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| Tuesday, 15 January 2002 |
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Letters | |
| News Business Features Editorial Security Politics World Sports Obituaries
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I used to borrow books from the Colombo British Council at least once a month .The books are in sequential order and can be chosen from the electronic catalogue which is a novel feature introduced to the library with its automation. The system allows a reader to refer to a book in the catalogue by either the name of the author or the title of the book. Since the library tickets are being checked by its bar code, a reader can know for sure that the book is on the shelf or not which is indicated in the catalogue by in or out. The other day when I walked into the library the book in my mind was the Clash of Civilisation by Prof. Samuel Hantington which set an important theory that found relevance with the September 11 attacks on the twin towers in NY.I was delighted when I saw the book in the catalogue that gave the serial number of the book and shelf book on. To my dismay I could not find the book on the shelf in spite of my searching the shelf.I sought the help of the booksorter who searched the shelf again and still could not find the book.He told me that although books were electronically catalogued that the books are being left here and there and sometime left on neighbouring shelves.Alas I came out without the book. I hope the service to the reading public will be streamlined for the
better so that members of the library would not have to waste their time. Quality is greater than quantity There are two things to measure in the world. Those are quality and quantity. Mostly, quality is greater than the quantity. Quality is used to measure the things and the people. If such items are less priced, the particular item will be sold out quickly. But if the items are not quality, then it would be slow moving. So quality is linked with quantity in every moment. Likewise, if a person hails from a good family, everybody will appreciate him. It is also the same in political field. One who hails from a good family and has necessary qualifications to rule the government, majority people will elect him/her. A talented poet writes some poems. Now, people look at the poems. They find out that those are very meaningful poems. Now they appreciate the creator who creates finely. A sculptor carves the statues. People who look at the statues will appreciate the sculpture. So, here, we can come to a conclusion that without quality there won't
be quantity. Quality is greater than the quantity in every moment in the
world. The Daily News (Dec. 20) highlighted the news that dengue (the silent killer) has risen again in epidemic proportions in the Kandy and Matale districts, and nearly 174 cases have been reported so far. Public is well-aware that dengue is a mosquito-borne viral disease, and if there are no mosquitoes, it means no dengue at all. The vectors of the disease are the mosquitoes Aedes egyptii and Aedes albopictus which go in search of their blood meal in the daytime, either in the morning or in the evening. They differ from other mosquitoes by breeding in clean water, mostly in stationary rain water. Every year, a large number of adults and children are afflicted with the viral disease, despite continuous efforts by governmental and non-governmental health organisations and other bodies to eliminate the spread of mosquitoes and their breeding grounds, they continue to multiply under most favourable conditions where stagnant water is found accumulated in empty containers, in or out of home. The incubation period of dengue is 5 to 7 days. General symptoms are high fever, headache, abdominal pain, pain in muscles and joints, rash on the face, trunk and extremities, nausea and vomiting. These symptoms may subside in 3 to 4 days and patients recover. But, some may progress to dengue haemorrhage fever where the symptoms are somewhat similar, in addition to haemorrhagic manifestations, petechial rash, bleeding from nose and gums, brown or black coloured vomitus or faeces, severe and continuous stomach pain and enlargement of the liver. Personal protection and preventive measures are most vital because people are usually exposed to hazards which they cannot always control. Therefore, every person must take the initiative to prevent untended swamps, dumping grounds, garbage pits, murky green pools, littered yards where mosquitoes easily breed, and specially discarded bottles, tins, tyres and other utensils, roof-gutters, open barrels, coconut-shells etc. where rain water gets accumulated making them a haven for the blood-thirsty mosquitoes. The best preventive measures against dengue are, to keep the surrounding area of the house clean of empty containers; to burn or bury the waste products; to cut coconut husks to prevent collection of water; to add salt water to flower-vases and ant-traps and to change water regularly; to avoid throwing away polythene bags; to fill sand to old tyres kept on roof-tops to withstand severe blowing and to clean drains and gutters regularly for the even flow of water. The medical advice is that, when dengue fever is suspected, bed rest is essential. The patient must take plenty of fluids. "Refrain from giving aspirin and use only paracetamol". Still there is no vaccine available as a prophylactic treatment, nor is there any prescribed medicine for the viral disease. Safety is the best policy. Public co-operation is very important to tackle the viral epidemic. This is the only way to eradicate dengue, because there is no immunisation to fight against the disease. Truly speaking, dengue is a preventable disease, because no mosquito means no dengue. Since the Aedes species are not nocturnal in habit, repellents, nets and coils have no place in preventing a bite. After all, shramadana (volunteer) movements can do a lot to keep the
epidemics at bay by making man the winner and mosquito the loser.
Prevention is better than cure. Open the closed roads in Kandy It was heartening to hear and see that roads closed a long time ago in Colombo are opened. The citizens of Kandy have long been inconvenienced due to the closure of the upper end of Dalada Veediya. Appeals to the authorities and the District MPs had fallen on deaf ears. This road came to be closed soon after the terrorist attack on the Dalada Maligawa. The attackers are reported to have gained entrance from the Kings Street road block due to lethargy or absence of security personnel. The findings of the Committee of Inquiry were never released to the public or reported in the media. Closing the upper end of Dalada Veediya is not going to prevent an attack on the Maligawa, if one really wants to do so. With modern sophisticated weaponry reported to be available it could very easily be done from the rear, or sides. Hence why inconvenience the public unnecessarily? The high iron fence could be shifted to the Maha Maluwa side from the lake side and the road open to traffic without upsetting the present arrangements. The Maligawa premises and the surroundings are nobody's kingdom and should be freely available for veneration and sight seeing by the Buddhist public and international tourists without hindrance. It is up to the Maligawa authorities to ensure this in cooperation with the local and security authorities. To ensure this they should be fiercely independent and non partisan in
their utterances and actions. Annual accounts - State Pharmaceuticals Corporation Reports have started appearing in the newspapers (not of the Lake House Group) and electronic media that the State Pharmaceuticals Corporation (SPC) has incurred heavy losses during the People's Alliance regime. (An example is enclosed for your perusal). I can state categorically that such reports are false. They are probably malicious in intent. I am pleased to give below the relevant details of SPC Annual Accounts for the years 1995 to 2000 that have been submitted to and accepted by the Auditor General, Parliamentary Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) and the General Treasury. Profit incentive bonuses ranging from one to three months' salary for SPC employees have been approved by the Treasury on the basis of these annual accounts. Opposition bashing is fun, and is obviously in season. But wilful
distortion of fact is deplorable. Hydro-electricity is the best answer No Rain, No Water, No Electricity. This is the weak excuse for the recent blackouts and no forex for generators or oil. Basically, the suggestion is to Re-Use water exited from turbines via existing reservoirs by constructing a series of artificial tanks for collection and repeat generation at lower levels. All flatland countries have to rely on Thermal Power and those with no indigenous raw material import oil, coal, gas but there is unreliability in supply and price with a never ending drain on the economy. Hence the frantic research for energy derivation from Solar, Wind, Sea
Waves, Nuclear etc. Sri Lanka is uniquely blessed with centrally located
mountains having an abundant supply of natural water. Perhaps, these
resources have not been fully exploited. Resumption of Batticaloa train service For quite some considerable number of years, the people of the Batticaloa and Ampara Districts have been denied the rail service and have been forced to put up with road transport and its vagaries. While people in other areas - government servants inclusive of pensioners were able to get full use of the railway warrants, for the above areas, the people of Batticaloa and Ampara had to keep their warrants in cold storage and spend their money for the transport. It would be good if the present Government will prepare for the resumption of the transport here, though it would be a Herculean task, with the rail tracks overgrown with weeds, and with hundreds of sleepers needing to be replaced. Many sleepers have been robbed to be used in bunkers, and by civilians
too, while almost all the railway stations from Batticaloa to Polonnaruwa
look like the Polonnaruwa ruins. I doff my hat to Minister Ravi Karunanayake for the bold action he has taken to instruct the CWE outlets in the Island to have their establishments open in the nights for the convenience of the general public. The press reported that the CWE has excess staff, hence it is admirable to note that no additional expenditure is involved to promote CWE Sales till late nights for the convenience of the working class, who could purchase their requirements with ease at their leisure hours. Today most of the super-markets are attracted by the consumers, because of the parking space provided for vehicles and extended hours of work. Kandy CWE where I have the opportunity to purchase my house needs around 10.00 p.m. I felt very convenient and time saving, as the roads are not busy with traffic, and the breeze is refreshing. For years the working classes night life had been inactive, and, the Minister's foresight, will be an eye-opener for other traders to have their establishments open for service of man till at least 9.00 p.m. The public transport dwindles as night falls. If public transport is provided, more consumers will be benefitted, and, the consumer will not be exploited by the CWE as the general traders. My special thanks to the Minister for initiating new ideas and, I do
hope other members too will introduce ways and means to get maximum
benefits from the existing resources. Almost everyday we read in various newspapers reporting the deaths of farmers killed by elephants and on the other hand the elephants that are being killed by man. This is a very serious situation that everyone of us should think about, especially the Agricultural Department and the wildlife authorities, so that the farming population living on the border of vast jungles and the elephants living in their natural habitats must be protected. With the increase of farming population many families have settled down on fertile spots on the outskirts of large jungles to eke out a living. Whatever it is these farmers will not leave these areas even if their large areas of cultivated crops are destroyed by wild elephants. On one hand there are no firearms to protect their crops. Some actually have local made arms to frighten away wild animals. Sometimes these farmers are the victims of Tamil terrorists. Some of the stories related by the farmers of those areas are actually heartrending sometimes whole families are killed and all their crops and huts are destroyed. Then what about the elephants, the lord of the jungle, gradually being disturbed by various colonisation schemes encroaching their habitats and disturbing their carefree way of life. For the last six months about forty to fifty elephants have been killed. Some of them have been shot by farmers when their crops and dwellings were destroyed. Some are killed in self-defence. Some are shot for sake of their tusks. Such is the fate of these majestic animals. Very recently we saw a pathetic picture of four elephants electrocuted from low lying electric wires from the wooden posts passing through jungle areas. To add to all these what about those orphaned baby elephants falling into unprotected pits and dying. Some get in to the herds of wild buffaloes and roam about, sometimes lucky enough to be detected by the armed forces or the officers of wildlife departments who bring them under their care. Something must be attempted and something must be done to safeguard the dwindling elephant population. If not our future generations will have to go to the Dehiwela Zoo or to the Pinnawela Elephant Orphanage to see an elephant. So both these problems that the farming population living on the
borders of large jungle land and these lords of the jungle living in their
own domain has to be settled almost immediately before things go beyond
control with the massacre of man and beast. An incident of car theft occurred some six months ago, reported to the Police, by some rent-a-car organization known to me, didn't carry much result except getting the car back. The culprits were sent scot-free, and are busy making new stunts. About a month ago, the same bunch of rogues was successful enough to run away with another car from yet another rent-a-car company. I too learned, about a few similar earlier cases through other organizations, which are still busy in court proceedings against this group. Had this information communicated to all such institutes; repetitions of this ilk would have been stopped forthwith. In simple, the modus operandi is as follows. There is a leader who is invisible and immune, providing information, plans, criteria, finance and safety to the front line men. They go with forged identities, driving licenses, and other necessary documents to get a car for rent. The telephone numbers if they give, it is a bogus one and not at the address provided. If somebody tries to trace the address, one finds a closed or abandoned house and no neighbour knows about such persons. Mobile phones would be answered for a week or so until their underhand work is completed and then is inaccessible. The first thing they do is to find their accomplice in R.M.V. Office and get false registration papers arranged, and then send the vehicle through some unsuspecting youth with forged I.D card to pawn the car or to sell through a car sale. Most of these car registration papers are with finance companies. If a would-be buyer checks with the R.M.V. Office for the authenticity of the documents, they might advise the buyer of the fraudulent deal and alert the finance company too. That is how sometimes plans get botched up and culprits apprehended. If at all everything went in swindlers favour the car worth about a million rupees would be pawned to a mere one or two hundred thousands or sell it to a car sale for a song. The rent-a-car man who cannot locate his customer, and thus at loggerheads with the real owner, is held responsible for every criminal thing done by these thugs. The Police too suspect the rent a car man is behind everything and arrest him outright. So he has to offer his life's savings to top brass and other stooges to save his neck; and then trail back the thieves himself to escape from the owner and imminent prosecution. In other developments the underground contract killers and IRCs use the rented cars to carry out their missions such as murders, bank robberies, arms, drugs and liquor hauls, loots and arsons etc. which the Police immediately implicate the rent-a-car operator, (who has never dreamt of a thing like that) and arrest him. To come out of this mess is not that easy. One has to face the problem really, to learn the gravity and severity of the situation. The places they roam frequently are Piliyandala, Kahathuduwe, Kandy, Kaduwela, Seeduwa, Ja-Ela, Kotte, Ratnapura and few other lesser-developed areas. If all the dealers of the rent-a-car institutes unite, as in other trade unions, they can face these problems collectively, and moreover such situations could be prevented by proper and due communication and knowledge. As an example: when some incident occurs at one organization, the details of the brigand along with their photos and whereabouts, could be immediately faxed or delivered to other organizations to avoid similar situations. Even though these dealers are doing a profitable and independent professional job, and a great service to the community, they are always at a loss, when some unexpected thing happens. Especially when the crime is taken place in an unknown far away place from the dealer's residential area, where the Police have no recognition of the renter. The United Organization comes in handy, in an atmosphere like this to give advice, moral support and other help and information necessary, during a crisis. My fervent hope and wish is that, this article would carry some
thought-provoking gist, among the rent-a-car business community and they
be emerged with more ideas to make all institutions in the country
together, under one shelter to become more strong to face adversaries. Norochcholai coal power planta Reference letter by Dr. P. A. Samaraweera living in Australia, regarding Norochcholai Coal Power Plant. As regards the fear of the VIPs in the Chilaw area I am told that the persons concerned who have such a worry have been taken by the foreign contractors to the countries where similar plants exist but no damage has occurred to buildings or any other property within miles. I am told the fear is that there will be damage to St. Annes shrine at Thalawila. This too has been disproved by the foreign contractors. I appeal to those "Protestors" to be more "National minded" as we all know of the inconvenience the public underwent during the recent power cuts. All this would not have been necessary if at least stage I of the coal
power plant was erected. |
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