Navy personnel unhappy to work as labourers
Navy personnel have expressed dissatisfaction over their deployment as labourers at several canal rehabilitation projects which are currently underway in Colombo and the suburbs, navy sources said.
They said the canal rehabilitation projects which came under the purview of the Land Reclamation and Development Corporation were using navy labour resulting in a lot of job dissatisfaction among the navy personnel engaged in this work.
The sources said the Land Reclamation and Development Corporation should only engage navy personnel to work as supervisors or to obtain technical assistance. They said canal rehabilitation work should be carried out with labourers attached to the Department.
They said at the inception of rehabilitation projects there were about 40 navy personnel being integrated into the programme but it had now risen to 500.
“Our request that navy personnel be used as supervisors and technical advisors and not as labourers has been ignored,” the sources said.
According to reports the navy personnel are currently work-
Navy personnel must be only engaged in working as supervisors or to obtain technical assistance while canal rehabilitation work should done by labourers attached to the Department
ing as labourers at several canal rehabilitation projects including those at Kotte Ela, Heen Ela and Nawala Oya.
They have expressed their dissatisfaction about being used as labourers disregarding their dignity as navy personnel and request the relevant authorities to deploy labourers from the Land Reclamation and Development Corporation for these projects.
However, Navy media spokesman Kosala Warnakulasuriya said neither Navy nor the Army personnel were deployed as labourers on construction or rehabilitation projects. He said those working on these projects were recruited on a contract basis after giving them special training in construction work. Commander Warnakulasuriya said the navy personnel who fought in the war have not been deployed for any construction work.