Sri Lanka, Feb. 17 -- The Locomotive Operating Engineers Union has called off the strike that was scheduled to commence from midnight today (17).

Secretary of the Union Dimuthu Edirisinghe said the decision to suspend the strike was taken following the government's move to temporarily halt the plan to provide train driver training to Sri Lanka Army officers.

The strike was announced in protest against a move to begin training a group of military officers as train drivers, during a meeting held for newly recruited trainee train drivers. Locomotive operators opposed the decision to include the proposed military officers in the training program.

Meanwhile, Deputy Minister of Transport and Highways Prasanna Kumara Gunasena stated that the ...