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Private buses to stop services over diesel issues

03 Jun 2022

BY Buddhika Samaraweera The Lanka Private Bus Owners’ Association (LPBOA) has stated that if the Ministry of Power and Energy and the Ministry of Transport do not take action to formulate a formal programme for issuing diesel for buses this week, private bus operations would be suspended from 6 June onwards. Speaking to The Morning yesterday (2), Association Chairman Gemunu Wijeratne said: “The current fuel shortage has severely disrupted bus services for a few months. Although we have asked on several occasions to formulate a formal programme to issue diesel for buses, no such programme has been prepared. As a result, buses have to be parked near filling stations for long periods of time.” He said that it is the responsibility of the Government to identify the shortcomings in the public transport sector and address them, adding that the Transport and Power and Energy Ministries should therefore formulate a programme to issue diesel for buses at least within a week. If not, he said, buses would not be operated from 6 June. “We cannot operate buses like this. We cannot even pay the employees in this situation. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, we had to stop running buses and we could not even pay the bus lease. At present too, we are facing a similar situation. In this situation, we are left with no option but to suspend bus services. Since the General Certificate of Education (GCE) Ordinary Level (O/L) Examinations are also over, we will not hesitate to suspend operations if we are not given a solution,” he added. The country has been hit by several economic issues over the past few months due to the deficit of US dollar reserves needed for imports. Over the last few months, many arrivals of stocks of fuel have been delayed due to the same and the country is facing a severe shortage of fuel. As a result, vehicle owners including those of private buses have to wait in long queues to refuel their vehicles.  


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