Human Rights Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe Saturday assured that INGOs including UN agencies wouldn’t be allowed a free hand as far as the funding of their Sri Lankan operations was concerned.

Responding to The Island queries, Samarasinghe said that their projects, too, had to be part of the overall plan launched in support of the war affected people in the northern and eastern provinces.

Addressing a press conference at the Information Department, he said that the government had already reached agreement with the UN regarding future projects. He acknowledged that this wasn’t the case previously.

He said that in keeping with the recently agreed formula, the Common Humanitarian Action Plan (CHAP) 2009 was launched in Geneva on March 4 with his participation. The UN was seeking US$ 155.5 million from donors for the implementation of what Samarasinghe described as humanitarian assistance and livelihood development.

The government has repeatedly accused the INGOs and NGOs of squandering funds raised on behalf of Sri Lanka. Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa has said that the army hadn’t come across any significant work carried out by INGOs although millions of US$ had been spent over the years.

United Nations Office of the Resident Coordinator and Humanitarian Coordinator said that the CHAP had been first launched in Colombo on February 16 with the participation of Minister Samarasinghe and Basil Rajapaksa, the special advisor to the President.

The Inter-Agency Standing Committee in Sri Lanka said that US$ would be needed to implement 103 projects. Of that about US$ 60 would be spent on food aid.

Samarasinghe said that the government would supervise spending and ensure transparency in proposed projects. Professor Rajiva Wijesinghe has been named as the chief inquirer into INGO spending.