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| Thursday, 21 February 2002 |
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Letters | |
| News Business Features Editorial Security Politics World Sports Obituaries
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A series of letters of protest addressed to the Mayor of Colombo, against the erection of an abattoir in the City, has appeared in almost all the daily newspapers since December 2001. A number of appeals of protest by the citizens at various levels have already been forwarded to the Mayor. Many an article by eminent writers disproving the myth of the so-called concept of "humane method of slaughter," were published. Under these circumstances it is surprising to see the silence on the part of the Mayor up to now on this issue. Has he decided to abandon the project or to go ahead with it? Let us know. However, in this context I greatly appreciate the Mayor's telephone
call upon the receipt of the letter of appeal, forwarded by me, signed by
a cross-section of prominent citizens of Colombo (Buddhists and
non-Buddhists). He informed me at that stage that this project is not yet
finalised. Now it is almost two months since the protest campaign began
and more and more protests in various forms will definitely come up in the
future. So far the protests have been made based on justifiable grounds. I
appeal to his Worship the Mayor (and the officialdom of the CMC) to take a
final decision to abandon this horrendous project and inform the general
public soonest without continuing to "dilly-dally" on the issue. Night riding of pedal cycles without a lamp has caused many minor and
serious mishaps. Mostly it is the innocent pedestrians who are knocked
down by these errant cyclists. In darkness it is difficult to see the
cycles which fly by your side sometimes missing you by a few inches. This
does not affect the people in the town areas much as the highways are well
lit. But it is not so in the village and the suburban areas. Recently, I
with a friend of mine waited near our gate at Bandaragama on the main
Panadura-Horana-Ratnapura Road. It was around 7.30 p.m and we waited till
100 cycles passed the place. None of the cycles had lamps. Patrick de Silva of Katana (letter) has put the blame for the National Council not delivering the goods on the fact that a disabled person has not been appointed as the Director of the National Secretariat. I agree with him that the National Council since its beginning has not done anything significant to uplift the lives of disabled people in this country. But this is due to the fact that it has been constituted not as an independent body, but as just another government department under the Ministry of Social Services. As long as it continues to be so it will suffer the usual bureaucratic lethargy. And all it will do is to continue to distribute wheel-chairs and spectacles to the few lucky people who are at the receiving end of the benevolence of politicians. The hundreds of thousands of other disabled people will never be touched. Also, it is a well-known fact that Disabled People's Organisations in Sri Lanka are controlled by certain individuals. These few individuals continue to monopolize the top posts in their organisations without giving anyone else a chance. The same individuals are called upon by the Ministry to serve on all committees. Like "The Brook" in the poem, they go on forever. None of them have shown any qualities of leadership to make their organisations powerful forces to be reckoned with. All they do is to ask the government to do this and that for them. So having a disabled person as the director of the secretariat will not necessarily be the solution. It will be like changing the pillow to cure a headache. If the National Council is to respond to the cry of the disabled and do
something positive about it, it must first and foremost be reconstituted
as an independent body under the Prime Minister. Only then will it have
the power to influence all other government departments and NGOs to serve
the disabled. The widening of Watarappola Road was a very welcome move and was hailed as a step taken in the correct direction. The work commenced with a bang but the progress seems to have come to a halt. Those living alongside this road, though inconvenienced, realising the importance of this project, surrendered the comfort of their sitting rooms and verandas in the hope that they would soon see a beautiful and broad road leading to their homes. While construction work on this road has been suspended, temporarily I
believe, unauthorised structures in the form of trade stalls are appearing
thus reducing the proposed width of the road by one third. If this is
allowed, the whole purpose is lost, and therefore it is the duty of the
local authority to nip it in the bud before it assumes larger proportions. The following proposals could be included in the forthcoming budget: 1. Central Bank to declare the lowest denomination of coinage as Re. 1/- w.e.f. a declared future date, while withdrawing all coins below Re. 1/- from circulation. As a result, all bills/receipts will be made to the nearest rupee, thereby saving the enormous minting and handling cost to the economy cast upon the Central Bank and the other Commercial Banks which handle large volumes of virtually unworthy coins. In addition, it will relieve the banks, factories, shops, vendors and other pay masters who are compelled to administer payments up to the nearest cent from a time consuming unproductive hassle. Beggars would be delighted and the productivity of the payment system in the country will be enhanced without spending a red cent!! 2. In future, a clear distinction in size should be made when minting
new coins of different denominations to avoid confusion (e.g. Rs. 10/- and
Rs. 2/- coins). It is also suggested that they be made lighter to the
purse, so that the cost of minting too would be reduced. If the above
proposals are implemented, it would streamline and simplify the payment
system in our country thereby saving a great deal of our valuable time
spent on counting coins which have no value at all even to a beggar today.
I am sure the attention of the relevant authorities will be drawn to this
proposal, which if implemented would even lead to the removal of phrases
such as "two cents worth" from our vocabulary! Many attempts have been made in the past by the UDA to bring the Galle Face Green and the Beira Lake to their past glories. Unfortunately none of these attempts succeeded and in the case of the Green the grass perished before it was even fully turfed. All previous attempts to keep the Beira clean and fresh were of no avail, when one waste pipe was sealed-off, another two waste outlets appeared discharging their muck into the Lake. The constructions along the bank result in various activities which contribute to Environmental degradation. None of these constructions should have been permitted around the Lake in the first place. There are some more work I believe which have to be done to complete the two jobs. The people of Colombo must surely be happy about these two isolated spots of charm and beauty in the City. The Architects and Planners of the UDA who would have provided the
expertise, their planning skills and management of the contracts for these
two Projects, must indeed be congratulated, not forgetting of course their
Director in charge of the two schemes. Reference the letter by Ebert Perera of Kandy I consider this as the ideal opportunity to keep the readers informed of existence and support services rendered by our society - Hadawath Mithuro - Kandy: a voluntary organisation set up to assist the management of the Cardiology Unit of the Kandy General Hospital. With generous donations received at the "Hadawath Mithuro", the trolley track leading to the Cardiology Unit was repaired to a perfect finish as required, and was officially handed over at a simple ceremony held on January 23, 2002, at the Cardiology Unit, together with other valuable equipment received as donations to the value of approximately Rs. 500,000. This event was reported in the Daily News of February 1, 2002 - page 3 under caption Volunteers help Cardiology Unit by L. B. Wijesiri of Kandy. By the time the article by Ebert Perera of Kandy appeared, Hadawath Mithuro had already remedied what was intended to be highlighted. Further to doing up the trolley track, in order to enhance greater patient comfort while being transported from the OPD to the Cardiology Unit, we are in the process of manufacturing a new trolley fitted with coil springs and foam mattress which would further enhance patient comfort. As an organisation providing support services to the Cardiology Unit, we are encouraged by comments in his letter regarding up-keep and the services of the Cardiology Unit. In our effort to continue with our assistance, our association is
interested in harnessing greater participation of the society. There is so
much that one could assist, in our efforts by obtaining membership of the
Hadawath Mithuro Association. Wanted - a good administrator for Moratuwa Anyone inquiring of a resident born and bred in Moratuwa as to how life is in Moratuwa would not fail to receive the prompt reaction - "The same old Moratuwa"! And that is palpably true. Compare Moratuwa with the neighbouring towns of Mt. Lavinia and Panadura - even Ratmalana, and the difference is marked. What ails Moratuwa? The reasons are not hard to find. The Urban Council was elevated to Municipal status recently. The elevation was obviously not a reward for excellence but for status (undeserved) and to give a boost to political cohorts. The residents no doubt "benefited" by way of higher taxes and rates partly to meet the increased remuneration of its members. No meaningful work has been done to improve conditions (which can be described as sordid) and to give taxpayers a better deal. Roads, markets, and other public utilities maintained by Pradeshiya Sabhas look much better in comparison. The question of garbage collection stinks to high heaven. Residents have to put up with this intolerable situation with most of the councillors being big talkers who do not seem to have a clue about how the town of Moratuwa and its council should be administered. The local elections are due in March. Political parties in the fray should field candidates who are reasonably educated who can make a significant contribution to its advancement. Indeed, at best, the first citizen of Moratuwa, should be a good administrator more than a politician. Residents do not require politicians - they can fight for Parliamentary
seats and leave the local authority for someone ready for action to uplift
the town. Someone who will well qualify to be called "His
Worship" and does not demand worship for sheer ineptness! Letters have appeared in the press about the way insurance bills for health are cut and chopped. Thus, a hospital bill paid amounting to Rs. 35,000 can be chopped down to Rs. 9,000. It looks so absurd. The idea of getting insured during old age is to get financial assistance to pay the hospital bill. The authorities should see that insurance covering health, covers the entire hospital bill. In any hospital (Private) can one get a Haemorrhoids operation done for Rs. 9,000. There should be a device to see that the hospital bill is presented to
the insurer without going through the hospital. If the hospital knows that
there is an insurance for health then the bill can get increased. The
insurer should get the bill directly and then if need be check with the
hospital. Construction of Buddha statues at unsuitable places Construction of Buddha statues at highway junctions and other unsuitable dirty places is detrimental to Buddhism and Buddhist culture. Buddha image is the most venerated symbol of Buddhists of the world over. This should not be allowed to be placed at unsuitable and unwanted places. A Buddha statue should be respectably positioned inside a suitable shrine room where devotees could worship and pay homage. When that is built at an unsuitable place, it becomes only a land-mark where crows sit on the head and spoil. If the Buddha's teachings are understood and followed properly this type of irregular activities are not encouraged. Some people through ignorance pay homage to any wild-Bo-Tree grown at odd places, by lighting lamps and placing Buddha statues around it. All these become mere obstacles later. The organisers or sponsors, if they have an iota of intelligence to realise the harmful consequences of these acts they may refrain from supporting them. Why not they help the development work of a temple or build a hospital ward or a class room for students? Some may argue that even ancient Sinhalese kings built Buddha statues at open-air places. That is all myth. Sinhalese kings built such statues only inside shrine rooms. For instance Gal-Vihara at Polonnaruwa had a shrine room for those granite statues. Awukana statue was under a roof. Thuparama Dagoba had a strong roofing. Medirigiriya is another example. Sinhala kings did not do sacrilegious things as done today. At times, Buddha statues are erected for illegal possession of land and also to prevent encroachments. This type of work is done by some people to obstruct development projects. Sometimes the Buddha statue is used as an escutcheon to cover sinful activities. All that is detrimental to a blessed doctrine. There should have legislation to ban the construction, erection or
placing of religious symbols, artifacts, statues or sculpture at common
public places to avoid clashes and also to avoid disrespect. Air pollution in Colombo has reached alarming levels and according to news reports the level is 85 times acceptable norms resulting in a drastic increase of respiratory ailments. The solution is obviously introduction of pollution free transport. A system of electric railways would be the medium and long term solution providing fast, cheap , clean, comfortable, traffic jam, free transport. Where is the money and the necessary power when we are plagued with power cuts and State coffers are empty? A contract to Plan, Build, Operate and Transfer with a country like Japan (including dedicated power supply) with a proven track record in these fields would solve the problem. A drastic but effective short term remedy would be to make the main
roads to the city one way for one hour at peak times, doubling the
capacity of each road for that period. Traffic in the opposite direction
will adjust travelling times without much inconvenience. Less running
time, less fuel consumption, less pollution, less fuel imports! According to the Newspapers the Commissioner of Elections had before the last General elections in December 2001 suggested/wanted to start the counting of votes the day after the elections starting in the morning. I propose that a more practicable method would be to do the counting of the votes and the Preference votes at the Polling Station itself as soon as practicable after the closing of the polls. The Commissioner General could start introducing this at the forthcoming Local Government elections - 2002. Counting at the Polling Station itself would expedite the results of the voting and save a lot of expense to all concerned. The same official staff could be asked to stay on, or if more is necessary they could be asked to report at the Polling Station a few minutes before the closing time to participate in the counting. The polling agents of the candidates could also double up as the counting agents. The counting process and the necessary formalities could be concluded in less than about two hours after the closing time. Normally the number of Registered voters to a polling station is less than 2000. This would not necessitate vehicles, motor cyclists speeding behind the vehicles carrying ballot boxes and it will reduce the number of persons wanting to go into the central counting centres and the Election Department's expenses will be less in catering and for logistics. If counting at every polling station would bring about a security problem the counting could be done in a few central polling stations, which could collect the ballot boxes of a cluster of polling stations close by - between five to ten Polling Stations. This could be based even on the former Ward System of the Municipal Councils, Town Councils and Pradeshiya Sabhas. For example at present in the Colombo District the ballot Boxes of a remote polling station in Avissawella has to be collected and brought into Colombo for the counting! An excuse of the Police not to implement counting of votes at the polling stations is stating that the Police lack personnel to provide security. When W. Dahanayake then Prime Minister introduced one day polling for the whole country how did the Police manage to take such a bigger challenge - Where there is a will there is a way. At the conclusion of the polling at the polling station the presiding officer of the polling station could certify the number of ballots issued, spoilt and other details with copies to the polling agents. And after the counting the results should be certified by the presiding officer and he/she should give a copy to the polling agents/counting agents also. The respective candidates' agents could also certify the presiding officers copies. The presiding officer could take these results (also send earlier by Fax and or telephone) to the main election office in the district, which shall collect all the certified result sheets and announce the end results. The Commissioner could instruct where the ballot boxes should be sent. The counting under these conditions would ensure a more accurate counting as there would be less tension and fatigue involved. This system gives an inbuilt analysis of the votes and preference votes obtained by the respective Candidates and Political Parties and groups starting from the respective polling booths. In this system the polling and counting would be concluded by 7 or 8 p.m. If the counting of the preference votes (Manape) is also done after counting the votes at the same venue it will also ensure a more accurate counting of the preference votes. I do hope that the Commissioner would seriously consider this proposal
for the Local Government Elections scheduled for March 2002. |
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