The GIC was first launched on 24th August 2006 under the leadership and guidance of His Excellency Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa, the President of Sri Lanka.
The media briefing was held at the Sri Lanka Telecom PLC Head Office, Lotus Road, Colombo 01 and was attended by a large number of media personnel and distinguished personalities. The briefing was chaired by the Ranjith Siyambalapitiya, the Minister of Telecommunication and Information Technology while Gotabaya Jayaratne, the Secretary to the Minister of Telecommunication & Information Technology and Prof. P.W. Epasinghe, the Chairman of the ICTA/ Senior Presidential Secretary and Chancellor of the University of Peradeniya and Reshan Dewapura, the CEO of ICTA were present at this event. From SLT, Lalith de Silva, Group CEO of SLT and SLT Board members also participated in this event.
Addressing the media briefing, Ranjith Siyambalapitiya stated, “The Government Information Centre 1919 is well known throughout the country today. It has become very popular and is a number that comes to people’s minds automatically whenever they wish to obtain any information about public sector services.”
“1919 was launched according to a concept of President Mahinda Rajapaksa to bring public services close to the people,” he added further. “During the last eight years plus, 1919 has done a service marked by ‘above-average’ courteousness and professionalism, maintaining a standard with no room for complaints. ICTA and SLT have contributed much towards this.”
Lalith De Silva, the Group CEO of SLT commented saying, “SLT Contact Centre, which could be considered the heart of SLT customer care, maintains two main services. Out of these the SLT hotline 1212 receives the maximum number of calls from customers. Eight SLT Contact Centres located throughout the country provide 24 hour customer care services to more than 25,000 SLT customers including Megaline, Citylink, Broadband, Peo TV etc. on a daily basis. A team of efficient Customer Care staff comprising about 400 employees provide SLT’s customers information on required services using multiple platforms on par with international standards.”
“The second service offered by SLT Contact Centre is 1919 for government information services which is a government initiative that aims to provide citizen centric public services, and we are proud to be a partner of this,” continued Mr. De Silva. “GIC 1919 enables all Sri Lankans to obtain accurate information with regard to government services. It receives more than 1.5 lakhs of telephone calls per month. I can justly say that we have been able to respond to 95% of the total number of calls requesting Government information within 15 seconds. The call-response performance of the last month amounts to 98.18%".
The GIC provides information pertaining to the government sector services in Sinhala, Tamil or English, according to the preference of customers. It is operational 365 days of the year, from 08.00am to 08.00pm. Fulfilling the aspirations of the His Excellency the President of Sri Lanka, the SLT Contact Centre ensures that government services are brought closer to the general public by providing accurate information pertaining to government sector services. The GIC has the facilities necessary to provide information services to organisations in Sri Lanka as well as abroad.
During the media briefing, Thushara Suraweera, ICTA Programme Specialist also highlighted various aspects of GIC 1919 in his presentation. He described the main features of GIC 1919 such as service delivery including information services, help desk services, digital intermediary services, complaint and grievance handling services, special (seasonal) services as well as other value added services. “The GIC now provides more than 65 online services through basic phone calls, such as train schedules, job opportunities abroad, flight schedules, exam results, economic indicators, medical services and contact details,” stated Suraweera.
The benefits gained through ICT enhancement is being realized throughout the country and is recognized both locally as well as globally. In the year 2014, Sri Lanka jumped 41 places in the UN eGovernment Development Index. In 2012 the UNeGDI of Sri Lanka was 115 out of 193 countries whereas in 2014 it went up to 74 out of 192 countries. Furthermore, in the year 2014, Sri Lanka’s global country ranking jumped five places to become 16th in the A. T. Kearney’s Global Services Location Index. Sri Lanka’s ICT literacy rate jumped to 40 per cent in 2012 from 9.7 cent in 2004.
GIC is a flagship project that has made a significant contribution to the ICT achievements in the country. Furthermore, the GIC has received several international awards including a high commendation from the United Nations E-Government Survey 2014.(KH)
