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Info to be collected on temporary residents in major cities 

03 Feb 2022

 
  • Police to go nationwide with CMC area prog. 
  • Individual cities’ crime rates to be considered prior to expansion of prog.  
  BY Buddhika Samaraweera The Public Security Ministry said that the programme which has already been launched in the Colombo Municipal Council (CMC) area to collect information on temporary residents through the Police, will be considered for implementation in other major cities of the country in the future. Speaking to The Morning on Wednesday (2), Public Security Ministry Secretary Maj. Gen. (Retd.) Jagath Alwis said that even though the said programme was initially launched within the CMC area, it is expected to launch it in other major cities depending on the crime rate in such and other requirements. “We will gradually look into the possibility of launching this programme in other major cities. That will be done according to the crime rate of such cities and certain other requirements.” Alwis further explained: “When considering the city of Colombo, it is the area where there are many important premises and events. Even the number of foreigners visiting Colombo is much higher when compared to other cities. Therefore, to safeguard everyone in Colombo, there should be a system to monitor the population there. That was the main reason for this programme to be implemented.” A three-day operation was launched by the Police on 14, 15, and 16 January to gather information on all temporary residents residing in places such as houses, business premises, institutions, government or private premises, and construction sites within the CMC area. More than 600 police officers had been deployed to gather information. The public were requested to enter correct information about the temporary residents of the areas in the forms that were distributed by the Police and to hand such over to the relevant police officers during the programme. Senior Deputy Inspector General of Police (SDIG) Deshabandu Tennakoon had recently told the media that during the said programme, the police officers had gathered information on 106,126 temporary residents who were outside the Western Province but were currently residing in the CMC area. He had also said that 2,746 such occupants, including 1,852 males and 894 females, had failed to provide accurate information and that the police officers of the respective police stations were therefore working to verify the identities of such persons again. Meanwhile, Police Media Spokesman Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) and Attorney-at-Law Nihal Thalduwa recently told The Morning that the Police would continue to launch the said programme. He said that it was aimed at ensuring national security, ensuring security in the city of Colombo, and eliminating drug trafficking activities in the area.


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