Railway unions slammed for sudden strike

• Strike staged over railways attempting to demarcate Trace City land for different project 
• Dr. Harsha says option available for railways to establish project on different land nearby    
• Unions go on strike despite Govt. assurances of talks to resolve issue 
• Wants to keep Trace City for IT companies, says space essential for IT investment and development

 National Policies and Economic Affairs State Minister Dr. Harsha de Silva yesterday slammed railway trade unions for staging a sudden strike yesterday protesting efforts by the Government to reconsider the location of an Asian Development Bank (ADB)-funded project on land belonging to the department in Maradana.

Addressing a hurriedly summoned press conference, Dr. de Silva criticised railway unions for staging a strike when the Government had already pledged to hold discussions to resolve the issue. Trace City in Maradana, which functions as an urban IT park with about 10 IT companies having their offices on the premises, is built on Railway Department land. 

Subsequently, Cabinet approval had been given for an operation centre to be built on the same land under a $ 150 million ADB-funded Colombo Suburban Railway Efficiency project. However, officials had only realised the disruption this would cause to Trace City after efforts were made to partition off the land. 

When alerted, Dr. de Silva said that Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and Transport Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva had been notified of the issue and they had agreed to discuss the situation and provide a solution next week. 

“Trace City is an important project. We acknowledge that even though it was begun by the last government. Currently, there are over 1,200 people employed there and on average they make about Rs. 175,000 a month. These are the types of industries we are trying to encourage because they provide lucrative jobs for our youth, foster development and encourage technological innovation. If we give up part of the 10-acre land of Trace City then it would disrupt the functions of these companies. So we have asked the Railway Department to consider setting up their centre on five acres of land that also belongs to the department and is located just 20 metres away,” Dr. de Silva said. 

However, despite this feasible option and an offer by the Government to have discussions with Railway Department officials, railway unions had decided to stage an unannounced strike, which was strongly condemned by the State Minister. 

“The fact-finding mission for this project will only come to Sri Lanka in October and the loan will only be released in 2019 so why are they making such a fuss about this? They have alternative land that would be a perfectly feasible option. It is true that this is a Cabinet-approved project but there are so many Cabinet proposals and this was overlooked. We have said we would engage with railway authorities,” he added. 

Dr. de Silva noted that the public should be aware of the true motives behind union strikes and called on them to question the motives behind the token strike. He also apologised to the public for the inconvenience caused.