The government moved the Bill to revive the Central Transport Board on Friday (26) amidst objections from two party leaders S. Sampanthan (TNA) and Rauff Hakim who said the bill being taken up as an urgent matter could not be debated as they had not received copies of the Bill as agreed upon at a party leaders’ meeting in the House.

Pandemonium reigned when some Opposition members should that the bill could not be taken up. The Speaker W. J. M. Lokubandara suspended sittings for ten minutes and called for an urgent meeting of party leaders.

When sittings resumed Minister of Urban Development and Water Supply presenting the CTB Bill said in 1947 the Sansoni Committee appointed to go into public transport had recommended the reorganisation of the bus services which were in the hands of a few bus companies and individuals but needing uniformity and service for the public. At that time his father Phillip Gunawardena who led the South Western Bus strike was imprisoned for 7 months. The Ceylon Transport Board that came into existence in January 1957 created a countrywide service which catered to all the areas of the country. School children were given the opportunity of using students’ season ticket while the rural folk in the remotest villages were able to bring their produce to the towns for sale in the CTB buses.

He said the CTB was not created to punish any private individuals but as a greater and wider service the community was demanding at the time. The Bill was being introduced as Urgent Business as the private bus service the UNP created after it came to power in 1977 did not take into consideration the vital nature of the national transport service. In 1991 the UNP had taken steps to run down the CTB and gradually the CTB depots and the resources it had were degraded and it was allowed to become an unlivable service. During the last private bus strike the public were seriously inconvenienced after and the SLTB buses could not help the public due to the lack of a sufficient number of buses.

The government had considered representations made by trade unions in the transport sector and citizens who asked for a revival of the CTB. There was a demand from the public that the CTB should be set up again to provide a better road transport service. The objective of the government was to upgrade the CTB service up to 33 percent of the passenger transport service as at present 7 percent of the passengers used the railway. The balance commuter load is shared between the private buses and the SLTB. When the CTB is set up there will be healthy competition but the private buses will still have 60 percent of the passenger transport service he said.

He said there was no intention of the government to retrench the workforce of the SLTB and the regional transport companies but about 2000 employees who reach the retirement age this year will retinue.

Gamini Lokuge (UNP) Colombo District said the CTB was never a profit making enterprise even during the time the late Anil Moonesinghe was its Chairman. The CTB had suffered so many setbacks and problems and it was mismanaged by various chairmen and directors. There was also much difficulty in maintaining such a transport service and the UNP allowed the private sector to run a better service.

He said the government was bringing in this Bill as an urgent one with the eye on the forthcoming elections but the intents expressed by Minister Dinesh Gunawardena cannot be fulfilled though he expresses the possibility of running an efficient public transport service by reviving the CTB. The government has not allocated the necessary funds to upgrade and streamline the CTB.

R. Sampanthan TNA Parliamentary group leader, said the Bill presented in the House demonstrated the government was trying to centralise transport services by establishing the CTB. Centralisation was not a solution but an attempt to take everything under the Central Government. The people of the North and East can run their own transport system without a control of the centre and they should be allowed to manage their own affairs. There was information that 2000 new buses were being imported from India and he hoped that a fair share of these buses would be sent to the North and East.

Piyasiri Wijenayaka (JVP) Kalutara District said the former Minister of Transport was not allowed to administer the SLTB and the whole management was taken over by a SLFP trade union official who dictated terms to all directors and executives of the various SLTB depots. The President herself was the President of the SLFP trade union and this official did not allow the administrative officers or anyone else to make any important decision without consulting him. He went to the extent of demanding that a person he named should be appointed to the board of management of the SLTB and ran the management as he pleased.

This SLFP trade union official went to the extent of directing all SLTB and privatised bus company depots not to deduct the trade union fees from the pay sheets of employees who were members of a registered trade union of the transport sector. He acted against the laws of the land and bullied everyone but the ministers in charge of the transport sector including the last one could do nothing to prevent the high handed and arbitrary methods he employed to maintain his power in the SLTB.

However, the JVP was not opposed to the establishment of the CTB but it should be noted by the government that it should be run as an efficient service without allowing individuals like the SLFP trade union official to undo all the good that had been done by those who had contributed to the management and improvement of the CTB, Wijenayaka said.