Officials of the Department of Railways blame the recent strike and other disturbances within the department as a result of ad hoc decisions made during the past regime.
General Manager of Railways, Mahanama Abeywickrama told the Sunday Observer that decisions made to appease unions previously, had caused these issues.
According to Abeywickrama, previously, due to demands made by unions, decisions were taken in an ad hoc manner without studying the other cadre levels, nature of the jobs and relevant information.
“When salary increases were given to one cadre level, no revision was made to others,” he said, adding that he believes a proper study of the railway service should be done to resolve these issues. At the crux of the recent strike was a salary anomaly due to a Cabinet decision made in 2015.