IGP at 143rd Police Day celebrations:

All efficient police personnel to get due promotions

Sarath Malalasekera

The junior police personnel who had been deprived of their due promotions for the past several years will get their due promotions within one month’s time. Recently 17,000 candidates appeared for interviews conducted by the Police Department in connection with the promotions of junior police personnel, out of them about 90 percent were selected to be promoted as Sergeants of the Police Force, said Inspector General of Police Jayantha Wickremaratne delivering the keynote address at the celebrations held to mark the 143rd Police Day at the Police Headquarters yesterday morning.

The IGP Wickremaratne emphasised that the Police Department was able to conduct interviews and select candidates to promote junior police personnel to a higher rank especially on a directive by President Mahinda Rajapaksa and Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa.

“These promotions were overdue for the last several years I am happy that I could announce that those selected persons will be promoted within the next few days,” the IGP added.

The Police personnel are not only employed in Sri Lanka but also in foreign lands like East Timore, Libya and Sudan,the IGP said. The proceedings commenced with the hoisting of the Police flag and observing two minutes silence to respect the police personnel who had scarified their lives for the motherland and who were disabled during the war. The IGP and other Senior and Junior Police personnel attended a special Pooja at the Sambodhi Viharaya at Baudhaloka Mawatha, Colombo yesterday evening.

Several other religious ceremonies - Buddhist, Hindu, Catholic and Muslims - were also conducted at 417 police stations in the country to mark 143 years of the Police Department.

The IGP emphasised that police personnel are the guardians of the citizens of the country and who will help them to live in peace. All efficient officers in the Police Force will be given due promotions without any delay. IGP Wickremaratne paid tributes to those gallant senior and junior members of the Sri Lanka Police Force who had made the supreme sacrifice to maintain law and order and bring peace to the motherland.

The IGP also paid tributes to the parents who sent their children to join the Police Force during the peak of terrorist activity. Those parents too should be honoured, the IGP said.

“I extend to all ranks of the Police the warmest greetings and on behalf of the Police Force to the people of this country a peaceful and harmonious future,” IGP Wickremaratne said.