Edagala Temple Road gets face lift thanks to RTI law

Edagala temple road which is in Paladhikulama, Anuradhapura District has been in a dilapidated condition for many years.

 

Irrespective of the number of pleas made by the villagers in the area the Pradeshiya Sabha has not taken any action to renovate the road. The road leads to the village temple and is being used by the villagers on a daily basis. The huge potholes have made it difficult for even motorcycles and push cycles to navigate in the road without facing an accident. The residents go through a very difficult time during the rainy season as well.

 

A set of youth learnt about Right to Information Act through a programme conducted by SLPI funded by USAID-SDGAP. Using the knowledge gained at the programme the youth filed an RTI application in December 2018 with regard to the status of the road.

 

Accordingly the youth questioned the Pradeshiya Sabha on money allocated for the road repairs and the information related to other road repairs in the area.

 

Soon after the RTI was filed the reconstruction of the road started and was completed promptly although there was no official acknowledgement of the application.

 

Past the stipulated time a reply was sent by the pradeshiya sabha saying

that the road was repaired by laying out stones for 120 meters and that the estimated amount to develop the road has been given to the public representatives in the area.

 

The youth believe that this shows the power of the RTI law. “Once the RTI application was sent the officials at Pradeshiya Sabha were forced to act as they had to give a reply within fourteen days of receipt of the application. The RTI at is very strong,” they said.

 

This update was prepared by participants of the Information and Communication Training Workshop conducted by the Sri Lanka Press Institute (SLPI) through a grant funded by the United States Agency for International Development through the Strengthening Democratic Governance and Accountability Project Activity.

“The contents of this post are the sole responsibility of SLPI and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government.”