Rear Admiral Pujitha Vithana was recently appointed, as the 07^th Director General of Sri Lanka Coast Guard is a proud product of St. Thomas College, Bandarawela. He had joined Sri Lanka Navy as an Officer Cadet in 1988 for the 18^th Intake and successfully completed his basic training at SLNS Gemunu, Welisara and the Naval and Maritime Academy in Trincomalee. Rear Admiral Vithana was commissioned in 1990 as an Acting Sub Lieutenant in the Executive branch and then followed Sub Lieutenant Technical Course training from Naval and Maritime Academy, Trincomalee. Further, he was specialized on Torpedo and Anti-Submarine from Under Water Warfare School, PNS Bahadur, Karachi, Pakistan.

Rear Admiral Pujitha Vithana had obtained his “ndu” for Defence and Strategic Studies Course from National Defence University in Beijing, China and a Master of Business Administration from Brittany University of France. He had also followed a Comprehensive Security Response to Terrorism Programme Hawaii in United State of America and he was also opportuned to follow many career development programs both foreign and domestic including the Civil Military Relations Course at Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, California, USA, Advanced Metreology Course at Department of Metrology, Sri Lanka, and Port and Harbour Security Management Course in Colombo.

Rear Admiral Pujitha Vithana has commanded many ships and craft in the Sri Lanka Navy as Officer In Command of Dockyard Build Craft P 234, Three Fast Attack Craft P 473, P 450 and P 476 (Dovras), Commanding Officer of Landing Craft Mechanized “Ranavijaya”, Fast Gun Boat “Prathapa” and Fast Missile Vessel “Suranimila”. He had served as the Commanding Officer of many ashore establishments including “Kelani”, “Parakrama”, “Buwaneka”, “Uttara”, “Dockyard”, “Rangalla” and “Shilpa”.

Further he had held number of important appointments during his distinguished naval service both at the Naval Headquarters and other Naval Commands including Director Naval Administration at Naval Haedquarters, Deputy Area Commander- Eastern Naval Command and Port Facility Security Officer Port of Trincomalee, Naval Officer Incharge Hambantota and the Port Facility Security Officer- Hambantota Port, Captain Operation Department Northern Naval Command, Commander Coastal Protection Squadron II, Command Operation Officer- Eastern Naval Command, Staff Officer Harbour Defence at Northern Naval Command and Eastern Naval Command, Command Harbor Defence Officer Western Naval Command and also held the Training Captain appointment at Naval Recruit Training Center, Boossa. Prior taking over the position as the Director General Sri Lanka Coast Guard he was the Deputy Director General of SLCG.

In recognition of his distinguished service, this Rear Admiral has been awarded Uththama Seva Padakkama (USP) for unblemished record of service and many other medals including Sri Lanka Navy 50th Anniversary Medal, Sri Lanka Armed Services Long Service Medal, 50^th Independence Anniversary Commemoration Medal, East Humanitarian Operation Medal, North Humanitarian Operation Medal, North and East Operation Medal , Purna Bhumi Padakkama , Riviresa Campaign Service Medal, Sevabhimani Padakkama, Seva Padakkama and a letter of commendation from the Commander of Navy and a letter of commendation from the Chief of Staff and the Commander Western Naval Area for significant service he rendered for the nation.

Rear Admiral Pujitha is also a good Table Tennis player and an International Level 1 Coach. He had won Navy Colours twice in year 2017 and 2018. He was the champion of the Defence Services Veteran Title, won the Bronze Medal for South Asian Veterans Table Tennis Championship 2017 held in Colombo and also had represented Sri Lanka Navy in Table Tennis both locally and overseas.

Pujitha is married to Mrs Rasika and they are blessed with two children, Daughter Pujini and Son Kulith.