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| Tuesday, 5 March 2002 |
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Letters | |
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A recent visit to Yala National park came up with a rather nasty species of the Human race that I had hoped was extinct. There is a Colonel who has been labelled a "competent authority" who is behaving like the legendary Colonel Blimp. This person lives out of the rule book, is obviously suffering from a major ego problem and is basically getting in the way of wildlife conservation and the day to day running of the National Park. His latest ploy is to stop visitors from going into Yala block 2. This section of the park has just been re-opened albeit unofficially, by the Minister showing a refreshing amount of understanding of the problem. The problem being the lack of visitors! Yala block 2 has a number of lagoons that have a delicate ecology and of course a plentiful supply of fish and prawns. The Army-inspired ban on visitors has resulted in fishermen from the adjacent areas (Panama and Kirinda villages) going in by boat and building "wadiyas" inside the national park and fishing on a commercial basis. A recent visit that I was able to make in spite of BLIMP's protestations has yielded evidence that fishing in some cases has gone on for years in the same spot inside the park. Permanent buildings and a 3" - 4" layer of fish scales showing the amount of fish that had been killed. There where even facilities for drying fish! Can someone please use their good offices and remove this blot from the landscape of Yala? We need more visitors to block 2 to stop this incursion by fishermen. There are plenty of people willing to go "at their own risk" is only brainless morons of this nature can be removed. TT - Ethul Kotte
I have read with amazement a number of letters which appeared in your paper condemning the abuse of Government vehicles by present day politicians and Chairmen of Corporations. In this regard I would like to mention a glowing example of a politician in the Cabinet of Ministers in the Late Hon. Dudley Senanayake Government. A noble example was the late Mr. U.B. Wanninayake, when he was the Minister of Finance, Mr. Wanninayake who travelled in his official car to his home at Kurunegala for the weekend left the official car at his residence and travelled to Maho by train to attend to his work in the electorate. One evening when he was walking down from the Railway Station to his residence at Circular Road, South, Kurunegala, I inquired from him as to why he travelled by train without using his official car. His reply was that 'one should not abuse public property for personal benefits. Let this be a lesson to today's politicians in the use of public property. E.G. DHARMASIRIWARDANE-Colombo 7.
The Kandy Humanitarian Service celebrates tenth year We started this Humanitarian Society in December 1991 by saving 7 heads of cattle from the Kandy police station. Three were saved by Dr. Eileen Pethiyagoda one of our patrons. The others were saved at the Courts House as they were stolen animals and no owner came to court. I must thank the young lady lawyer who appeared for us free of charge. We started this organisation as at that time there was no such organisation in the Central Province to plead for these dumb innocent animals. Since then we have saved over 6,000 heads of cattle alone and a few goats by contribution from kind animal lovers. Contributions come to celebrate birthdays, in remembrance of dead ones, those at the death door due to sickness being the mean ones. The productive ones cows and heifers are given to poor families - some of these animals being the only livelihood of these poor families. We keep a constant check on these animals. The old animals and those returned when not productive are sent to estates on contract for compost production. Some of these animals we send to an estate at Melsiripura, called 'Milavana Estate' a company estate of Elkaduwa Group. Then in Kandy every one knows the hundreds of animals saved in court. The case went on for two years, and we paid Rs. 725,000 and saved every single one. I must thank all kind animal lovers who contributed generously to do this saving. We had to retain lawyers from Colombo for this case. All those animals were distributed to poor families. We check on all these animals. Some have been returned. Others have multiplied in numbers and all are doing well. Besides, saving cattle we have also given aid to dog lovers by contribution and for their transport. Then the Association gave cool drinks to 50,000 pilgrims who converged to revere the sacred Tooth Relic this time. We also do a lot of propaganda by giving talks to organisations and schools and showing films on humane topics. Distribution of hand bills and pamphlets. Now we find such humane societies have started all over the island. As of now, meat eating, especially beef consumption has come down. Letters frequently appear in the newspapers on humane topics. But now we find difficulty to carry on as our funds are very low. So, I appeal to all animal lovers to contribute generously for the worthy cause. DR. C. GODAMUNNE- Kandy Humanitarian Society
It is heartening to hear that power position would improve by June to eliminate the need to resort to power cuts. That is to say we have to go through the agonising ordeal for another two months. Meanwhile could we not adjust the power cut to a definite time frame throughout the week rather than the present daily change, so people could program their activities in a uniform manner? The daily change upsets study time for children. Staggered eating and sleeping hours have an adverse effect on our metabolic-clock is injurious to health. It is also in the interest of tourism which is just picking up. Star class hotels are not the only caterers to tourists. Good many of them from non-traditional sources seek cheaper accommodation and prefer to eat typical Sri Lankan food in outlets that do not possess lighting plants. We would like the Electricity Board to study the merits of this suggestion. KIRTHI ABEYWICKREMA - Kandy.
We are one and the same people! The Sinhalese and Tamils are ethnically the same and can help each other It is strange that the JVP is opposing the MoU between the Government and the LTTE to a cessation of hostilities. They were responsible for taking up arms against the different governments of Sri Lanka till they were eliminated after their leader was killed . Their present leader Somawansa Amerasinghe was encouraged by the PA government to come back to Sri Lanka to help the PA, even though there was a warrant for his arrest This backfired as even those who might have voted PA either voted for the JVP or the PA supporters against the JVP voted for the UNF. Just as the JVP had their own theories forming of a Marxist State by a revolution and have now turned into a democratic party, the LTTE who felt the Tamils were unfairly treated and there was no redress democratically, took up arms and have wanted to have their own state. They are now prepared to talk peace where they can have a say in running their part of the country, in a unified Sri Lanka, rather than being messed up by Sinhala politicians, whose weakness in governance is apparent in the low state in which this paradise is placed, after 50 years of Sinhala control. The LTTE in spite of having a large disparity in numbers have been able to sufficiently cause a great deal of difficulty to the governments ruling Sri Lanka in the last 20 years, so much so as to be bankrupt and face anarchy.. Though the Sinhala groups wanted the LTTE to be defeated militarily, the country's leaders could not deliver as the Sinhala folk were so corrupt and selfish. The powers controlling the Army not only made money on supplying the forces with dud weapons but also used the forces against their political opponents. What better reason than the corrupt leaders we have is a motive for us to bend backwards to bring about peace. The Tamil people had to suffer immensely and being resilient folk accepted all the difficulties. The Sinhala people did not accept hardship and in satisfying the Sinhala people the country is bankrupt It was left to Ranil Wikremesinghe to see the suffering of the Tamil people and to ease their burdens while negotiating peace. The world accepts that the Tamils are an honest hardworking people as they have proved so, all over the world, after they were displaced from Sri Lanka since 1983. Several countries have offered to help the rehabilitation of the North and East. The Tamils of the North are an integral part of the Sri Lankan nation. The majority of the Tamils are descendants of folk who were Sri Lankans long before some of the ancestors of Sinhala folk came to Sri Lanka. According to the historian Michael Roberts several groups of Sinhalese were Indians who came only after the 12th century. Quite a few Sinhala leading families trace their ancestry to Andhara Princes who came even later.. The Tamils of the North were there and carried on their work in Tamil long before the 12th century. The Indian groups referred to learnt Sinhala , when they came to Sri Lanka from India and became Sinhalese. Quite a few were settled in the southern coast. A few along the west coast are still bilingual. These Sinhala speaking Tamils have forgotten their origins and are opposing the peace process as I am sure from the names of JVP leaders that they belong to the category referred to. Let us all forget that we are ethnically different as we are not, all of us came from India at some stage and some of us in the south learnt Sinhala while others in the North and East learnt Tamil. We are one and the same people and let us unite. Till such time as we negotiate the form of governance let us be kind to each other, love each other and go out of our way to help each other. U. PUNCHI BANDA - via e-mail
Port is said to be the heart of our nation and so it must be a very important institution for the Government. In this country, Port of Colombo is the major port which is the gateway for more than 90 per cent of country's cargoes. According to the Finance Minister reported in DC 6.2.2002 public debt stood at Rs. 1464 billion. And only about 3 per cent, about Rs. 50 billion, has gone for port development. Port has employed over 18,000 people, makes about Rs. 5,000 million annual profit and is self financed except Government guarantee for foreign loans now amounting to about Rs. 50 billion. So it is a worthy public sector investment. But this situation is fast deteriorating because of too much benefits given to private sector. Part of the port namely QEQ has been given to private sector and State sector income has gradually dropping say about 20 per cent per year. In about 3 years when private terminal is at peak load, State sector will loose about 50 per cent according to analysts. Port Authority is the best source to confirm this. Private sector is not generating revenue to the State, not generating employment and not benefiting the country, except for prestige. There has been poor policy in the past seven years with over 7,000 recruitments costing about Rs. 1,000 million per annum to the port, poor management, privatisation, lack of discipline etc etc. Therefore the new Government must study the situation and reactivate it prior to collapse like CPC, CEB or CWE. H. P. GUNARATNE
A recent news item in the Daily News stated that the authorities were contemplating setting up a Revenue Authority. This is presumably to formulate tax policy and to coordinate the activities of the three major revenue departments - Inland Revenue, Customs and Excise. The concept of the Revenue Authority is not new. The report of the Taxation Commission in 1990 contained a recommendation advocating it but called it a Board of Inland Revenue. The recommendation was not implemented probably because it was not considered necessary. New Governments have a penchant for creating new "Authorities" whether or not they are necessary and this Government should not fall into the same trap. This is certainly not the time to think of establishing a separate Revenue Authority. With a soaring budget deficit, an economy on its knees and the IMF demanding a downsizing of the burgeoning public sector, the recurrent costs of such a Revenue Authority with its concomitant secretariat will only prove to be an additional financial burden on the beleaguered taxpayer. What the Government can do at this point of time is to use existing resources to attain the same objectives. It is the Finance Ministry's function to coordinate policies and activities of the Departments under it. A monthly meeting of the Secretary to the Treasury with the Heads of the Revenue Departments and the BOI, with the Economic Affairs Division of the Ministry serving as the Secretariat, could easily fulfill the same objectives as the Revenue Authority. No additional resources of personnel or finances will be required. At a later time when the economy is well on track and the public sector is significantly downsized the feasibility of a Revenue Authority can be considered. Another news item stated that the Goods and Services Tax (GST) was to be replaced with a Value Added Tax (VAT). GST and VAT are one and the same consumption tax - there is no difference between them. Countries of the European Union call it VAT while Canada and New Zealand call it GST. When the turnover tax was to be replaced with a value added one a few years ago the Ministry of Finance preferred to call it Goods and Services Tax instead of Value Added Tax. The reason for this was that the Sinhala translation of Value Added could lead to the misconception that it was an additional tax and not the replacement of the turnover tax that it was meant to be. What is important just now is not to waste time on cosmetic changes in nomenclature but to make consumption taxes which contribute seventy percent of tax revenue simpler and more transparent. This could be done by amalgamating GST and NSL and have one tax at a revenue neutral rate. NALIN MENDIS- Colombo
Recent reports state that the government is thinking of constructing a land bridge across the Palk Strait. I have a problem with this proposal. The Government officials quote the Indo-Lanka trade needs and surprisingly low cost of building such a bridge across an ocean - a total $300.00 for 22 miles, the distance between the two shores as a good reason for the project. Whatever the good faith the proponent of this idea has, the numbers do not seem to match the realities. Published reports state that last five lane free-way built on land in California, completed just 5 years ago, cost $100.00 a mile! If the proposed cost of $300.00 to build a bridge across 22 miles, it looks like a very good bargain. But can we rethink this bridge concept and use such bargains for other good uses? I know there are a few culverts on the boralu road leading up to my village need repairs, a bridge washed out by flood some years ago in Walpola in Matara district has not been rebuilt yet. I know a few small irrigation tanks with decaying sluice systems. Can we get these priorities right? LOKUBANDA TILLAKARATNE - Los Angeles
Anura Maitipe's writeup on our Railways (DN Jan. 22) is most enlightening. It is clear that particularly our oldest track laid between Colombo and Kandy 135 years ago is no more safe for express travel. Therefore, this is a plea to Railway Authorities to run Kandy/Colombo Intercity a little slower on its downwards run. It is hoped it will be possible to reschedule it to leave Kandy a few minutes earlier to compensate for the time loss. Upward run could remain unaltered since it does not involve the same risk. KIRTHI ABEYWICKREMA - Kandy. |
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