OTHER THAN PRIVATE VEHICLES IMPORT BAN ON OTHER VEHICLES TO CONTINUE

Import ban on vehicles except for private vehicles to be lifted next week: Minister

Steps will be taken to remove the import restrictions on vehicles, except private vehicles, by next week, State Minister of Finance Shehan Semasinghe said today (04).

Responding to a question raised by Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa, the Minister told Parliament that import restrictions except for private vehicles under 304 HS codes will be removed.

He added that import restrictions for commercial vehicles under 67 HS codes and essential items under 299 HS codes will be removed.

G.C.E A/L exam dates announced

Rescheduled dates for the G.C.E (A/L) examination has been announced by the Department of Examinations.

Accordingly, the exam is to be held from January 4 to January 31, 2024.

Matara schools closed amidst bad weather

All schools located in the Matara district will be closed tomorrow and on Friday (October 5 and 6) due to adverse weather conditions, the District Secretary of Matara announced.

Railway strike affects office trains (Update)

Several office trains have been cancelled due to a railway strike this evening.

The Army has been deployed at the Fort railway station following the cancellation of trains and protests by commuters.

Railway General Manager Kumara Gunasinghe confirmed that about 40% of office trains have been affected.

Operative Superintendent M. J Indipola has said that guards are delaying the trains on purpose in order to get the trains cancelled.

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(Previous News: 04^th October, 2023 at 12:52pm)

Station Masters request not to make Railways Dept. an Authority

The Railways Station Masters’ Association said that it has requested the President to take steps to restructure Sri Lanka Railways without making it an Authority.

Its secretary Kasun Chamara said that many issues may arise if Railways Department was made an Authority.

He further said: “We, as the Railways Station Master’s Association, have expressed our views at all the meetings. We have always said that it would be better to restructure Sri Lanka Railways instead of making it an authority. We have seen the Secretary of the Ministry saying that the Treasury will not allocate funds to pay the employees’ salary. He said that the salaries of the employees should be paid based on the profit earned by the department which currently incurs heavy losses. I think any move to make the deportment an authority should be decided by an experts committee.”