Rs. 25,000...

At the weekly Cabinet media briefing in the parliamentary complex, Mr. Senaratne said the government’s decision was unchanged and there would be no rollback of the proposed fine.

“We will never give permission for drivers to kill people. Since the day the decision was taken there has been a slight decrement in road accidents. I think the accidents would be fewer if the law was implemented,” he said.

“The proposals were made to take legal action for overtaking on the left or speeding, and to place speed limits. First of all laws should be made so that the penalties could be imposed on those who overtake on the left or speed,” he said. He said the President had not said anything about changes to proposed fine of Rs.25,000 for seven traffic offences during the discussion with the Bus Owners’associations held in the parliamentary complex on Saturday.

He said it was fair to impose a reasonable fine for overtaking on the left side and speeding; but that there would be no reduction in the fine for the other five offences. He said he had also requested the government to take legal action strictly against those who had damaged the Sri Lanka Transport Board (SLTB) buses during the private bus strike. “128 SLTB buses were damaged during the strike, and the police should have arrested the 128 people who were responsible. But the police could not arrest that number of people. The police have no connection with the people in those areas. In that case there is no use of the police,” he said. He said most of the bus strikers had worked according to a certain political agenda and most of the members of the bus associations had taken part in poster campaigns during previous elections.