Sri Lanka Railways Forum

Railway employees are up in arms against an alleged secret plan by the Transport Minister to hand over the waiting rooms at the Kandy Railway Station to the Hilton Hotel, Organisation for Protection of the Properties and the Rights of Railway Employees (OPPRRE) Sumathipala Manawadu said.

Manawadu told The Morning Leader that discussions to hand over the waiting rooms at the Kandy Railway Station to the Hilton Hotel had been held in Colombo last week and added that they had learnt that no ministerial official had participated in this discussion.

“This clearly shows what Transport Minister Dulles Alahapperuma’s agenda is. If these discussions were held without the participation of Ministry officials then definitely there is a secret plan,” claimed Manawadu.

Manawadu alleged that Alahapperuma and General Manager Sri Lanka Railways (SLR) Dr. Lalithasiri Gunaruwan are in the process of privatising the Railway Department and added that the maintenance work at the Kandy Railway Station has already been given to US based multinational Caltex.

“The railway employees are capable of handling any maintenance work, but still the maintenance work of the Kandy Railway Station was given to a US firm. The upgrading of the Galle-Matara Railway Line was given to an Indian company last month and now the 20 waiting rooms at the Kandy railway station are to be given to the Hilton Hotel.

“These actions have blocked the avenues of additional income to the Railway Department which would in turn lead to the downfall of the Railway system in the country,” added Manawadu.

Manawadu further said that under the present administration the Railway Department has incurred severe losses due to the failure in financial management and lack of proper administration policies.

“This has been the reason for the downfall of the railway in the country and unless immediate steps are taken to safeguard the Railway Department the consequences could be seen in the years to come,” Manawadu said.

All attempts to contact the Transport Ministry by The Morning Leader failed.

By Nirmala Kannangara
source: The Morning Leader

                            

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 28th, 2009 at 3:42 pm and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.