Local workers protest over pay issue | Daily News
Moragahakanda – Kalu Ganga reservoir project:

Local workers protest over pay issue

Local workers stage a protest at the Moragahakanda - Kalu Ganga project. Picture by Sigiriya Special Corr.
Local workers stage a protest at the Moragahakanda - Kalu Ganga project. Picture by Sigiriya Special Corr.

A group of local workers attached to the Chinese contracting firm handling the Moragahakanda – Kalu Ganga reservoir project which is in its final stage of completion, conducted a protest campaign in the Kalu Ganga reservoir construction site yesterday.

The local workers held the Chinese contracting firm staff hostage in their office and blocked their vehicles over a salary issue.

Some 150 local workers said they were protesting against the decision of the contractors to reduce their daily wage by Rs. 200 and suspend their monthly allowance of Rs. 9,000 each. Reports said that the local workers hailed from families displaced by the Kalu Ganga project which had relocated elsewhere and they had been given employment in the project to help improve their living conditions following the loss of their earlier jobs.

The Chinese management staff remained in their office building during the protest.

A Chinese national in charge of the management of local staff speaking through an interpreter said they were in the process of thinning down the local workforce since the project was in its last stage of completion. However, the local workers vowed to continue their protest until a fair and just solution was found to their problems.


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