Mar 31, Colombo: The Minister of Industrial Export, Investment Promotion, Tourism and Civil Aviation Prasanna Ranatunga has requested all Board of Investment (BOI) companies to pay the March salaries of the Free Trade Zone workers, who were sent home after the factories were closed due to the curfew.

The Minister has made this request to the owners of the FTZ companies on the advice of President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa.

According to the The Minister around 137,478 employees work at 278 factories in 14 Free Trade Zones.

All factories in the Free Trade Zones have been temporarily closed, except for factories manufacturing essential medical supplies and having manufacturing orders.

According to the BOI, managements of operational factories are requested to strictly follow the procedures and guidelines set forth by Public Health Inspectors in the region to safeguard the employees’ health and well-being.

Employees of closed factories, who were confined to their lodgings due to curfew, were sent back to their villages recently with government intervention.

Sri Lanka Army troops on Friday transported over 5180 stranded employees of FTZs in Katunayake and Wathupitiwela to their homes with the assistance of respective FTZ companies.

According to the BOI statistics, 5,144 workers in the Katunayake FTZ, 3,264 workers at the Biyagama FTZ, 450 workers in Meerigama, Wathupitiwela and Malwatta FTZs, 962 workers in Horana FTZ and 280 in Seethawaka FTZ were sent back to their homes by both SLTB and private buses arranged by the Government. Some non-FTZ employees were also among them.