Tense situation between MP Rasamanickam and bus owners

Heated arguments arose between the bus owners and Batticaloa District Member of Parliament Shanakiyan Rasamanickam soon after he instructed the authorities to check bus route permits with the help of the Police yesterday.

The Bus Owners' Association of Batticaloa said the MP was invited for an open discussion on the bus route permits and to expose the corruption involved when operating buses.

During the discussion, the MP proposed to have checkpoints with the help of the area Police to check route permits for the buses operating in and out of Batticaloa.

Earlier, several protests were held in Batticaloa against operating buses without valid route permits, the association said.

They said several people attempted to attack the MP when he tried to comment on corruption and the official involved.

The association member said the recent Manampitiya bus accident also involved a bus driven without a valid route permit and speeding when it crashed, which resulted in the death of 11.

"The officers attached to the Transport Authority and the Police have not checked the bus route permits in the area during the past eight years," the bus owners said.

"Only four buses out of ten have valid route permits,” they said.

“Shortly after the announcement, the bus owners with the route permits rose against the MP and tried to attack him," an association official said.

They claimed that the Colombo-Batticaloa route permit costs more than Rs. 10 million and they cannot afford it.

Many buses operate between Batticaloa and Kaduruwela without route permits, the association said (Chaturanga Pradeep Samarawickrama)