20 July 2017 07:45 pm
CEB sources said power interruptions were reported in Avissawella, Homagama, Horana, Malabe and Jayewardenepura for several hours causing inconvenience to the public as the technical teams had not attended the complaints.
Ceylon Electricity Employees’ Union Convener Ranjan Jayalal said an employee attached to the Mulleriyawa CEB power interruption centre had been assaulted by a suspect when the CEB worker went to disconnect the power in a tyre shop owned by the suspect.
According to the CEB divisional sources the employer who was admitted to the Mulleriyawa Base Hospital had later received threatening phone calls asking him to discharge from hospital and to maintain a low profile.
However, the CEB trade union members staged protests yesterday and day before seeking justice to its employee and said they would launch an indefinite countrywide strike if the police failed to enforce the law against those responsible.
Mr. Jayalal told the Daily Mirror that it appeared the law enforcing authorities were hesitating to arrest the responsible person due to political influences.
When contacted, Police Media Spokesman SP Ruwan Gunasekara said he was not aware of the matter. The Media Division also confirmed that they had not received of information about such an assault by the Mulleriyawa Police Station.
Meanwhile, the Power and Renewable Energy Ministry had called for discussion with the trade unions to discuss the matter , however the talks was not concluded until the edition went to print.
Mr. Jayalal said that they would take a final decision over the matter following the discussion. (Thilanka Kanakarathna)