Sri Lanka launches multi-lingual call centre
A new government-run hotline has been launched in Sri Lanka to provide citizens easy and quick access to all relevant information about various kinds of services. The service will be available 365 days a year in three different languages.
The Sri Lankan government has launched a multi-lingual call centre to make it faster and easier for a broad cross section of Sri Lankan citizens to access government services.
- A Sri Lankan woman calling at the call centre/ Photo credit: FutureGov
By dialing 1919 from any phone, Sri Lankans now have access to all services offered by the government through the Government Information Centre.
Citizens may be able to find out how to get their ID cards back or how to get a loan facility from a government bank by calling the hotline.
The service is available in Sinhala, Tamil and English, bridging the language gap for Tamil-speaking Sri Lankans who sometimes find it difficult to get services from government due to poor language skills.
The project has grown from an initial 20 government institutions using the service, to 120 institutions and more than 2500 services available to date. The hotline is available 365 days a year from 8am to 8pm, including major festival seasons.
Government Institutions hope to benefit from this service by fielding fewer unsolicited calls from the public. Also, citizens who use the hotline before visiting the relevant government institutes will be better prepared with the required documentation and will know whom to meet.
