CEBEU to go ahead with union action

By Ifham Nizam

The Ceylon Electricity Board Engineers Union (CEBEU) yesterday vowed to continue with their trade union action despite the Colombo District Court injunction preventing it from engaging in any strike action that prevents a continuous supply of electricity.

Colombo District Court Judge Purnima Parangama issued the injunction order upon considering a complaint filed by the CEB.

CEBEU Eng. Isuru Kasthurirathne however told The Island that there wouldn’t be any power cuts other than the scheduled ones.

“We decided to continue out trade union action until our demands are met,” he said.

Kasthurirathne said that on Wednesday, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa had assured that CEBEU’s inputs would be incorporated into the Electricity (Amendment) Bill.

However, there were power disruptions in Colombo, Kandy, Trincomalee, Mahiyangana, Hatton, Anuradhapura, Ratmalana, Moratuwa, Ja-Ela, Kotte, and Dehiwala. The CEB said they restored power within hours.

The CEBEU went on strike from midnight on Wednesday (8) against the Bill to amend the Sri Lanka Electricity Act No. 20 of 2009

Amendments aimed to abolish competitive bidding process for procurement of electricity from private sector, the Union claimed.

The CEB Engineers have made the following demands:

1. To withdraw proposed amendments to the Sri Lanka Electricity Act No. 20 of 2009 (as amended by the Act No. 31 of 2013), gazetted on April 29, 2022, with immediate effect,

2. To stop handing over of the country’s wind & solar resources to Adani Group (paying in dollars) without following the competitive bidding process,

3. To stop driving the CEB to privatization in the guise of reforming,

4. To appoint a suitable professional with unblemished character to the Post of Chairman, CEB without further delay.

Energy Minister Kanchana Wijesekera assured the Parliament on Wednesday (8) that the amendments to the Sri Lanka Electricity Act will NOT abolish the competitive bidding process for procurement of electricity.

He said the proposed amendments would only expedite the projects approved by the Sri Lanka Sustainable Energy Authority.

Amendments were aimed at abolishing competitive bidding process for procurement of electricity from private sector, said the Union.

A team of corrupt individuals were trying to secure large scale solar, wind and other kinds of power generation projects using the amendments, the CEB Engineers added.