• Defends digitalisation of traffic violations fines payment

The Government stated that it has no intention of shutting down the Postal Department under the guise of either digitalisation programmes or the losses incurred by the Department, as claimed by the postal service trade unions.

These remarks were made by Cabinet Spokesperson Minister Dr. Nalinda Jayatissa, at the weekly Cabinet media briefing held yesterday (22), in response to certain allegations made by the Postal Trade Unions Front (PTUF). The PTUF claimed that the department is reportedly losing Rs. 600-800 million annually following the introduction of the GovPay digital platform for traffic fine payments. 

In response, Minister Dr. Jayatissa stated that the digitalisation of government services is a public demand and a necessity of the time, and that it will not affect the functions of the department. He noted that the department, which currently operates at a loss, is already funded by the Treasury. “Last year (in 2024), the department's revenue was only Rs. 14 billion, while the Treasury spent Rs. 18 billion on the department. Therefore, the department is already being maintained by the Treasury. That is not an issue,” he said. He further stated that it is the responsibility of the unions to support the Government in its digitalisation efforts to provide better services to the public. “If a loss is incurred in doing this, it will be addressed by the Treasury with no issue since everyone agrees that this move is beneficial,” he said.

However, the trade unions claim that the new system has severely impacted post office-based fine revenue. It also pointed out that the department had already developed a short message service notification system to modernise fine payments, but that it was allegedly not implemented due to a lack of cooperation from the Police.