Permanent appointments were granted to 850 staff members of the Department of Agriculture
Appointments were granted yesterday (27th) to 850 people of the Department of Agriculture, at the Gannoruwa Plant and Genetic Resources Centre. Out of these, 690 were employees who had been serving on a contract basis and the remaining 160 were appointed to secondary-level posts.
The posts included technical officers, farm clerks, seed technicians and hostel wardens (matrons and masters). The Minister of Agriculture, Livestock, Land and Irrigation, K.D. Lal Kantha, and the Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Livestock, Namal Karunaratne attended the event.
This can be pointed out as one programme that clearly shows the current government’s dedicated and enthusiastic commitment to uplifting the agricultural sector for the country’s farming community, by making permanent the service of employees of the Department of Agriculture who had been unable to secure permanent status for around 15 to 20 years.
Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Livestock Namal Karunaratne, who attended the event, expressed the following views.
“You must have been under a great deal of mental stress because your appointments were not permanent. It is under such circumstances that you are being given permanent appointments today. You now hold all the rights of a full public servant. That is a source of great pride.
The biggest fire in the world is hunger. The ones who provide solutions to that problem are food producers. The farming community contributes to that food production process. But the farmers cannot do it alone. You are the ones who guide them. So from today, a great responsibility has been placed on you. We hope you will carry out that duty with utmost dedication.”
A number of officials from the Ministry and the Department also attended the event, including the Director General of the Department of Agriculture, Thushara Wickramaarachchi.
