Minister blames Railway unions for undergrad’s death

Cabinet spokesman and Transport Minister Bandula Gunawardena said that he would request the President to issue a gazette notification declaring the Railway Department an essential service, with immediate effect, to prevent abrupt strikes. He blamed the striking unions for the death of a Moratuwa Engineering Faculty student, who fell off the Fort bound train from Kandy, at Horape, yesterday (12),

After making the railway an essential service, maximum legal action would be taken against anyone who engaged in activities that would disrupt its services in the future, Gunawardena said.

The Sri Lanka Railways Locomotive Operating Engineers’ Union struck work, demanding the immediate payment of incentives to railway workers working in railway yards.