Minister of Transport Bandula Gunawardane says that he will request President Ranil Wickremesinghe to declare the railway services as an essential service from midnight today (Sep. 12), and issue a Gazette notification accordingly.
Joining the Cabinet press conference held this morning, the minister stated that the relevant request will be made in order to safeguard the law and peace and the public security of the country.
“Strict legal actions will be sought against anyone who disrupts it”, he added.
Furthermore, Gunawardena said that “a country that has fallen into trouble due to ‘trade union terrorism’, and is unable to recover, will not survive further if this situation continues”.
However this morning, at least 20 scheduled train services were cancelled due to the strike action launched by the Locomotive Operating Engineers’ Union since midnight yesterday (Sept. 11).
As a result of the trade union action, passengers were seen train surfing due to overcrowding, and many others were left stranded at railway stations, whereas a fatal incident of a 20-year-old falling off the train roof after knocking against the roof of the Horape railway station was also reported.
According to reports, the critically injured youth has died on the spot.
