According to the Minister of Transport, Highways and Mass Media, Dr. Bandula Gunawardhana, when the new chairman was appointed, the 39 SLTB Depots did not have adequate income even to pay salaries. Now, 30 depots are operating at a profit, while only nine depots are not earning enough to pay salaries.
The Minister stated this when he presided over the presentation of Letters of Appointment to 100 bus conductors and drivers newly recruited to the Sri Lanka Transport Board (SLTB), held at the Ministry.
Minister Dr. Bandula Gunawardhana elaborated that, as the SLTB is a national asset, a portion of its profits can be used to increase salaries, provide incentives, and healthcare for those involved in its development. If everyone boarding a bus is issued a ticket and the revenue returned to the depot every day, in keeping with their conscience and honestly, all depots will earn profits. What our conductors and drivers do is to give only part of the daily income to the depot, while retaining the balance to take home. Because of this, about 35 personnel involved in this kind of fraud are suspended from work every day. Don’t get involved in that fraud and get into trouble. From today, if you, government employees steal or cheat, you will be severely punished.
A train driver who claimed that we were stealing, but himself had engaged in theft, was reported to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and Corruption Fraud Unit. We have submitted to the CID, details of his account, into which Rs. 4.2 million and Rs. 3.1 million had been credited. This is not done due to a personal grudge, but to set an example to the others when running these institutions. Most of these people are young people and, if they put an effort and work, they could achieve improvement in their lives. In the past, there was a lot of recognition and respect for a conductor and a driver of a bus, in society. When they retire, people used to hold functions to pay tribute to them and honour them. To achieve such a status, you must be disciplined and care for the SLTB, and love your work, then you will have a better tomorrow.
In the future, we hope to bring 200 electric buses to the Western Province. By 2030, the entire public transport in Sri Lanka should be electric buses. The Minister added that he hopes to provide an electronic bus ticket, before the end of this year.
Ministry of Transport and Highways Acting Secretary L.H. Tillakaratne, SLTB Chairman, Engineer S.M.D.L.K.D. Alwis, and SLTB CEO Mahesh Kulathilaka were also present on this occasion.
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