By Asoka Seneviratne –

Back in the 1980’s when JRJ allowed private bus operations, me and my brother invested in several privates to run between Homagama and Colombo on the 138 bus route with 100% owned buses with no bank loans. We owned 6 – private buses of Japanese manufacture.

Right off the bat, we came to observe that in Kottawa and Homagama bus stations, thugs with blessings from local politicians started doing what they always used to do. Make “kappan money” from busses. No Kappan money meant the buss could run on that route. Fear of physica harm and political reprisals, we and our crew paid the “kappan” lie all other bus owners some of who had large bank loans.

At Kottawa, the thugs were goons from the famous politician/Minister names Gamini Lokuge who lived neat Piliyandala and was a large scale bus owner by family dynasty. My older brother was actively running the bus company on our behalf. He was a highly qualified British Qualified Marine Engineer who Was classed as a “commodore Chief Engineer of merchant marine ships which was a top notch qualifications. But he opted to run the business in Sri Lanka.

One Mrs Kotakadeniya was the person in charge of the private bus industry who Was genuinely trying to provide a descent bus service to public. Her husband was a senior DIG of police was a very uncorrupt police officer.

During this period, there was an election to elect office holder for Colombo District private bus owners associations. My brother threw the hat in the ring and was elected te secretary of the Colombo district private bus owners association. The chairman was elected as one Mr. Fernando who later turned out to be not even direct bus owner but pretended to be one as a family member owned bus.

The regular association with the newly elected office bearers were held at my mother’s house. My brother, being educate and used to British way of doing things were hell bent on providing a proper people oriented bus service. But soon he realized Fernnado and the rest was having none of that. They were busy planning a scheme to use the association to make money at every corner demanding “protection money” from bus operators mostly at the Colombo main bus stand.

My brother had none of that. He wanted bus crews to have minimum education standards, uniforms, training etc but Fernando and the crowd was not interested. Their only goal was to use their office to make maximus financial gins from bus owners. They were not interested in standards or Uniforms. They just wanted to make as much money as possible.

This turned into a major crises and a dangerous one at that.

One day, a bunch of thugs visited my brother at my others house with knuckle dusters and metal clubs and confronted my brother. Their goal was to scare my brother (the elected secretary of the Colombo district private bus owners association) to give up his fight to provide a well run, decent bus service but to join with them to screw the other bus owners to make lots of money.

His wife witnessed that this group of goons were pushing my brother around with the said weapons. They were basically intimidating him to bend to their ways. She ra in the middle and stopped the harassment.

Few weeks later, my brother gave up all efforts to run busses in Colombo in a civilized manner and went back to England. Mr Fernando and his goons went onto make millions.

Such was how our country was bit by bit was driven into a corrupt mess.

At one point, my brother went to see Minister Gamini Lokuge to complain that his goons were making Kappan money at local bus stands. Lokuge got mad and told my brother to go hell and told him some filth involving Mrs Kotakadeniya. He was threatened to get the hell out of his house. Such was the power of our so called elected leaders who took an oath to serve our people.

The purpose of my article here is to highlight the very possible corruption of these so called leaders of bus owners associations. I notice that the current office holders (One Gemunu is one of them) to challenge the elected government of President AKD and at time hold the government to ransom.

I would urge the government to enforce the mandate millions of Lankans gave them to fix Sri Lanka to put these so called association leaders to teach them at any given time there is only one authority to decide on Public Transport policies. That is the elected government of SL. Not a few goons who feel they are above the government.

Yes Democracy provide the right to challenge and question government. But not when those challenging are a corrupt lot!