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CEB engineers on sick leave tomorrow

17 Jan 2022

BY Pamodi Waravita The Ceylon Electricity Board Engineers’ Union (CEBEU) will be launching a sick leave campaign tomorrow (18), against, what they claim, the “illegal appointment of Eng. Dr. M.N. Susantha Perera”, as the new temporary General Manager (GM) of the CEB. In a letter addressed to the CEB Chairman M.M.C Ferdinando last Saturday (15), the CEBEU said that it is not considering the aforementioned appointment as a “valid, legitimate appointment” and that the CEBEU is “compelled to resort to trade union action and reject your illegal appointment forthwith”. The CEBEU said that the appointment has been made in violation of Section 5(1) of the CEB Act (the appointment be made with approval from the Power Minister) and Section 5(4) (the GM shall retire from office at the age of 60 years). Furthermore, the CEBEU has questioned the “suitability” of the appointment. Thus, the CEBEU has stated that the TU action will be a non co-operation one with the Chairman and the CEB’s board members, and that the Chairman is responsible for possible difficulties faced by the general public. The Morning learnt that Eng. Dr. Perera assumed his duties as GM from 15 January. According to the CEBEU, Perera was also the second witness on behalf of the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) during the signing of the agreement between New Fortress Energy Inc. (NFE) and the GoSL. Ferdinando was the first witness. The Morning reported last month that the controversial deal was proposed by New Fortress Energy (NFE) Head of Power Jatila Ranasinghe and was mediated by two individuals, one a Board Director at a leading conglomerate in Sri Lanka as well as a former Provincial Council member, and the other, Ferdinando. Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) leader Anura Kumara Dissanayaka tabled the aforementioned agreement in Parliament on 10 December, which shows that the deal was signed between the GoSL and NFE Sri Lanka Power Holdings LLC. A copy of this shows that Ferdinando and Perera have signed as the first and second witnesses on behalf of the GoSL. Ven. Elle Gunawansa Thera, His Eminence Archbishop of Colombo Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith, Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) General Secretary Ranjith Madduma Bandara, and some office bearers of the JVP, and other parties, including the CEBEU, have filed petitions against the Government’s decision to hand over 40% of the shares of the Yugadanavi Power Plant to NFE, along with a monopoly over supplying liquefied natural gas (LNG). Accusations have earlier been leveled at the CEBEU for deliberately causing the islandwide power outage that occurred on 3 December, amidst their ongoing TU action against the aforementioned agreement.


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