The Union of CEB Engineers has issued a statement regarding the statements made by the Chairman of the Public Utilities Commission, Janaka Ratnayake to the media. That, with the signature of its joint secretary, Dhammika Wimalaratne.
They say that the Ceylon Electricity Board’s Engineers’ Association observed that in the past, social media as well as other media were spreading misconceptions about the salaries and benefits of the employees of the Electricity Board. They consider that process as one step in a process organized by certain parties to create displeasure and hatred towards the employees of Ceylon Electricity Board, including electrical engineers.
Currently, all the salaries and privileges given to the employees of the Ceylon Electricity Board, including the engineers of the Ceylon Electricity Board, have been given at the same time as the payments made for similar work in other institutions based on the specific tasks they perform as well as the specific skills they have acquired for it. . They say that even the report issued recently by the Public Utilities Commission notifying the decision on the electricity charges system had clearly stated that the salaries of the employees of the Electricity Board are within the standard values of the region.
“Continued misleading statements made by the Chairman of the Public Utilities Commission Mr. Janaka Rathnayake regarding employee salaries and privileges, denigrating the commitment of CEB employees who are dedicated to providing continuous electricity supply to the public regardless of the sun, day and night, regardless of the risk of life with electricity. We express our deep displeasure.
Due to his statement, the CEB retirement system, which is currently being heavily discussed in the social media, did not start recently and has been in existence since the 1980s. Also there are many government institutions which provide pension which is almost twice as much as CEB along with EPF. We can even provide a list of such government institutions if it is necessary to conduct a study on it as mentioned by Mr. Janaka Ratnayake. This is no stranger even to private sector organizations.
We strongly condemn such irresponsible statements made by Mr. Janaka Ratnayake as a chairman of a commission established by the Parliament for a specific purpose and acting independently according to the powers assigned to them. We have emphasized that what the Public Utilities Commission should do is to use the broad powers assigned to them if something harmful happens in the institutions under their regulation and correct it, not to create a scandal in the society by spreading false information about those institutions.
In other countries of the world, including our region, such commissions operate in a very respectable manner and one of their members acts as a judge. Therefore, we express our regret that the members of the Public Utilities Commission, as well as the members of the senior staff, have not been able to maintain that respectable status since its establishment.
However, we thank Mr. Janaka Ratnayake for further confirming the importance of selecting responsible professionals with proper qualifications for such important positions, which we have pointed out for a long time, and our association requests the honorable president and the government to restructure the energy sector. In order to prevent the sector from falling into an abyss at a critical time, the Public Utilities Commission should also be properly restructured,” said the announcement.