Provide relief for private bus owners to restart services: Minister tells NTC Head

Transport Minister Pavithra Wanniarachchi today instructed the National Transport Commission (NTC) Chairman to provide all possible relief for private bus owners to restart bus service.

The Minister said this following a discussion with the Private Bus Owners' Association at the Transport Ministry today.

She said the private bus industry has been defunct for nearly a half-a-year due to COVID pandemic in the country. 
Therefore, NTC Chairman Shashi Welgama was instructed to provide possible relief to restart the service.

During the discussion, the representatives of the Private Bus Owners' Association pointed out that the Ministry should intervene to obtain relief such as payment of lease, loan installments for buses, grace period for payment of route permit charges and to stop passenger transportation under the pretext of transporting institutional employees without a valid licence etc.

The Minister said appropriate legal action will be taken against buses operating in the name of office services without route permits.

The Minister told the private bus owners' to submit their requests in writing and that she would take action to provide maximum relief for these issues.

It was also stressed that the Transport Ministry will never allow the private bus industry to collapse. (Chaturanga Samarawickrama)