The eighty-four (84) railway engine drivers who are engaged in a strike action have been requested to report for duty immediately, Sri Lanka’s Railway Department stated.
According to the department, those who fail to report for duty will be considered as having vacated their posts.
The Railway Department added that relevant letters to such employees will be issued in due course.
The public have been severely inconvenienced as a result of the strike action carried out by the Sri Lanka Locomotive Operating Engineers Union.
Several train services were cancelled yesterday and today due to the strike action. A 20-year-old youth died and another passenger sustained injuries, both after falling off overcrowded trains yesterday.
Minister of Transport Bandula Gunawardena said today that the Railway Department has decided to pay a sum of Rs. 500,000 to the family of the youth who had died after falling off the roof of a train at the Horape Station.
Meanwhile, the Sri Lanka Army was deployed to provide security at 32 Railway Stations across the country today in view of the railway strike action.
The Sri Lanka Locomotive Operating Engineers Union is engaged in the strike action despite President Ranil Wickremesinghe having issued a Gazette notification yesterday declaring railway services an essential service. (NewsWire)