Number plate of bus under repair fixed to operational bus and sent to Colombo
Depot Engineer suspended
Inquiry into others involved
Special inquiry team sent from Colombo
An inquiry has been launched into the misconduct that occurred when the Ampara Depot resumed the operation of a bus with fake number plate, as part of the project to refurbish de-commissioned buses, on the instruction of Transport, Highways and Media Minister Dr.Bandula Gunawardhana.
Two hundred such buses were put into operation under second phase of the 400-bus repair programme at a ceremony held under the patronage of Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena and Minister of Transport and Highways and Mass Media Dr.Bandula Gunawardhana.
Sri Lanka Transport Board Chairman Lalith de Alwis said that it has been revealed that the bus brought by the Ampara depot was already in operation and it was brought to this occasion as a renovated bus using a fake number plate.
The chairman further mentioned that the Ampara depot’s bus with the registration number NB-5430 was initially intended to be part of the refurbishment initiative.
However, as the bus could not be restored as planned, it has come to light that the number plate of the currently operational bus, NB-5432, has been removed and falsely replaced with the number NB-5430.
SLTB Chairman Alwis said that a woman employed in the private sector had informed him about this incident over the phone on January 13. “She requested me to look into this incident”, he said.
The chairman said he deployed a team of investigators led by Special Investigation Unit of the SLTB headquarters to inquire into the incident on Wednesday.“By Wednesday evening, I was informed by them that an irregularity has taken place,”, he said.
Alwis said that he informed the Human Resources Manager to remove the engineer of the depot from his post on Wednesday.Accordingly the depot manager, engineer, accountant, store keeper have been arrested and disciplinary inquiry has started against all employees who were involved in changing the number plate of the bus.
The chairman said stern action would be taken against those who were involved on the basis of the investigation report. He said that spare parts to the tune of Rs.459,575 have been purchased for the refurbishment of the bus concerned.
“A group of technicians have been deployed to ascertain whether these spare parts have been fixed to the bus”, he said.
The post Probe on Ampara Depot frauds appeared first on DailyNews.