Sri Lanka state sector workers called back to work on Fridays
ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lanka’s state sector workers, who had been given Friday off due to an ongoing fuel crisis, are required to resume working on Fridays as the crisis is “nearing its end”, according to cabinet spokesman Minister Bandula Gunawardena.
The decision that was valid for three months has been cancelled with immediate effect based on a proposal by Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena, the minister told reporters at the weekly cabinet press briefing on Tuesday August 02.
Related:
Sri Lanka state offices shut on Fridays for home garden leave
A statement from the cabinet said the decision was revoked considering that public transport has returned to normal and sufficient time has been spent by government workers on home gardening activities as part of an agricultural initiative launched by the government in the face of a looming food crisis.
Minister Gunawardena said a QR code system introduced by the Power and Energy Ministry was proving to be successful in its quota-based fuel sales. The much anticipated food crisis, too, may be avoidable now due to an increased availability of fertlizer, he said.
State workers may therefore return to work all five days of the week, he added.
The Friday holiday did not apply to state workers in the health, education, power, water, transport, port and airport sectors.
As of Monday August 01,, 5.1 million Sri Lankans have registered for the National Fuel Pass (NFP) system which operates via QR code. The quota system allocates four liters of petrol for motorbikes, five liters of petrol or diesel, 15 liters petrol or diesel for light vehicles and 20 liters of petrol or diesel for cars and vans, 40 liters of diesel for buses and 50 liters of diesel for trucks per week. (Colombo/Aug02/2022)
