End railway strike and come for discussions - Finance Minister 

Finance and Media Minister Mangala Samaraweera urged the striking railways' employees to end the strike and come for discussions while strongly condemning the trade union action taken yesterday which severely inconvenienced the public. 
 
Minister of Finance said that the government strongly condemns the unannounced strike launched by the railway trade unions yesterday when the government has already appointed a special commission to revise the salaries of the state sector workers including the railway employees.
 
Arrangements have been made to deploy additional Sri Lanka Transport Board buses and also the Army has deployed their buses to transport the commuters. The train season ticket holders can ride the SLTB buses free the government announced. 
 
Permission was also given for the private bus owners to ply on any route disregarding route permissions and the cost of operating extra buses is set to be provided by the Finance Ministry. A special bus service by the Army was also launched to provide transportation to the students sitting for the GCE Advanced Level examination.
 
However, the unions have vowed to continue the strike action till their demands are met.