President Gotabaya Rajapaksa emphasized that going to the grassroots level, in order to give swift solutions to public grievances, is neither a political gimmick nor media hype.
 
“The next Presidential Election is almost four years away. We travel to the villages to fulfill the respective duties that should be performed while in power. No other President has ever gone among the people living in rural areas to give them a hearing and relieve them of their burden even though they may have visited these villages as members of the Opposition. It is not my method being confined to Colombo and ascertains the people’s problems only by consulting officials. There may be some who may criticize this system but “I will work according to my own method,” said President Rajapaksa.

“I became the President after rendering years of service to the people. One can become a people’s leader only by the right performance of the responsibilities of a leader,” he added. Therefore, the President advised the young public representatives to go among the people to see for themselves the difficulties citizens undergo and addressed them.

The President made these remarks participating in the “Discussion with the Village” program held yesterday (06) at the Dickellakanda Junior College premises in the Dickellakanda Grama Niladhari Division within the Deraniyagala Divisional Secretariat Division in the Kegalle District. This marks the ninth in the series of “Discussion with the Village” attended by the President.

The President emphasized that if any individual or a group engages in illegal activities misusing the decisions taken to solve the problems of the people as a pretext, they will be severely punished, stated President’s Media Division.

The “Discussion with the Village” program commenced on September 25, 2020, from Badulla District. The previous programs were organized covering Matale, Ratnapura, Anuradhapura, Ampara, Polonnaruwa, Kalutara, and Moneragala districts.

The idea behind this program is for President to talk to the rural communities living in remote and difficult areas without intermediaries about their long-standing unresolved problems and to present them directly to the officials in order to find solutions, PMD stated. Problems that can be solved on the spot are instantly addressed. The rest which takes time to deal with are noted down to find solutions later. The objective of the program is to reach out to the people of the villages, ask their questions and find solutions through their own suggestions, PMD added.