The All Ceylon School Children’s Transport Association yesterday warned that 48,000 school transport operators countrywide will be compelled to withdraw from service unless a proper fuel supply mechanism is in place for them.
Association’s Secretary K.Lalith Chandrasiri Fernando stated that the system implemented to refuel school vans and buses has failed miserably.
Although a program has been launched to fill up a form through the Divisional Secretary and provide fuel to school van drivers considering it as an essential service, no Divisional Secretary in the Gampaha District has yet signed the form, he said.
“In other districts, some divisional secretaries have considered the children and signed it, but there are various irregularities in obtaining fuel,” he noted.
Commenting further on this, he said that school van drivers suffer in queues, refuel and pick up children. The drivers have to wait in line again to refuel. Depots are told to give fuel to school vans but sometimes they do not release more than forty to fifty liters of fuel.
“Therefore, responsible persons should pay attention to that. We have issued a letter with full details about the amount of fuel required for our school vehicles along with the membership card. In that order the depot can supply the required amount of fuel. Then anyone can understand exactly what school vehicles are and what other vehicles are.Therefore, I request the responsible persons to pay attention to this and give us some fuel so that the schoolchildren can be sent to school on time,” he noted.
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