The Lanka Private Bus Owners' Association (LPBOA) yesterday complaint with the Police Head Quarters, Colombo for disturbing the bus operation due to protests.
The LPBOA Chairman today handed over a letter to the Inspector General of Police (IGP) describing how they were disturbed.
According to the letter, the private bus operation was suspended for one and half years due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the country. Later, the buses were limited due to the economic crisis. Before the COVID pandemic, we had 18,000 private buses and the fleet was reduced to 13,000 as the bus owners were unable to make payments to the leasing companies. Most of them are still in the blacklist category.
Moreover, the letter said the current government had decided to provide limited fuel through Sri Lanka Transport Board (SLTB) depots. Therefore, the private bus operators had to operate only four or five days per week, facing more difficulties.
However, due to protests in Colombo and the suburbs, the daily private bus operation was reduced while not getting any income at the end of the day.
With the protests, around 40,000 bus operators and 8,000 bus owners have been affected. The price increase for the spare parts also caused the downfall of the industry.
The protestors and certain political parties will get their payments for making the current government inconvenienced, but we have to earn our own living by operating the buses.
Therefore, the LPBOA Chairman made the complaint to the police headquarters to take the necessary actions to control the protests while letting the buses to run as usual.
Daily Mirror