Iconic Salu Sala shut on Maithripala’s orders

Sri Lanka’s stat e owned handloom textile wholesale and retail giant in the 1960s, Lanka Salu Sala is no more with the President's latest decision to close down the iconic institution.

He has directed the Industries and Commerce Ministry Secretary to release the company ’ s Jawat t a branch land belonging to it to t h e Po l i c e Department and ordered its closure as it has become a white elephant to the government.

Ministry Secretary S.S. Miyanwela confirmed that the decision has been taken at the highest level to close down Salu Sala and pay compensation to all employees.

The closure of the institution and voluntary retirement scheme proposed by the government will signal the end of the only state textile trading enterprise which enjoyed a protected domestic market during the f o r mer Prime Minister Sirima Bandaranaike’s regime in the 60s and early 70s.

Salu Sala was a popular outlet for the elite in Kurunduwatte as well as the middle class in Colombo and suburbs during that period under guidance of its marketing head Earl Dassanayake who turned it around as a money spinner.

Salu Sala has become a white elephant with two land plots of around 100 p e rches under i ts non-movable assets.

The sleepy head office complex at Jawatta Road is a rented building with a dilapidated showroom in which samples of old, outdated ‘fashion’ clothes are on display gathering dust.

It has a mini garment factory with some industrial sewing machines which were not used for several years and storerooms stocked with outdated clothing material.

Power supply to the building has been disconnected due to non- payment of electricity bills amounting to a staggering Rs.1.2 million.

Continued from Page 1

The Treasury has allocated Rs.340 million to pay compensation for 217 employees under the voluntary retirement scheme on 31 -07-2017. Out of them 76 employees are still struggling to get their EPF benefits as the management has failed to make contributions to the fund.

“A sum of Rs. 7.5 million from this Treasury allocation has vanished into thin air,” a senior official of the Finance Ministry said adding that only God knows what has happened to that money.”

The employees have agreed to a voluntary retirement scheme. It has been negotiated to pay salaries up to June this year and then pay compensation on an agreed basis thereafter.

Salu Sala was established in the year 1967 and registered in the year 1971 under the State Trading Corporation.