Sri Lankan port workers end protest over alleged 'Indian pressure' after talks with PM Rajapaksa

Workers at the strategic Colombo Port on Friday ended their protest against the alleged "Indian pressure" to prevent Sri Lanka from developing a deep-sea container terminal of the country's largest and busiest port following a meeting with Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa. The workers on Thursday threatened to go on an indefinite strike if the government allowed a foreign country to develop the Eastern Container Terminal (ECT).

The previous Sirisena government had signed a "memorandum of cooperation" (MOC) with India and Japan for a tripartite effort to develop the ECT which is located just next to the USD 500 million Chinese-run Colombo International Container Terminal (CICT). Although the MOC was completed last year, a formal agreement for the terminal development is yet to be signed and the trade unions were pressing the government to abandon the MOC and develop the terminal as a 100 per cent Sri Lankan venture.

"We are thankful to the Prime Minister for his intervention, and happy that through our action we have been able to safeguard our institution," Shamal Sumanaratne, a trade union leader was quoted as saying by the Prime Minister's office.

Rajapaksa held crisis talks with the trade unions at his house in the south this morning, it said. Last week, the port workers staged demonstrations to urge the authorities to install three newly-imported gantry cranes at the ECT. The cranes had been imported to be installed at the Jaya Container Terminal which is run by the Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA). The workers demanded the government install the cranes at the ECT to scuttle the MOC between India and Japan.

"We have won the round one in getting permission to unload the gantry cranes, the next step would be to operationalise the ECT. We hope we will win the next round through further talks," said Prasanna Kalutharage, another trade union leader.

The union leaders said that Rajapaksa ordered that the three gantry cranes imported from China be unloaded at the ECT. It is the first step and the prime minister would provide further solutions after discussions with the ministers, they said. Earlier on Wednesday, Rajapaksa told reporters that no final decision had been made yet to hand over the development of the ECT to India.

"This was a diplomatic agreement with India signed by the last government – an agreement between President Sirisena and Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi," he said.

The trade unions were protesting against the alleged "Indian pressure" to prevent Sri Lanka from developing the ECT on its own. They have called for expediting the development of the East Terminal and are against handing it over to a foreign country. Colombo Port is the largest and busiest port in Sri Lanka. Located on the southwestern shores on the Kelani River, it serves as an important terminal in Asia due to its strategic location in the Indian Ocean.  

(Image Credits: AP)