Sri Lanka’s railway unionists expressed confidence that the current Transport Minister Dr. Bandula Gunawardhana has the ability and enthusiasm to resolve their problems.
Transport, Highways and Media Minster, Dr. Bandula Gunawardhana, held a special discussion with the Railway Department’s trade union representatives and its administrative heads at the Ministry Auditorium recently.
Railway Station Master’s Association President Sumedha Somaratne who commented in the discussion said the majority of the staff of the Railway Department does not agree with certain planned trade union actions. All the train drivers were also not in this strike action. Even the President of the Train Drivers’ Union did not join this strike. But, the recent strike carried out by a certain group was seen as an entire train drivers’ strike. Officials of the Department should hold the responsibility for this misunderstanding.
Railway Technical and Operating Services Association, Railway Employees Association, Railway Technicians Association, Railway Workers Union, Public Railway Employees Association, Locomotive Driver Assistant Association, National Railway Employees Association, Railway Controllers Association, Railway Locomotive Engineers Association, Railway Clerks Association, Ratmalana Railway Workers Union, Railway Security Officers Union, National Engineering Diploma Holders Union were present in this discussion.
Addressing the gathering the Minister Dr. Bandula Gunawardhana said that he assumed the responsibility as the Transport and Highways Minister in July 2022 after his house was burnt down by the strugglers. After being elected to Parliament, I have never obtained the MP’s salary. I have donated that amount to the ‘Api Wenuwen Api Fund’ every month. I have not even obtained an official house from the Government.
As the Transport and Highways Minister, I am the Minister who submitted the most number of Cabinet Papers on behalf of the Railway Department within a year and four months. Cabinet Papers have been presented in this manner for many issues such as land issues, employee issues, filling job vacancies and obtaining spare parts.
Every week, officials including the General Manager of the Railway Department called and discussed the existing problems of the institutions.
A large number of people are asking for the privatisation of the Railway Department. So far, the cost incurred by the Railway Department has been reduced to a large extent. The income has also increased to some extent. Facing a lot of obstacles, 3,000 of the multi-purpose force were recruited into the permanent cadre. All these activities were done within one year and four months.
Despite this situation, a former trade union leader of the Railway Department named Indika Dodangoda accused me of being the most corrupt and short-sighted ruler assigned to the Transport Ministry.
He also alleged that I have obtained a bribe of Rs.50 million. But the representatives of the Indian company revealed all the facts in front of all the officials of the Ministry about what actually happened. These tenders have been given since 2015, long before I became a Minister. It was confirmed with written evidence that due to continuous pressure by these union leaders, Rs.460,000 and Rs.3,100,000 were debited to the bank account of DH Indika. Is it fair for a person who acted like this to accuse me as the most corrupt Minister? We are working to implement the law to the maximum extent for all these baseless accusations.
My relatives have not been appointed to any position in any institution under this Ministry. Professionals with experience and qualifications have been appointed in every position to move those institutions forward from their current state.
The SLTB Chairman who accepted that responsibility, is currently engaged in preventing theft and fraud, and is rebuilding the company even though it is difficult. The General Manager appointed to the Railway Department is also not involved in any fraud or corruption. Majority of people have understood our programme. Generally, a Minister’s responsibility is to make policy decisions. But as the Minister, I have gone into each of these institutions and looked into the facts. An understanding has been gained about the work of the staff. Out of the fourteen thousand employees, the majority of the train drivers, station masters, controllers and staff did not participate in the strike.
After understanding the existing problems, in order to remove the existing obstacles to further solve these problems as a Department, the proposal was submitted to the Cabinet to make the Railway Department a railway authority so that all existing privileges including pensions are protected.
Instead of the General Manager, a Board of Directors manages the management and administration of the company. Accordingly, the Cabinet handed over the responsibility of further investigation into the matter to an expert panel.
The report of the committee is to be given in two months. All the employees including the trade unions of the institution have the ability to submit proposals for this. My personal opinion is that it is best to solve the problems through a change in the entire system.
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