Private bus operators on the Horana–Colombo Route 120 withdrew from service on Wednesday morning, halting operations on the busy southern commuter corridor over the failure to arrest a worker accused of assaulting a colleague the previous day, Ada Derana reported.
Services on the route ceased at around 10:20 a.m. on June 10, with workers saying they would not resume operations until the suspect — an employee of a Moragahahena–Piliyandala bus who allegedly attacked a Horana–Colombo Route 120 worker on June 9 — is taken into custody. The assaulted driver is receiving treatment at Horana District Hospital, and the Moragahahena Police are investigating the incident.
The Officer-in-Charge of the station arrived at the scene and asked the operators to resume services, assuring them that the suspect would be arrested promptly, but the workers maintained their stance. Private luxury buses on the same route joined the action in solidarity at around 11:10 a.m.
Sri Lanka Transport Board buses have been deployed to operate on the corridor in place of private services to minimise inconvenience to passengers. The Horana corridor has been an active accountability and road-safety cluster in recent weeks, with the SUV-driver fatal hit-and-run at Elawella on June 7 and the Horana state-bank cash robbery sequence running in parallel through the Western and Kalutara magistrate’s courts.
Source: Ada Derana.
