The issuing of duty free vehicle permits for engineers of boards and corporations has been indefinitely postponed due to the prevailing situation in the country.
President Mahinda Rajapaksa assured members of the 14 engineers’ unions and associations in Government Boards, Corporations and other statutory bodies who met him last week, that duty free vehicle permits would be issued for the engineers of boards and corporations when the next batch of permits are issued. However no specific date was given.
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| File photo President Rajapaksa meeting engineers unions last Sunday |
“The President accepted that a grave injustice had been committed and we engineers would be definitely given vehicle permits at its next issue. For over one and a half years engineers had been making this demand, so this is a big step forward”,
Road Development Authority Engineers’ Association secretary, Sabeena Rathnayake said, due to the prevailing situation duty free vehicle permits were being issued in stages.
Following the assurance given by the President, the engineers’ unions and associations temporarily suspended planned trade union action. She added the unions would continue to review the situation.
A collective of 14 engineers’ unions and associations threatened to launch trade union action last Wednesday against their exclusion from this facility to import motor vehicles on concessionary terms which they deemed as being step motherly treatment.
The unions which demanded duty-free vehicle permits include the Road Development Authority Engineers’ Association, Ceylon Electricity Board Engineers’ Union, Sri Lanka Ports Authority Engineers’ Association, State Engineering Corporation Engineers’ Union and the National Water Supply and Drainage Board Engineers’ Union. President of the CEB Engineers’ union, Jayawilal Meegoda too said the CEB had not dropped its demand for duty-free vehicle permits and would continue to monitor the situation along with other engineers’ unions and associations.
“We were told that due to the prevailing situation the issuing of duty free vehicle permits had been temporarily stopped. However, we were assured engineers would be included when the permits were issued next time”, Mr. Meegoda said. A senior official of the National Water Supply and Drainage Board Engineers’ Union said they would also continue to review the situation.
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