Sixty-eight rail gates for Kurunegala

by S.M. Wijayaratne, Kurunegala Cor

Sixty eight gates are being fixed for unprotected railway crossings in the Kurunegala district. As per instructions given by President Mahinda Rajapaksa to the Inspector General of Police, the construction of these gates is being carried out by the Police Department.

It is now being implemented successfully with the support of Civil Security Committees which have deployed three of their members to construct a gate. They are paid an allowance by the Government.

President Rajapaksa, considering the high rate of accidents caused due to the non-availability of rail gates at certain railway crossings, had instructed the authorities to take measures to fix gates at unprotected railway crossings.

Around 425 persons including schoolchildren had met with accidents at unprotected rail crossings in different parts of the island over the past two years, said a senior official of the Police Department in Kurunegala.