Army Recruits 426 Tradesmen from East

A total of 426 Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim youths, resident in the general areas of the east, recruited to the Sri Lanka Army, are now undergoing introductory military training before they are deployed as tradesmen in the 6 (v) Sri Lanka Army General Service Corps (SLAGSC),  the Security Force Headquarters - East (SFHQ-E) announced.
 
Following three rounds of interviews, held during April - June 2014 in Trincomalee, Polonnaruwa, Batticaloa, Punani and Ampara  areas, Recruiting Officers interviewed more than 2000 youths of all ethnicities for recruitment during this period but found only 426 were eligible for recruitment to the Army.
 
22 Division Headquarters (Trincomalee), 23 Division Headquarters (Punani) and 24 Division Headquarters (Ampara) conducted those interviews in respective areas on the directions of Major General Lal Perera, Commander, SFHQ-E.
 
Of them, 133 tradesmen, qualified in agricultural work after a brief vocational training are to be employed in the Army managed Kandakadu Farm according to the SFHQ-E.
 
Those new vocationally qualified recruits are to be used in carpentry work, driving, clerical work, IT, painting, welding, plumbing, masonry, electricity, cookery, store-keeping, motor mechanism, tilling, etc by employing them in close proximity to their places of residence.
 
The same SFHQ-E earlier this year recruited 111 Tamil girls to the Army to serve as liaison officers, coordinators, clerks and other welfare related officers. On a staggered basis, the SFHQ-E expects to recruit 700 youths under this ongoing recruitment programme in the east.