Sri Lanka Railways Forum

Railway employees are up in arms against the recruitment of armed forces personnel to the railway security which they say violates the recruitment procedure of the department and place the department employees at a disadvantage.

All Ceylon Railway Employees’ General Union (ACREGU) charges that the attempt is to give appointments to political henchmen, under the guise of strengthening the “Railways security,” ACREGU president S.P. Witanage said. In a press release it calls on the government to stop immediately the recruitment of security forces personnel to the railway security.

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka Railways (SLR) will recruit 35 retired armed forces personnel by March 1 to strengthen its security service, Transport Ministry Defence Advisor Col. Dharshana Ratnayaka said yesterday.

Transport Minister Dulles Alahapperuma has obtained cabinet approval to recruit 115 retired armed forces personnel who have at least 12 years of unblemished service and below 45 years of age with minimum educational qualifications required for a railway security guard, he said.

“Minister Alahapperuma has decided to recruit armed forces personnel for SLR’s security service considering the volatile situation in the country as armed forces personnel are trained for security management, weapon handling and checking of improvised explosive devices to provide a better security service to the SLR, its property and commuters,” he said. The department cannot train people in these sensitive subjects. Hence, the recruitment of trained armed forces personnel is advantageous to the department, Col. Ratnayaka said.

The enlisting of armed forces personnel will be made according to the departmental recruitment procedure. They will have to sit for a examination and face an interview before recruitment. Besides, there are over 200 vacancies in the security service of the SLR, he said.

By Sandun A Jayasekera

Source: Daily Mirror

Tags: commuters, henchmen, minimum educational qualifications, railway employees, recruitment procedure, security guard, security management, security service, sensitive subjects, sri lanka railways, transport service, volatile situation

                            

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