The Sri Lankan authorities have planned to streamline a civil defense force formerly known as the home guards and this may lead to the dismissal of a large number of personnel, senior military officials said yesterday.
They said that the CDF which currently boasts a strength of close to 40,000 personnel of both men and women was set up purely as a village defence unit during the height of the islands 25-year-old conflict with the separatist Tamil Tigers.
However it has been found out that a large number errant CDF personnel are engaged in work outside their given mandate and therefore a thorough has vetting of the rank and file has to be carried out at the very earliest, the officials said.
They said that the CDF personnel are mostly assigned to for duties at public functions and events both in the rural areas and elsewhere while some numbers are embedded with the police.
The officials said that at the end of the day the services of a sizeable number of CDF personnel would have to be withdrawn depending however on service requirements and other related issues.
State Minister of defense Premitha Bandara Tennakoon recently directed the military authorities to look into the matter at the very earliest and to take decisions accordingly.
The present average monthly salary of a CDF personnel is around Rs. 40,000 per month.
During the immediate post war period there were moves to incorporate the CDF personnel into the police but however such moves never materialised.
Discipline among the CDF rank and file is also another issue that will be seriously addressed, the officials said.
