The Government is to establish a special office to disseminate information on the right to information (RTIA) in Battaramulla,Parliamentary Reforms and Mass Media Minister Gayantha Karunathilake said yesterday.”This office will be headed by Piyatissa Ranasinghe (former Secretary of the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications) and we hope to introduce by the end of the month” said the minister.

With the ministry on a taut string to meet the deadline for implementation of the RTI, Karunathilake said. “We will also get a list of the RTI officers appointed in each ministry by the end of the month. We will begin their training as soon as next month”.

The Minister made these remarks at the Cabinet media briefing held at the Department of Government information and explained that there were a lot of takeaways from the International Conference on RTI and Reforms of the Media held on 28-29 September, the Government has planned to implement. The Mass Media Ministry also promised to publish a discussion paper on the main conclusions of the Conference at the end of this week.