At a time when the country is facing a severe financial crisis and the Ministry of Public Administration has issued guidelines with instructions to restrict the expenditure of all government institutions under the directions of the President, the 156th Police Day is to be celebrated on a grand scale.
Police sources said that the 156th Police Day celebration on October 3rd is being organised under the auspices of a certain senior Deputy Inspector General of Police who has even exceeded the directions given by the Inspector General of Police at the request of the Ministry of Public Security.
They point out that the police department does not need to have such a big ceremony for Police Day.
Sources in the police department say elaborate arrangements are underway to have a big tamasha, incurring a huge cost to the department. This has been organised in an environment where there is no proper provision to repair the police vehicles, set up the barracks properly, give a facelift to the police stations and provide fuel for vehicles to track down criminals.
Police officers are perturbed over a directive by the ministry to provide all the expenses to be incurred for the police day celebration through the police rewards fund. They also say that the police fund is there to reward the retired officers and to maintain police informants.
According to reports, the main Police Day event will be held in Colombo and regional events are scheduled to be held all over the island.
So far, the grandest event in history was held for the 150th Police Day celebration. The Inspector General of Police at that time was Pujith Jayasundara. It is known that the intention of the ministry this year is to organise an event that surpasses the 150th anniversary.
Police sources point out that the need of the hour is not to celebrate, but to think about the extreme financial crisis the country is facing and to maintain the minimum level of welfare of the police officers and give them the necessary stimulus to protect the law and order of the country.
Police officers opine that festivals of a grand scale would not augur well for the police and would not put the police department in good stead among the general public.
