CEB Engineers to Suspend Work at the Norochcholai Coal Power Plant Today

CEB Engineers’ Union President Athula Wanniarachchi said if the authorities fail to provide a favourable response, the CEB Engineers who are currently on a work to rule campaign will decide to suspend work at the Norochcholai coal power plant today (12).

The Ceylon Electricity Board Engineers’ Union (CEBEU) had earlier warned that it will have to shut down the Norochcholai, Lakvijaya Coal Power Station, if the environmental protection license (EPL) is not granted by today.

Several other plants, including those at Matara and Embilipitiya, which need clearance certificates would also have to be shut down, he said.

This decision was taken by the Executive Committee of the Ceylon Electricity Board Engineers’ Union (CEBEU) last week and it was decided to refrain from attending to any breakdowns after regular working hours and on holidays, during the work to rule campaign.

He  said that they had received a letter from the CEB, but the CEBEU had not taken a decision on whether to call off the strike action today.

Further  he said thus  “We will consider their response and make a decision. We demanded that they withdraw their plan and accept ours. We don’t want to inconvenience the public, but as you can see, we can’t keep operating power plants that do not have the necessary approval’’

The CEBEU claims that although the government had promised to solve the issues raised by the union, two of the main demands had not been fulfilled. The granting of approval to the Least Cost Long Term Generation Expansion Plan (LCLTGEP) 2018-2037 and appointing ‘professionals with high integrity and an unblemished record to key posts in the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL) are the two main demands.