PLO presents ultimatum to government

“The bus owners have waited for their money for the past 7 months. They want to see their money not later than Friday,” said Rawien Bajnath, advisor at the Private Regular Service Bus Owners’ Organization (PLO). The PLO which presented the ultimatum due to the delay in the payment of the fuel compensation for 2019 and 2020 explained that three weeks ago the government only deposited a portion of the fuel compensation in the bank account of the PLO. “We can’t start paying a few members and start promising the other members that they will receive their money in a week while we do not even know when we will receive the rest of the money,” said Bajnath who added that the government has until Friday to pay the other portion of the fuel compensation. If the government fails to comply, the PLO will hold an emergency union meeting to determine the next course of action with the union members.” The advisor fiercely criticized the Ministry of Public Works, Transport and Communication. “The people at the ministry are lax and every time we have to listen to the same story when they have to pay us our fuel compensation,” said the advisor who added that the bus owners are tired of complaining about the issue to the media. The bus owners reportedly want to scrap the fuel compensation and determine the bus fees themselves. The advisor of the nation’s biggest bus owners’ union pointed out that people will feel it in their wallets due to the high exchange rates. He explained that the prices of spare parts for buses are currently based on the price of SRD 9 for 1 US dollar.