern Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran to launch the Northern Chief Minister’s Fund for development activities in the Northern Province.
President Sirisena convened a special meeting with the Chief Ministers of all nine Provinces at the Presidential Secretariat on Monday evening.
During the meeting several issues of the Provinces were discussed by the President with the Chief Ministers and other relevant officials.
Northern Chief Minister Wigneswaran met President Sirisena separately at the end of the meeting and explained to the President his objectives in launching the Chief Minister’s Fund for reconstruction and rehabilitation activities in the Northern Province.
Informed sources said that President Sirisena was briefed extensively by Chief Minister Wigneswaran on the necessity of setting up the Chief Minister’s Fund for the Northern Province. Wigneswaran brought to the notice of the President that since the Northern Province had been devastated by war, the allocations made by the Central Government for the Northern Provincial Council were not adequate for development in the Northern Province.
The Chief Minister also told the President that with the setting up of the Chief Minister’s Fund, monetary assistance could also be obtained from expatriate Tamils.
Wigneswaran has also said the intended Chief Minister’s Fund would be transparent and would be established in a manner in which the Central Government would have access to audit the fund.
Following the briefing by the Northern Chief Minister President Sirisena gave him the green light to launch the fund, informed sources said. (PA)
CT