Industrial Export, Investment Promotion, Tourism and Civil Aviation Minister Prasanna Ranatunga yesterday requested all Board of Investment (BOI) companies to pay the March salary of their employees who were sent back to their homes following the closing down of their factories due to the curfew.
Minister Ranathunga has made this request from company owners following the directionS of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa.
The Minister said around 137,478 employees attached to the 278 factories in 14 Free Trade Zones are waiting for their March salaries.
Factories at all Free Trade Zones in the country have temporary closed down except for several factories manufacturing essential medical supplies and having manufacturing orders. Permission has been given to the managements of operational factories to strictly adhere to the guidelines to safeguard their employees.
However, employees who were stranded at their boarding houses due to closing down of their factories in all FTZs were sent back to their homes after a complete health inspection with Government intervention.
According to the BOI statistics, 5144 workers in the Katunayake FTZ, 3264 workers at the Biyagama FTZ, 450 workers in Meerigama,Wathupitiwala and Malwatta FTZs, 962 workers in Horana FTZ and 280 in Seethawaka FTZ were sent back to their homes by both SLTB and private buses arranged by the Government.
It has also been revealed there are a number of other workers except FTZs working in factories,shops, business ventures, companies stranded in their boarding places due to the curfew in the entire Gampaha district. Minister Ranathunga said action will be taken to send them to their homes with the assistance of Police and the Security Forces following a complete health inspection shortly.
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