Public Accounts Committee tells CMC to have action plans approved in line with annual budget

The Committee on Public Accounts told the Colombo Municipal Council that it has to prepare its action plans in line with the Annual Budget and have them approved at the beginning of every financial year.

Given that the Auditor General’s reports have revealed that a proper action plan for 2020 and 2021 were not approved, the Committee stressed the need to take immediate action to prevent such situations in the future.

These facts were disclosed at the Committee on Public Accounts, chaired by Prof. Tissa Vitarana, examined the Auditor General’s reports for the CMC and the current performance of the Colombo Municipal Council.

J.J. Rathnasiri, Secretary to the Ministry of Public Services, Provincial Councils and Local Government, said that due to the pandemic there were problems in adhere to that practice, which was first introduced by the Treasury in 2020. The committee pointed out that the situation needed to be rectified and an action plan formulated from 2022.

The committee also drew attention to the revenue shortfall of the Municipal Council and said that it would be reconvened at a future date for further discussions. Prof. Vitarana instructed the officials of the Colombo Municipal Council to submit to the Committee data and Statistics on all the revenue, expenditure, deficit revenue and public assistance for the previous years.

State Ministers Dayasiri Jayasekara, Lasantha Alagiyawanna, (Dr.) Sudarshini Fernandopulle, Dumind Dissanayake, Prasanna Ranaweera, Members of Parliament Tissa Attanayake, Niroshan Perera, Sivagnanam Shritharan, Hesha Withanage, (Prof.) Ranjith Bandara, (Dr.) Upul Galappaththi, Weerasumana Weerasinghe, B.Y.G Ratnasekera, (Dr.) Harini Amarasuriya and officials were present at the committee meeting.