New SLAS recruits told:

Consider duty as a noble service - President

Public servants should identify problems and issues confronting the people and resolve them expeditiously, said President Mahinda Rajapaksa addressing a batch of 43 officers recruited to the Sri Lanka Administrative Service in the Tamil Medium after handing over their appointment letters at the Presidential Secretariat on Wednesday.

The President said the new officers have been recruited to serve in the Northern and Eastern Provinces.

Urging the new appointees to render maximum service to the people in the Northern and Eastern Provinces, the President said they were selected through a special examination to correct the injustice caused to the Tamil speaking people when selections were made on the basis of the common SLAS examination where there was a set-back among the number of Tamil speaking people passing the examination.

The President asked them to work with a sense of humility for the common good of the people in keeping with the cultural norms of the Asian continent.

The President said "You have taken up a great responsibility. People who seek your assistance will come to you with tears in their eyes for a satisfactory solution to their grievances and problems.

"You should treat them compassionately and try to solve their problems without any discrimination on grounds of area, community, status or social and economic standing.

"You should all contribute towards the government's development drive irrespective of your personal views and ideas."

The President said the Government made a great progress in the development sphere towards the middle income group. "We should strive hard to enter the high income group of countries by overcoming challenges," he said.