Govt gets public sector operational, but pregnant mothers seek further relief

Pregnant mothers in the public sector have sought further relief to keep away from work despite a directive from the government that all state sector employees should return for employment today.

A trade union and several other representations have been made to provide the relief as they were still vulnerable in a situation where all persons have not received the vaccination.

Mr Dhammika Munasinghe of the combined development officers’ centre called the Public Administration Ministry to demand that pregnant mothers be given further relief.

“We will have to resort to trade union action if the government ignores the demands”, he said.

The government allowed inter-provincial bus services enabling the public sector to report to work,  but the buses and trains were not fully normalised resulting in overcrowding in some of the buses.

Persons travelling in these buses said that some of the buses were overcrowded and they could not maintain the required social distancing in the buses.

However, more than 75 per cent of the workers, excluding those in the teaching profession had reported to work by afternoon today (2).

The teachers have decided not to return to work until their demands on their salaries are met.  Some of the teachers took part in protests in Mirigama and Kekirawa.

(Pix by Indika Handuwala)