Govt not curtailing Public Service

RASIKA Somarathna

The Government yesterday reiterated, that it had no intention of imposing restrictions on the Public sector as speculated in a section of the media and by some political groups.

Articulating the Government position, Agriculture and Agrarian Services Minister Maithripala Sirisena, said that they had temporarily suspended new recruitments, salary increments, promotions etc. The Government also does not have any plans to slash the Public sector, with compulsory retirement schemes, curtail activities of trade unions, freeze recruitment etc. as speculated by these groups, he added.

Instead of slashing the numbers, the Government took steps to fill in a number of existing vacancies with new appointments given to qualified nurses and accountants in more recent times. Also the Government has called up applications from unemployed graduates to fill up a number of existing vacancies, the Minister added.

The Minister also said that contrary to what some Opposition politicians had said, the Cabinet has not deliberated imposing restrictions on Public sector.

Instead we discussed matters related to certain irregularities in recruitment done by some provincial bodies, he added.

Thus these attempts based on false allegations, instigated mainly by political parties such as the JVP and UNP with the intention of belittling the Government in the eyes of the public sector employees, smacked of political opportunism, he said.

Their target is the postal vote at the upcoming Western Provincial Council election, the Minister added.