The Lanka Private Bus Owners Association (LPBOA) will go ahead with the planned bus strike against the recent budget proposal to increase the minimum traffic fine to Rs. 2,500.
According to the Chairman of the LPBOA, Gemunu Wijeratne, 20,000 buses operated by the association will go ahead with the islandwide strike action on Tuesday (November 15) to pressurize the government to abstain from implementing the said proposal.
¨Despite the discussions with several Ministers today, regarding our concerns we have not got a favourable response yet,¨ he said, adding that, therefore, the LPBOA will strike as planned. ¨The government should focus on more important things such as fixing the public transport system, for example, implementing bus lanes and creating joint time tables for busses which has been in operation for the past 15 years¨ he said. Further according to WIjeratne currently a fine of Rs. 2,500 is unaffordable not only for private bus owners but for the public as well.
¨Although the government claims they have taken this step in order to reduce accidents, Police statistics show a reduction in accidents in the recent past,¨ Wijeratne said.
He also accused the Road Development Authority (RDA) of dragging its feet in gazetting the correct speeding sign boards, which is according to him prevents the Police from making speed detections due to an order by the Supreme Court in January 2008 instructing the RDA to put in place correct speed limit signs.
However, Senior DIG Western Province Crime and Traffic Nandana Munasinghe refuted the allegation stating that the Police are making speed detections while many roads now have the correct speed limit signs in place.
On Thursday (November 3) Minister of Finance Ravi Karunanayake during the budget speech proposed an increase of the minimum traffic fine to Rupees 2500.
While the proposal has drawn mixed opinions, currently the minimum traffic fine in place is Rs. 20 for the offences of pumping petrol without taking necessary safety precautions and for reversing the vehicle in a haphazard manner while the maximum traffic fine is Rs. 5,000 for driving while underage which is also coupled with the offences of allowing a minor to drive and driving without a valid driving license for which a fine of Rs. 3,000 and 2,500 are slapped on the offending parties.