Ministers and members of Provincial Councils should obtain Treasury approval prior to undertaking study tours abroad, with effect from 2017.
This mandatory requirement will also apply to the balance period of 2016, a press release issued by the President’s Media Division stated yesterday.
‘There are reports that a group of a Central Provincial Council members have undertaken a foreign tour,’ the release said.
‘The President has not been informed about the expenditure of a vast amount of state funds by the ministers and members of the Central Provincial Council on this foreign tour, currently undertaken,’ the release added.
The announcement from the President comes in the wake of media reports that 65 members of the Central Provincial Council are planning to travel to Russia to attend a workshop.
The Daily News reported that the Council, from its account at the Bank of Ceylon, had requested the equivalent of US $ 51, 655 for the workshop in Russia.
At a recent council meeting, the Central Provincial Council said that 258 of the 2,996 development projects launched by the Council are stalled due to the lack of funds.
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