106 Sri Lankans who went to work as heavy vehicle drivers in Lithuania have been stranded in Europe due to lack of employment, food and accommodation facilities.
Two Sri Lankans who had been deported from Lithuania and were part of the group had arrived back at the Katunayake Airport and they had mentioned this predicament on April 26.
With the intervention of the government, 108 Sri Lankans, including the two of them, had registered with the Sri Lankan Bureau of Foreign Employment (SLBFE), paid Rs.1.2 million to an employment agency in Colombo and left for Lithuania to work as heavy vehicle drivers. N. W.Priyantha, a resident of Unawatuna Galle, who arrived back in the country from Lithuania, mentioned the following, while at the Katunayake airport.
“I was working as a heavy vehicle driver at the Colombo port and two of my own heavy vehicles were also deployed at the port. But under the current economic situation in Sri Lanka, after selling those vehicles and pawning our gold we paid Rs. 1.2 million to an employment agency in Colombo with the intervention of the government and prepared to go to work as heavy vehicledrivers in Lithuania.In addition to this amount we paid, we had to purchase flight tickets and among other essentials,”he said.