New state officials for Jaffna

Ridma Dissanayake

Immediate measures will be taken by the Public Administration and Home Affairs Ministry to recruit new officials to government offices in Jaffna, said Public Administration and Home Affairs Minister W.D.J. Seneviratne.

A competitive examination exclusively in the Tamil medium will be held in the near future to recruit 60 administrative officers for duties in Tamil speaking areas, he added.

The Minister was addressing an awareness programme for Divisional Secretaries and Grama Niladharis at the Weerasingham Hall in Jaffna recently. This was the eighth awareness programme which was organized by the Public Administration Ministry and such programmes will be held islandwide.

The minister said all measures will be taken to fill vacancies in the administrative service islandwide within the next few months to provide an efficient service to the public.

'There are 1.2 million state employees in Sri Lanka, but, their services are not up to standard.

The main reason for this is the lack of language proficiency.

The ministry hopes to remedy this situation,' he said. Public Administration and Home Affairs Ministry Secretary P B Abeykoon said Public Administration Ministry officers have a national responsibility to help develop the country.

'The government will provide all the resources and financial support for this purpose,' Abeykoon said. Traditional Industries and Small Enterprises Minister Douglas Devananda, Public Administration and Home Affairs Ministry Additional Secretaries, 15 Divisional Secretaries and over 250 Grama Niladharis in the Jaffna district participated.