The Ministerial Consultative Committee on Public Security held under the chairmanship of Minister of Public Security Sarath Weerasekera will provide special training to drivers on road discipline to minimise the number of road accidents.
Minister Weerasekera said that nearly 27,000 lives were lost during the past 10 years due to road accidents and 1,948 people have died due to road accidents from January this year.
The program will be implemented by the Police and affiliated institutions to ensure road discipline, he said.
The Minister said that a system of spot fines and a system of Driver Demerit Points will be introduced soon to address the shortcomings in the payment system.
The Minister said this when the Members of Parliament stressed the need for a program as the lack of discipline among drivers has been identified as one of the major reasons for the increase in the number of road accidents.
A as a first step, a two-week training program for inter-provincial bus drivers will be launched in the near future. There are nearly 17,000 inter-provincial bus drivers and State Minister of Transport Dilum Amunugama stressed the importance of maintaining discipline in the face of frequent bus accidents.
The Committee also drew attention on the need to provide proper allowances and salaries to police officers who perform their duties under very difficult circumstances without resorting to any trade union action or protest.Minister Weerasekera said that 15,700 Police personnel had been infected with Covid-19 and 44 had died during the previous wave of the pandemic.
He thanked the Members of Parliament for raising the issue of increasing the salaries and allowances of Police officers working amid various hardships.
The need for the Police to act more responsibly in reporting crimes through the media was also discussed at length.
The Minister instructed the IGP to take action as it is problematic for the Police to make statements to the media obstructing court proceedings.