{"id":156710,"date":"2026-06-09T16:23:14","date_gmt":"2026-06-09T23:23:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=156710"},"modified":"2026-06-09T16:23:14","modified_gmt":"2026-06-09T23:23:14","slug":"digitisation-or-bureaucratisation-a-senior-citizens-struggle-for-a-can-of-diesel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2026\/06\/09\/digitisation-or-bureaucratisation-a-senior-citizens-struggle-for-a-can-of-diesel\/","title":{"rendered":"Digitisation or Bureaucratisation? A Senior Citizen\u2019s Struggle for a Can of Diesel"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dr. Sarath Obeysekera<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

When Technology Meets Red Tape: The Reality Behind Sri Lanka\u2019s Digitisation Drive<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Digitisation or Paperisation? A Senior Citizen’s Experience<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

At my age, climbing several flights of stairs is no longer easy. Fortunately, my wife, a medical doctor, anticipated this challenge years ago and arranged for a lift to be installed in our home. To ensure reliability during power failures, I also installed a diesel generator.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I own a diesel vehicle and purchase fuel regularly. Yet when I attempted to buy a small quantity of diesel for the generator, the fuel station refused to sell it into a can without official approval.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I then entered the familiar maze of government bureaucracy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The local authority provided a form. The form required certification by the Grama Niladhari. Thereafter it had to be forwarded to the Divisional Secretary for approval. Additional documents, including company registration papers, had to be submitted before I could legally obtain fuel for a generator installed in my own home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The irony is striking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We constantly hear speeches about digitisation, smart government, artificial intelligence and modern public administration. Yet the ordinary citizen is still expected to move paper files from one desk to another.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If digitisation is working, why must I collect signatures manually?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why cannot the relevant officer verify my details online?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why cannot approvals be granted electronically?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why must a senior citizen travel between offices carrying documents that already exist in government databases?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is not digitisation. It is merely old bureaucracy dressed in new language.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A truly digital system would allow citizens to apply online, upload supporting documents once, and receive approval electronically. Fuel stations could verify eligibility instantly through a central database. The process would take minutes rather than days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The purpose of technology is to make life easier for citizens, not to preserve outdated procedures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sri Lanka does not suffer from a shortage of computers. It suffers from a shortage of administrative reform. Until processes are redesigned around the citizen, digitisation will remain a slogan rather than a reality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The public is not asking for miracles. We are simply asking for a government system that works with the efficiency that modern technology already makes possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regards

Dr Sarath Obeysekera<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dr. Sarath Obeysekera When Technology Meets Red Tape: The Reality Behind Sri Lanka\u2019s Digitisation Drive Digitisation or Paperisation? A Senior Citizen’s Experience At my age, climbing several flights of stairs is no longer easy. Fortunately, my wife, a medical doctor, anticipated this challenge years ago and arranged for a lift to be installed in our […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[116],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-156710","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dr-sarath-obeysekera"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156710","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=156710"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156710\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":156711,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156710\/revisions\/156711"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=156710"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=156710"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=156710"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}