Port workers launch satyagraha at Colombo port over ECT

Port trade union activists launched today (Wednesday) a continuous satyagraha and protest at the Colombo port in Sri Lanka demanding the President to give complete management of the East Container Terminal (ECT) with the Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA). Plans to commence the protest on Tuesday had been cancelled at the eleventh hour. 

Workers joined at the noon protest which is a continuation of last week’s black week protest that culminated in submitting a letter to the Presidential Secretariat requesting the government reconsider the Memorandum of Cooperation (MOC) entered into with the governments of Japan and India to operate the ECT.
Meanwhile, representatives of the trade unions had met the prelates of Malwatte and Asgiriya this morning as well in a bid to raise their concerns with them, trade unions said. 
Under the planned arrangement the SLPA will retain 51 per cent of the management of the ECT while the rest of the 49 per cent will be shared between the other two countries.
Meanwhile, a cabinet paper is said to have been discussed signed by Ports and Shipping Minister Johnston Fernando indicating that the government intends on honouring the MOC based on the condition that Japan engages itself as an investor. India’s proposal to adopt Adani Ports to run the terminal with local partner John Keells Holdings (JKH) has also been indicated in this paper. (SD)