News
Public Security Minister shocked by deplorable facilities available to junior cops
Minister of Public Security, Rear Admiral (retd.) Sarath Weerasekara who visited Yatiyantota, Bulathkohupitiya and Kitulgala police stations over the weekend was shocked to witness the deplorable conditions prevailing with regard to facilities provided to the lower ranks and instructed senior officers to act fast to remedy the situation prevailing in those stations.
“I had to reprimand some senior officers and I warned them severely that they should act quick and solve the problems prevailing there in those stations and I need results. I am ready to help them to make amends and uplift the living conditions of policemen, and I need senior officers who think of the welfare of their junior ranks,” the minister said.
There were 427 barracks to be constructed and 321 had already been renovated to cater to the increased number of policemen during the recent past, the minister said. He said that the government had decided to increase allowances and batta payments for police personnel and to introduce a meal allowance for them.
Minister Weerasekera said that the previous government had established police stations without any regard for their proper maintenance.
Kegalle District MP Rajika Wickramasinghe and DIG Priyantha Weerasuriya were also present.
The Gampaha High Court Trial-at-Bar yesterday (14) said that the verdict in the case pertaining to the murder of former Member of Parliament Amarakeerthi Athukorala (SLPP) would be delivered on 11 February. The verdict was to be announced yesterday.
The Attorney General has indicted 41 persons in connection with the killings.
The Polonnaruwa District parliamentarian and his police bodyguard were killed in Nittambuwa during the 09 May, 2022, violence.
Footage secured from a nearby CCTV camera showed MP Amarakeerthi Athukorala fleeing the scene with his security officer, who was armed with a gun.
Dozens of suspects were subsequently arrested on several occasions on suspicion of involvement in the MP’s murder.
The Trincomalee Magistrate yesterday (14) remanded nine persons, including four Buddhist monks until January 19 for allegedly violating coast conservation laws by placing a Buddha statue at the Trincomalee Bodhiraja Vihara on November 16, 2025.
Police produced all parties connected to the incident before the Trincomalee Magistrate’s Court.
Earlier, the Coast Conservation Department lodged a complaint with the police that the placing of the statue was unauthorised. When police officers removed the statue, they faced strong opposition from the Buddhist monks and a group of local residents. Later the statue was brought back by the police.
Civil society activist Keerthi Tennakoon yesterday (14) accused the NPP government of crippling the Right to Information Commission.
Addressing the media at Hotel Nippon, Tennakoon said that Attorney-at-Law Jagath Liyanarachchi recently quit the RTI Commission due to a sinister campaign carried out by the government to curtail the Institution’s freedom by blocking its access to information. Tennakoon addressed the media on behalf of a civil society collective representing independent trade unions.
The former PAFFREL chief pointed out that the NPP had undermined the RTI Act by directing the Presidential Secretariat not to release information in terms of the law passed by Parliament.
Alleging that the RTI Commission had been crippled, Tennakoon said that the failure to appoint an Auditor General and attacks on the Office of the Attorney General by the government and those affiliated with it had created a dangerous situation, he alleged. (SF)
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