charindra chandrasena 00:04 Riyad, Speaker 1 00:05 Shari, charindra chandrasena 00:06 how are you? Speaker 1 00:06 Good, man. Good. charindra chandrasena 00:08 No, no Dananath today. So I have you Speaker 1 00:12 absolutely. So you asked how I was, but I'm quite, quite good. But I had a good weekend. You know why? Yeah, charindra chandrasena 00:17 yeah, yeah. You you had a good weekend. I I didn't because your team won and Speaker 1 00:23 yeah yeah so those are things well charindra chandrasena 00:25 technically I mean we don't want to get into that but basically you Speaker 1 00:28 all won the second leg but you all lost but you all lost the charindra chandrasena 00:31 lost the lost the first Speaker 1 00:32 you all won the battle but lost the war charindra chandrasena 00:34 yes so Trinity lost the royal okay fine we got that out of the way I don't want to talk about it anymore, but we can talk about ice, and this is not about the song. Not not about ice, ice baby, but the dangerous ice. Speaker 1 00:53 Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, it has become huge. I think it has become huge pandemic in the country, and it's very dangerous. It's it's much more dangerous than, for example, the traditional drugs that I think we are used to hearing. Because if you look at the traditional drugs that have been there, it's basically it's plant based, right? So I mean, cocaine and heroin and all that. It's plant plant based, and plus there's a completely different ecosystem, where it has to come into the country where nothing is grown here. So because of that, one one reason is because of that the supply is also kind of curtailed because the amount what you can bring into the country maybe it comes through the port maybe it comes through through small boats who knows right but probably what they say what the what the what law law enforcement what they say is basically those are the two major channels but for example, if you take ice, I mean the ice is just the street name for methamphetamine. It's I mean regularly known as meth. The real danger with ice is probably I think that was also imported into the country. I think most of the ice manufacturing in this part of the world I think is probably in the in in East Asia, and that also I think comes through our borders, but the real troublesome part is where ice is now kind of getting manufactured here. So that was this famous Norilea case, where the house was found with I think what what 1000 kilos or something. Something charindra chandrasena 02:11 along those lines. Yeah, yeah. Speaker 1 02:12 So huge. But now now charindra chandrasena 02:14 they've discovered three places, right? So there's Middenia, which is in Hamantata district, Speaker 1 02:21 yeah, charindra chandrasena 02:21 and then there is Nodelia, Speaker 1 02:23 yeah, charindra chandrasena 02:24 and then there is Khanana, Speaker 1 02:25 yeah. charindra chandrasena 02:26 So, like in terms of the geographical diversification, also Speaker 1 02:31 exactly. I mean, charindra chandrasena 02:31 they they are going from the south, Speaker 1 02:33 yeah, charindra chandrasena 02:34 deep south, yeah, to the hill country, yeah, and then to the coastal belt. Speaker 1 02:42 Absolutely, it's basically do with logistics, right? So the thing is, like, if you bring it through the traditional channels, let's say it comes from the coast or it comes from the hub, what happens is, you know, it generally comes into a focal point. There is a concentrated point from there. They do the island-wide distribution. So what they are currently doing when they are manufacturing within the country, what they're doing is, you know, they can manufacture too. For example, region-wise, they can manufacture where the distribution becomes much easier, because the more if you bring it to one focal point, and when you try to distribute the number of checkpoints, number of you know other barriers which they have to go through is much more. But when they take the distribution to the regions, it's much more easier for them to basically to operate, and the real and the real what you call dangerous part. What I see is which is which is the most alarming thing is basically I mean if anyone has seen I mean the famous movie Breaking Bad TV series like which was you know which was a hit story about Walter White and J.C. Pinkman and you know the whole saga what they went through. I mean that manufacturing process can be done relatively easily. I mean only thing is you need a person with a lot of skill, a good chemist, who can and if he has the basic equipment, lot of the material what is used is actually found in households. That's the alarming part. Now for example, you know things like battery acid, certain cleaning products that we use in houses. Those things are and particular gases which are used in in in in very openly available industries. Let's not mention the ingredients. Ingredients, exactly, exactly. So I mean, for example, the gases are from the what you call the what you call from the AC industry, right? People who are into you know freezing solutions and you know air conditioning and all. So those that raw material is available, and these are not banned items. These are available items which are used by normal people who who run respectful businesses. So the problem is you know when those products get concentrated at a particular point, and when someone who knows what he is doing starts manufacturing, then it becomes a huge issue. charindra chandrasena 04:47 Yeah. So yeah, since you brought up Breaking Bad, I see similarities and also differences in the sense that if people who remain. That show would remember that they started it right just in a in a small caravan and you know it was it was very amateur the way they did it, but they had this genius cook right, but later on in the show you get the actual big dogs in the in the meth industry that is. is, there's a guy called Toko Salamanca. There's a guy called Gus Fring. Speaker 1 05:26 Gus Fring, Gusta charindra chandrasena 05:27 Offring. Speaker 1 05:28 Yeah, and the chicken man. The chicken man, right? And it charindra chandrasena 05:30 really looks like Sri Lanka has those kind of gustar offerings, those chicken men. Speaker 1 05:39 Yeah, charindra chandrasena 05:39 who are so gusto offering's main thing is I hide in plain sight. Yes. So what he does is he goes and funds the police. Speaker 1 05:48 Absolutely. He charindra chandrasena 05:49 provides funding to the police. Yeah. Right to the Drug Enforcement Authority, the DEA. That's the genius of it. That's the genius of it, right? And it it increasingly looks like we don't know who this guy is, or it could be a woman also, but I'm saying who these people are. Yeah, it could be multiple people, single person. Absolutely, but it really looks like there is there are a couple of big dogs, right, who are hiding in plain sight because I don't think that this stops at Kehil Badrapadme or whoever it is, that cannot be the main man, right? There is he has a boss. Who is that boss, right? Speaker 1 06:28 Exactly. charindra chandrasena 06:28 And Speaker 1 06:30 what is the chain of command here? Exactly, right. charindra chandrasena 06:32 And again, coming back to the begging bad thing, in that he is a fantastic businessman. Speaker 1 06:39 Yes, charindra chandrasena 06:39 right. Even the chicken business, he does very well because that provides cover for his drug business, and he makes Speaker 1 06:46 a huge meth lab exactly in one of the locations under the under the store, charindra chandrasena 06:52 right under the under the factory, Speaker 1 06:53 under the factory. Yes. charindra chandrasena 06:54 So, for me, actually Speaker 1 06:57 under the laundry, he has under the laundry exactly under the laundry. There charindra chandrasena 07:00 you go. So I'm just wondering who is that guy, and I think we have a great opportunity now to see if we can actually trace all of this back to that main person, right? In in Sri Lanka, see this thing, right? Drugs is a high risk, high return investment as a business. Because it's high risk because you can get caught any time. The you always have to be looking over your shoulder about who's coming behind you, who's going to catch you, who's going to rat you out in that language, right? But in Sri Lanka, it feels like for the longest time we have had high return, but not high risk. Speaker 1 07:51 Yeah, right. Yeah, charindra chandrasena 07:52 because if you know the right people, Speaker 1 07:55 yes, charindra chandrasena 07:55 then you are safe. Speaker 1 07:56 Yes, charindra chandrasena 07:57 right, and that is problematic. And I hope that's what's going to change. That you can't know somebody, and then be safe and secure, and you know have peace of mind about what you're doing, while getting those amazing returns on it as well. Speaker 1 08:15 Absolutely, it charindra chandrasena 08:15 is supposed to be high risk, high return. It's like it's like investing in the stock market is supposed to be riskier than savings account, and that's why the returns are potentially greater. Speaker 1 08:26 Yes, charindra chandrasena 08:27 because the returns could be potentially worse also. Speaker 1 08:28 Yes, charindra chandrasena 08:29 but here it feels like they are so safe; they've been safe for the longest time, and I just hope that we get to that that top right without just you know scratching the surface. Speaker 1 08:39 Absolutely, because thing is one thing really alarming in this is since this is relatively, I mean, as long as you as as you very rightly said, as long as you have a good cook, and and you don't need a lot of now. For example, if you for if you if you look at the past, you need a lot of patronage from very people high up in the past to basically run an operation like this. This is something. If you have the right cook, you have a little bit of money, and you have a relatively safe location, you can actually get this thing done. So it becomes very alarming. You don't need that whole connection dot line to start something like this. For example, let's say do you charindra chandrasena 09:21 think that is the way it's happening in Sri Lanka, though? Do you not think that this is all part of a larger network? No, probably these are the these are the little little fringes. Speaker 1 09:30 No, the thing is, you know. So if I'm just looking inside a business, right? I mean, if you look at any business, like there are a lot of entry barriers, right? So if you look at the drug business, also there are a lot of entry barriers because you need a lot of people. For example, get it through. I mean, get it through the hub. You need to make sure that you know the navy patrol timelines where when the navy what you call boats are going, they'll be at this particular time. So okay, don't go there at that time because the navy goes and very actively they check ships, right? So you need that. You need. That whole ecosystem, right, of information. Information is basically the biggest thing here. But then again, if you start manufacturing at a domestic level, which is not very complicated. I mean, it is. I mean, it is complicated. But if you have a good cook, as what we spoke earlier, you can do this at a smaller scale, where a lot of people now, for example, if you want a cook, you can probably get someone down from East Asia or someone who has done this before, right? Nobody knows who he is. You just go, you hire a lonely house from somewhere, you get some funding from another person, or maybe maybe people who get involved in this are people who have already been in this business, which means they have a lot of black money, right? And what you do is you can start your own little small operation, right? That is the real dangerous part in this because normally if you go after the if you get the big fish and all that, you can basically do. I mean, traceability is much easier. But then if you get multiple people who are trying to do this, and very rightly you said there was one in Kandana, then there was a what are the other two locations. Norally, and we have I mean, and there was another case lastly also in the suburbs of Colombo. Something happened, and all that. So that means this has been going on for a while, or or maybe it's at its infant state. But the problem is, if the entry barriers are less for this to get into the business, then the potential number of potential in what we call people getting into the business is larger. That is the danger I see, because if you go with the traditional stuff, you need a whole supply chain, you need the connections, you need all that. Yeah. So charindra chandrasena 11:34 I what I think is the and sorry, Speaker 1 11:37 and the other one is the pricing point. Now, for example, if you look, I'm just looking at this as a business, right? So if you look at the pricing, for example, if you are bringing down traditional drugs, heroin, cocaine, kg, and all that, it's manufactured overseas. It's bought to Sri Lanka, so there is manufacturing cost overseas. Then you need to there is a logistic there is a logistics issue where you need to bring it in. You need to get into Sri Lanka, and there is a distribution. In this, that whole process is not there, which means the pricing point for ice or meth ice would be much less, or it would be definitely it would be less. So the other problem is in in any business, normally what they say is for consumer affordability is very good. In the drug business, affordability is a very bad thing, right? So if it becomes and meth is generally isanol is normally considered a party drug, right? Because because the reason it keeps you awake. Yeah. All right. So and if you go back to the history of and charindra chandrasena 12:32 then there are so many so many you know advocacy effects. I mean you fail the party. Yeah. Exactly. Speaker 1 12:37 You basically fry your brains off. Yeah. Exactly. So the issue is, I think first methamphetamine was manufactured. I think in the late 18th century, I think it was again made for some pharma because it's artificially manufactured. It was made for the pharma industry. I think there were some. I think there were some chemists who kind of came up with this, and I think they used it for particular diseases like ADHD and all that. And then what happened was it became widely used and widely manufactured during Second World War, especially at the middle and the latter part of the German, the Wehrmacht. Wehematter is the German army because when they started going marching and when they started losing, especially in the Eastern Front with Russia, what they started was they were start they gave from from the books that I read they have given basically meth to the soldiers because one thing meth keeps you awake. You forget the you forget the concept about hunger and all that, which is like perfect when you are running a war and you are getting pummelling in in the trenches where food supply is cut, where number of casualties are going up. That means you have to keep on so number of breaks what the soldiers get is less. So what they were doing is they were giving meth, right? To just to keep the war going charindra chandrasena 13:46 on. Speaker 1 13:47 But of course that brought other problems also. Then after a while the guys just start you know I just start knocking off one by one. But it was used at that level. Then only I suppose in the late charindra chandrasena 14:00 from what I've read, I'm not 100% sure about this because I can't recall this 100% I think the late 70s and 80s only where this whole thing started going, where people started using as a recreational drug. I think maybe from the early 70s and stuff like that. So even in the US, US, US is the biggest market in the world for everything, including including illicit stuff. So in the U.S. I think it really started taking off. I think in the 70s and 80s. Yeah, 70s and 80s. Yeah, because when that party culture started coming, because party culture in the 40s and 50s was different. Different. So in the 70s, 80s, coming from the flower power movement and all of that, exactly. When they so that's when they moved into like synthetics like exactly way right yeah Speaker 1 14:46 and the synthetics even in the US I mean even if you watch Breaking Bad initially the synthetics were actually taken over the Mexican border that's right then only you know Walter Walter White figured out okay I know how to do this and he made a much. Pure form of the stuff that was actually coming through the body, right? charindra chandrasena 15:04 So that that is another thing that's happening. So during so Breaking Bad is set in maybe 2007 to 2010 or around that time. The setting of the setting of the yeah storyline storyline, right? So the meth epidemic in America was in that time or a little before that, mid 2000s was like the worst time. Speaker 1 15:25 Correct, charindra chandrasena 15:26 and what they found is that it's making a comeback now. Speaker 1 15:30 Yeah, charindra chandrasena 15:31 that Mehdi is making comeback because they actually cracked down on it in 2005 or mid 2000s. Yeah, the DA cracked down on it, and then it was like you know lying low for a while, and now it's making a comeback. And what they found is now the meth that is being produced has a purity of 90% or more. Speaker 2 15:54 Whoa! Okay, charindra chandrasena 15:55 so that is that is Breaking Bad level. Level. Yeah. So that means it is being. It is. It has that extra X factor for people who you know who are gullible enough to fall for it. Right. Saying that this is so pure and all of that. That this will give you. Speaker 1 16:11 So there's actually Walter White making stuff now. charindra chandrasena 16:14 I think. I think there could be. There could be. You know. We never know. Yeah. I want to find out who Sri Lanka's Walter White and Gus Ringer, but basically in over there, I think what has happened is its standards have come up. Speaker 1 16:27 Yeah, charindra chandrasena 16:28 generally, so it's not just one guy doing it. Yeah, I think generally across the board, the standards have come Speaker 1 16:33 up. Standards have come up, whether they are charindra chandrasena 16:35 coming from Mexico or America, the standards seem to have come up. Maybe with technology, I don't know exactly, and also they used to import a lot of it from import the the ingredients from China. Yeah, and now I think they have found a way to create it themselves, so that they don't have to rely on China and the wait times and the shipping times and the danger of you know getting caught at customs and all exactly. So there's there's a lot happening on that front in in America. I'm thinking that so another thing is about the pricing. What you said. So the pricing is different based on the market sometimes. Yeah. So I mean we obviously don't know what it's priced at in Sri Lanka, but I'm guessing they are pricing it differently when it's being sold to the Colombo, you know, party crowd Speaker 1 17:30 because Colombo Westerns basically being the biggest contributor to GDP. Yeah, obviously the incomes are higher. Yeah, so obviously when you come to places like Colombo, that's that's a that's another real alarming place because normally a lot of the what you call narcotics are consumed by places where they can actually afford it. But the problem is when the ticker when the ticker price starts going up, there are other provinces, more poorer provinces. For example, let's say one of the poorest provinces in Sri Lanka is Bundaragal, right? Places like that. When it becomes affordable to places like that, then it's alarming. Then it becomes the island-wide pandemic. Yeah, charindra chandrasena 18:02 and and beyond geography also, I think even in Colombo, the urban poor, right, can get hooked on this. Yeah, and that those are the horror stories we hear sometimes of like them stealing their own TV and like going and pawning it and pawning it and trying to buy the drugs or stealing from their own mother, you know, it's Speaker 1 18:24 absolutely charindra chandrasena 18:24 it's an absolute tragedy that you know that's what people don't realise. Like even even shows like Breaking Bad to a certain extent glorify the the use of exactly ice and the manufacture of ice. Even though the ending is tragic for the for the heroes. It does glorify it by showing it sometimes, right? Yeah. So it's a it's a I suppose it's a balance that pop culture has to strike. No, absolutely. I mean I mean that's the whole thing with Hollywood because the issue is now for example if you watch Godfather at the end when you watch the the final episode that the the the the Spoiler alert! But yeah, yeah. So the thing is, if you haven't watched it for the past 50 years, yeah, still for spoiler alert. Absolutely, but the thing is, when Speaker 1 19:10 you when you I mean I mean when you watch the final one, where the thing is, it kind of makes them. You kind of you know get this whole thing. You know, these mafia guys are like cool. You know, kind of thing, right? So sometimes what happens is the message is actually not very clear; it's very mixed. And sometimes the message goes the other way also. So that is something I suppose you need to watch out for. But the but the problem is this has this is a huge problem for the government, and that needs to be addressed very fast. Yeah. Because the problem is because if this starts to grow, it's going to be a huge issue because tracking. This is very difficult. That's charindra chandrasena 19:44 the thing, and I think so. Garment's legacy number one legacy is going to be this anti-corruption thing. No, yeah. But this could be a very close number two. Speaker 1 19:53 Yeah, I think the goalposts are now starting to move. You know, so so we have to wait and see what what they. Do about this, and one good thing I think that's going on for the government. I don't know. This was my personal opinion. One thing is the the the the the current what you call the the the chief the chief cop of the country. One thing is he's a guy who has come through from the lowest rank to the highest rank, which means he understands the whole system how these things work, so because of that, I think on action plan, especially things related to the ground, right? What do you call? He might have a he might actually have a better picture than most of the other as a 37 charindra chandrasena 20:37 year old career, yeah, right. So he has been there for 12 years old. 37 years. He has seen it all, and the I always believed it was about political will. Yes, it's not the capability of the police force or anything like that, because if you get the signal from above, you can act on it. Yes, right. So hopefully, we we can be optimistic, but cautiously optimistic that this government is giving the right signal. Speaker 1 21:05 Absolutely, I mean if the IGP can, I mean I think the IGP can and I think he is if he can work with a clear conscience. I think this thing can be tackled because generally our investigation, our CID guys and all they're pretty good because most of the guys are foreign trained and all that. They know what to do. The thing is, as long as the interference doesn't come, which I don't think will come, and this might be a priority item, like what you said, I think the goalpost might change. charindra chandrasena 21:28 No, I think this this should be like the second priority. Obviously, first priority is going to be what they what they promised. That's going to that's going Speaker 1 21:34 to go ahead. I mean, material what happens. That's going to go ahead. Anti corruption charindra chandrasena 21:37 drive no. Yeah, but this could be very well the second most important thing, absolutely, and it could be a real win for them if they actually if they really Speaker 1 21:45 nail it down. charindra chandrasena 21:45 Yeah, right. So we'll be interesting to see. Speaker 1 21:49 Yeah. charindra chandrasena 21:50 Moving on. Speaker 1 21:51 Yes. charindra chandrasena 21:52 Buses. Speaker 1 21:53 Yes. Oh my God. Yes. The whole what happened in L. I mean, it's it was very unfortunate. I mean, and to be honest, I think a couple of years ago also there was a similar bus accident. I think some school school kids from a school in Colombo, popular school in Colombo, they were going on a trip or something like that, and there was a there was an accident. So that was basically drive error in that particular case. So this what they say is a lot of the survivors what they say is that we are talking charindra chandrasena 22:22 obviously about the Allah. Yeah, I'm talking about the Alla Walla bus accident. So the Allah Speaker 1 22:25 Ala bus accident, the survivors. What they say is that just before the crash, the driver shouted saying that that the bus doesn't have brakes, right? I mean, in singular terms, bras second breakne, brake ne. So which is a very alarming thing, especially in a route like that, because you know that a lot of charindra chandrasena 22:44 did he did he shout that while the bus was yeah before the crash. Speaker 1 22:47 So the thing is, what they said is that the guy he went and hit another G. charindra chandrasena 22:51 So he didn't know that the the the brakes were not functioning. Speaker 1 22:56 No, so thing is, so there are so this you can get brake failure. There are two ways you can get brake failure. Not two. I think there are about three, but technically it's mostly two. One thing is, especially this the the the first one happens basically in routes where it's very hilly hilly areas because one thing is ascending is one thing one thing descending is another issue. So when you are descending, what happens is some inexperienced bus drivers. What they do is they put it on neutral, and they just go on the brake. What happens is the brake starts to overheat. When I say overheat, it's the brake oil that overheats. So when the brake oil, I mean you, anyone knows that when you put when you go to a garage and when you're changing your brake oil, when you top it up, they say it's you know dot 1.2, dot 3.4, and all that. And most of the European vehicles and all are dot four. That is the heat range. So, which means what is the boiling point of the brake oil? So, what happens is any break any break oil will have a boiling point. It depends on how it's used. So, normally what they say is when you are coming down a hill, come in gear and come in a come in the come in a low gear because then what happens is the engine braking is there, so this can be incident where the bus driver, due to inexperience, because they say he's a relatively young man, so inexperienced. So there were charindra chandrasena 24:10 there were photos exchanged of him. There was a video supposed to be him. Yeah, we don't know it is. We don't know, right? A guy, a young guy in shorts and and wearing some chains and all. Chains and a skinny and all. So we don't know for sure whether that's him. Yeah, we don't want to. We don't. We don't. We don't Speaker 1 24:28 want to speculate on that. But so just going back to the the reason where that accident might happen is probably there would have been the brakes would have overheated, which means he has come on gear, right? And sometimes his brake oil, brake oil, brake oil also must be a little bit old because the brake oil when it becomes old, it becomes more watery because it absorbs atmospheric what you call humidity, and it becomes very watery. Sometimes you know if you just take the oil out and check it's a little bit watery, that means the break oil has got old. And in Sri Lanka, there is one there is one mistake that what we do is. We go and change. We go and change all oils. That is, you know, we take we change the obviously the engine oil. We change the defiles. We change gearbox oil. One thing we always forget is the brake oil. So the brake oil also has a has a particular period. If it goes beyond that, what happens is it becomes a little bit watery, and then the efficiency of the brake oil goes away, and when the efficiency goes off, what happens is the brake oil will overheat much faster. So discount in that, but probably the reason for this, I mean, up to that point he didn't have issue, no. So if he had issue, probably sometimes he would have. I suspect he would have come on on the brake on neutral, and then suddenly you just you just lose. I mean, it has happened to me. You just lose. You just lose brakes. So when that happens, if you are experienced enough, what happens is you need to quickly break your gears, what they say, and you need to bring it to a lower gear and use engine, this thing, and plus you need to. I mean, particular things that you can do is you need to pump the brake, pump the brake, and to get some pressure back in, so that may be a reason, right? Another reason probably would have been that's what happened in the Radha Badul accident because they had gone in the bus and he had basically gone on gone on the brake and suddenly he just lost the brake and then there was a there was accident there, and another reason that can happen is where the maintenance of the vehicle is poor, right? Now if you take Sri Lanka, commercial vehicles need to go through a health certificate. Now, for example, your car and my car, the only there is no only health certificate that we take is only the what we call engine emission that we we go for the smoke test and all that. They do the smoke test and then they they either pass you or fail you. In commercial vehicles, anything that goes as you know heavy vehicle category, you need to go and do a health certificate, which means there are approved garages around the country where you can go and do it. The problem I see in that is the amount they charge for the the I mean the price there is a price cap put by the transport ministry or the yeah the transport ministry on how much those garages can charge, right? So it used to be 500 rupees. Now I think they have increased to 1000. With 1000 rupees, when a huge, for example, how charindra chandrasena 27:07 often once a year. Once a year. Once a year. Speaker 1 27:10 With the smoke test, you need to do charindra chandrasena 27:11 it. Okay. So once a year, 1000 is not too unreasonable, right? No, no, it's Speaker 1 27:16 not unreasonable. But it's not. It's not something. The guy who supplies that service, it's very difficult for him to do it for 1000 rupees. Like for example, ah, charindra chandrasena 27:25 you mean it's okay too low? Yeah, too low. So Speaker 1 27:27 you need to have a certified person from the transport ministry. I think there are some exams you need to do. That person has to be there from the CETB certified. There's I don't I don't know about the documentation, but there is an official guy has to be there. You need to pay his salary. Plus you need a large area to basically accommodate these vehicles, because it's not like a car or a you know a car or a bike going in, you know, for to turn a bus and turn a lorry or one of these steepers and all that, you need a huge area. So when the land mass of that garage goes up, that means the cost also goes up. So that is another one. Other one is there are things that they need to check. They need to check the brakes. They need to check the what you call the lights. Is the lights at the right level and all that? To do all the charinda in a big vehicle, it's going to take about at least properly. I think it's going to take at least an charindra chandrasena 28:11 hour. Speaker 1 28:12 So currently, what happens is because the rate is so low, these guys just go. They just check. You know, in in our language, what we say, "Udding getting well, no, right? We just check it from here and there. They just check and see. Okay, he gets it, starts a vehicle, flexible. Okay, the brake. It feels like it's working, but no actual testing is not done, as far as I know, because the problem is you can't do it. And and that's another reason. The people who come to do those checks and all that, these are lorry drivers and bus guys. They have a schedule to keep, so they just want to come quickly, get it done, and go. Now, if an accident like this happens, I'm pretty sure they will. They are going to check the last person who issued the. That's one area nobody is reporting about, right? This health certificate of the bus, who had given it, he will be called into. He'll be called in by the police. I'm 100% sure. Then they will check and say, how do you check all this stuff? The thing is, best way to do this is you need to get all those people to come and see. Okay, if you are doing this properly, when we say properly, how much is it going to cost you? And you need to get it to a price point because Chingachari, the the things like buses and lorries, these are commercial vehicles. These are not run privately, right? They are earning money. So if they are earning money, right? I mean, why can't you just increase it a little bit and you know make sure that they do a proper job? Because they are the the the by putting a price cap, the government or the ministry is pushing them to a corner where they have to do it at a you know a very a very non-attentive way, where they will just check. Okay, you get into a bus, you know, you you will check the animate and see if there are any oil leaks, right? You will check and see. I mean, especially in this case, brakes are very important, right? I mean, there is no brake efficiency test done, right? Now in other countries for commercial vehicles and all that, they do a brake where they take the vehicle for a drive and they check. In Sri Lanka, none of the testing facilities. I mean, I have been to. One or two that I know of, not one or two, maybe a few more that I've been to. They don't take the bus and go for a drive and do a brake check and all that. Nothing is done because the reason is they don't have time to do charindra chandrasena 30:08 it. Speaker 1 30:09 And you know, and and if they do all that, they can only let's say accommodate maybe five or six buses a day. So just imagine 500 into six is 3000 bucks. With 3000 bucks, can you run a garage? Can you run pay a person who comes from the ministry who certified for the ministry and all? Can you do all that? You can't. So this, I think, the government urgently needs to address this and get this into order. Where they do the regulatory framework, and they let these people. You give them the minimum standards, and you need to have a discussion with the, I mean, discussion with the people who are actually doing the garage owners, and say, okay, if you are doing this properly, what's the price? And on the other hand, the garage owners have to give the have to give the what you call the have to be very precise, saying that they will do a right job. Yeah. Because if that thing is not done, then the trans minister can go hell, hell, 10, and and go and nail the guy, and make it even a criminal offence because end of the day he has not done his part. Yeah. So all these things go into go into play, where we have a very loose system where it can be very easily abused. Now, for example, in some other countries, you need to hold a, you need to be a licence holder for a particular period before you can get your heavy heavy vehicle licence now. For example, I have heavy heavy vehicle licence not to drive buses, but you know particular jeeps and all that. You know 61 dash because they go under the bus category. So I just took it because sometimes when we go on the streets and all that, you have to drive. And I have had I have had enough running in the law where we have arguments where you know the jeep in front and the jeep at the at the back, one is 64, one is 61, right? It's both are identical, but the problem is legally they are different because they were bought under a different tax code when they were imported. So, but but the scenario is getting that licence is not very difficult. I mean, if you have, I think what they want is you need to have a couple of years of driving. There is a test that you need to do, right? Where you drive around Vera Vera here, which I which I did, right. But the thing is, there is no there is no what you call training done for people. For example, now if you take driving in Colombo and driving on the highway places of flat land is relatively easy than driving into let's say up country because up country the terrain is completely different, you know. It's very curvy. There are a lot of bends. You know, there are a lot of blind spots, right? You need to have a lot of discipline. And the other thing is the terrain. You go, you go up and down, up and down, right? So what happens is, if this guy is riding on the brake, obviously you're going to have issues with the brake. I mean, even if it's 100% well well maintained bus, and there's another issue. A lot of the buses in Sri Lanka, like I would say, 95 or almost 100% the buses are actually they come with lorry chassis. These are lorry chassis which are converted into a bus frame, right? Bus body. So the issue is there's another. So so the thing is how it's designed. It's not designed for passenger transport, right? Now if you take a equal and Japanese vehicle or something, you know they have ABS brakes, you know the braking system and all is advanced, you know, and they have traction control and all those. So all those safety features are there. So when you have a fully electronic system, even if the braking system is kind of you know there's some problems, it'll at least give a warning. Speaker 1 33:17 Now the current buses and all that, even if the brake level, let's say there's a leak and the brake fluid goes go goes off, I mean there's nothing to show the driver that you know that you know that you're running a vehicle without any brake fluid in the system, right? And if you take like your car, if you take your car, if your brake fluid, let's say some leak happens, it can happen, right? It can happen on the way. Some seal goes off, or let's say some O-ring goes off, and you're leaking your dashboard. You know the brake light will the the brake light will come up, and then you know there's something problem. You don't know what the problem is, you know there's some problem with the brakes, right? Then you'll be more careful. Transcribed by https://otter.ai