Engineers of the Railway Department say that 65 people from the Railway Department are planning to go to India to inspect two diesel locomotives that were used and removed from India before bringing them to Sri Lanka.
Engineers mention that due to the electrification of India’s railways, preparations are underway to deliver the 20 diesel engines that have been withdrawn from use in India to this country.
They mention that accordingly, two locomotives are to be sent to Sri Lanka first, and a team of 65 people from Sri Lanka is preparing to go to India to test those two engines.
Furthermore, they further mentioned that to check 100 rather than 20 locomotives, only four expert engineers from the 04 fields of technical, mechanical, electrical and civil are sufficient.
However, Transport and Highways Minister Dr. Bandula Gunawardena says that the allegations that 65 officials of the Railway Department are going to India to investigate the free locomotives from India are completely false.
The minister points out that the publication of false advertisements regarding the 20 locomotives worth about 16 billion rupees agreed to be provided by India is a belittling of those donations.