The Department of Railways said it would launch a probe into a sign board at the Mount Lavinia railway station which only contained instructions in English and Madarine languages.

The sign board came under severe criticism on social media as it did not include Sinhala and Tamil languages — the two official languages in the country.

Many who commented on the matter said it was a clear violation of the official languages policy in Sri Lanka which mandates government institutes to produce all public content in both Sinhala and Tamil.

The inclusion of the Mandarine language has also raised many eyebrows as it indicates the growing Chinese influence in the country. As a result of multiple Chinese-funded projects in many areas, Sri Lanka has seen a massive infux of Chinese nationals into the country.

However, in the face of severe criticism across all social media platforms, the Department of Railways says it will conduct an investigation into the sign board.