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| Monday, 14 October 2002 |
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Letters | |
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According to recent news reports government proposes to introduce administrative reforms, revise the Establishment code etc. In this context, based on experience while in service and after retirement, I would make the following suggestions: (1) Pages and pages are written regularly of the Public Service and what should be done to improve same. At the same time every day there are so many complaints of non reply to letters including registered letters. A person takes all the trouble to carefully prepare his complaint/submission thereafter type it and then sent it by registered post. All these troubles come to naught, when no reply or even an acknowledgement is received. That is the root cause of the problems in the public service - indifference, lethargy, indiscipline and wastage of office time. Therefore the hallmark of good administration lies in keeping a tab on the daily mail. That is the hallmark of a good administrator too. If the head of the department will spend one hour daily to examine the mail, pick out four or five complaints and get to the bottom of its on that day itself. Then he/she will know where exactly is the delay and who the culprits are. Such a measure will keep all the subordinate officers in the department on their toes. I remember reading long years ago of how a messenger boy ended up as the head of the Treasury in London, because his training as a messenger made him realise what exactly is the important thing for each day viz the daily mail. (2) I am a Member of the Pensions Advisory Board (PAB), since August 1993 todate. This body of 7 persons (since increased) were elected at a meeting held at the Archives of representatives of recognised pension organisations registered with the Director of Pensions. The idea of the PAB was the brainchild of the Director of Pensions, at the time R. Piyasena and it has served a useful purpose. The PAB meets once a month, minutes are recorded and circulated. During the first few years it was chaired by the Director of Pensions (DP) and thereafter by the Senior Assistant Secretary (SAS) Ministry of Public Administration. During this period of 9 years, there has been about 6 changes of DP and an equal or more number of SAS. These frequent changes, in my view, have been to the detriment of the progress of good work. Pensions is a specialised subject and pensioners welfare is of considerable importance especially as they are the elders and senior citizens of the country. What is required is not the frequent shifting of the head, but of others lower down. Every clerk in any department should be moved at least once in two years within the department and given the opportunity of learning different types of work. Ultimately, it is the subject clerk who sits on papers or shelves it and he becomes the most important cog in the administration. And even more important than hint is the Karyala Karya Sahayaka (KKS) who becomes a kingpin, because the head of department fails to exercise the necessary supervision and discipline and carry out the responsibilities expected of him/her. Advisory boards of retired persons, conversant in that field of work, should be appointed to every government department, the benefit of their experience and knowledge utilised for the improvement of that department. In fact the PAB has decided to prepare a list of all retirees who volunteer to serve. For this purpose a specimen application form has been prepared and will be published soon. (3) Movement of files and documents should be recorded in the respective papers and personally handed over to the officer whose attention is needed next. This will eliminate the delay in files lying in trays and gathering dust or misplaced. At the same time delays and bottle-necks will be eliminated. If this procedure is adopted the need for the KKS will not arise and the KKS service can and should be progressively abolished. (4) Re-establish the Local Government Service. (5) Over the years the public service morale has deteriorated considerably and there is need to give it a boost. There is no better way of doing so than to implement the recommendations of the Administrative Reforms Committee - Report No. 4 (Sessional Paper No. VI of 1987), relevant portion reproduced: Page 33 - para III. The Committee, therefore, would strongly urge the government to consider compensating public service pensions for escalation in the cost of living through periodic revisions of pensions co-terminous with public service salary revisions. The Committee is aware that its recommendations certainly has financial implications but would point out that the time span of pension payments in case of most retirees is not overly long. The extra expenditure which may be involved in accepting this recommendation is, in the Committee's view, fully compensated for by the prevention of the loss of dignity of public officers after their retirement and the enhancement of the morale of the public service as a whole to which this would contribute. S. THAMBYRAJAH - Colombo-3
The peace talks now in progress should undoubtedly succeed, due to the trust in each other resulting in the sincere efforts of the Government for the good of the entire country and all its people, thereby harnessing everyones' mite for the development of same, which is the only way out of this bloody war. For a country to develop, the people should be united, hence fearless efforts of the Government in this regard should be admired and appreciated. Those who are against peace, which the country has failed to achieve for more than twenty years, are those who are hoping to thrive on war by sacrificing the lives of others, for their survival which is hypocrisy and cannot be accepted. The cooks who failed in their recipe for peace in the past, should learn that you cannot fool all the people all the time. TOMMY WANIGASINGHE - Kurunegala.
It puzzles one to note what our taste for cinema is. Who decides what films we should see? Now, there is an uninterrupted flow of Tamil, English and Hindi films into various cinemas in the island. Are we serious only about our physical health, and our moral as well as intellectual health is taken for granted? Should the businessmen interested only in their purse, be allowed to dictate what we should see specially in the light of our moral content taking a nose-dive? On the 27th of September 2002, I glanced through the daily newspapers to gather information with regard to movies shown in 21 main cinemas in the city and the suburbs and they revealed the following interesting figures. There is everything to show that the whole nation has reached adulthood and there are no children, families or families with children. Majority of the films are for "Adults only" and the most common feature in viewing adults only films is that they are being patronised mainly by school children and the individual males. "Adults only" generally means men only. We have hardly anything for the family entertainment. Breakdown of shows goes like this. Language Universal Adults only Total Tamil 1 2 3 Sinhala 4 Nil 4 English 2 11 13 Hindi 1 Nil 1 Total no. of movies 8 13 21 Now the picture is clear both in the verbal and the metaphorical sense. It is for the authorities to open their eyes and see the wholesale degeneration. E.M.G. EDIRISINGHE - Dehiwala
Should Colombo be made a night city? The Mayor of Colombo had made an announcement that Colombo will be lit up and made a night city. According to him this would increase business and it would bring prosperity. He also believes that this process would make Colombo a safe city. The plight of the employees in the establishments in Colombo and the small time traders are ignored in this regard. I am aware that most of the employers unwillingly keep the shops open to cope with the increased volume of business during the short period and they do not want to lose business, as other neighbouring shops would be kept open. Would the expenses involved in keeping the shop open in the night in terms of overtime and other lighting expenses compensate the profits that the company earns by keeping the shops open in the night? If people take to night shopping, sales during the day would be reduced. Overall total volume of business for a particular shop and all the shops in the city will not increase, but sales would be spread over the day, causing great inconveniences to the employers and employees. I am surprised that the Mayor who hails from a family that prioritized the plight of the disadvantaged population has to make this move. I hope the Mayor would reconsider the decision. I wish he focuses his attention on the priority issues such as recycling garbage and eliminating the mosquito menace. We need to take lessons from the other countries, but let's take what is relevant and not take the garbage and call it development. AH - Nawala
I write regards to the statements made by the President implying the Prime Minister has solicited bribes when the President wanted to enter her son to Royal College. If the President really thinks that we, the public is going to believe all that she says, then we should be the most gullible humans on earth. We all had lot of sympathy for her when she lost her eye just before the Presidential elections and appeared on TV with cotton wool over her eye. The public took sympathy when she exhibited herself in this manner and that is why she was elected as the president. By making baseless accusations against many prominent persons including members of her own party, the President made us the public doubt her credibility. The message the public has for the Prime Minister is not to trust the President but to proceed with all the necessary amendments to the Constitution, not only to curb the President's powers but eventually to abolish the presidency. ANIL E. PEIRIS - Kohuwala.
'Half a loaf is better than no loaf' There is an old adage which says "It is better to have half a loaf than no loaf' - so Sri Lankan cricket fans should console themselves, since if by some stroke of luck the Indians won, our team would not have received the prestige of being winners as well as half, the monetary benefits. L. DE SILVA - Moratuwa.
I refer to the article with the above heading (DN, Sept. 30) The familiar arguments are being repeated. In the same way the arguments against should also be repeated even at the risk of being called a "do gooder" or a hypocrite. Some argue that we should lobby to liberalize abortion laws in Sri Lanka to safeguard human rights. Do they think that the baby inside the womb is not a human being? I do not agree that even in the case of rape, incest, abnormal foetus, or failed modern contraception that the mother has the right to decide to kill the baby in her womb. Abortions have been advocated not only for abnormal foetuses that cannot survive after birth but also for foetuses that would become abnormal children who need care throughout their lives. If one takes the arguments to the logical conclusion one should advocate infanticide for such abnormal children. Legalizing something that is wrong does not make it right. Just because some other countries have legalized abortion it does not mean that we have to follow. The main action of the emergency contraceptive pill is to prevent implantation of the fertilized ovum. I believe that human life starts at fertilization. Therefore to me the emergency contraceptive pill is an abortifacient. Dr. LUCIAN JAYASURIYA - Rajagiriya
Trade Unions ignore their respective minions There are several Trade Unions in our country which are thriving very well by the monthly contributions of the working classes. Despite the expenses of running the Union Offices that include the salaries of the staff, maintenance of the buildings, electricity and water charges and other expenditures it is said that millions of rupees are banked to which huge interest too is accumulating. Therefore, I wish to suggest those Unions to pay their members a sum of Rs. 5,000 or Rs. 10,000 as a 'sincere gift' when he or she retires from services or if retrenched. There were times when Unions were able to shake the employers whether they were of state institutions or private organizations. But gradually such strength of the Unions turned frail. Now as we see, even if the basic rights of the workers are violated, the Unions keep mum without protesting or finding solutions to the grievances of its Members. To quote a couple of examples, when PA government increased the salary which they gave first the 40% and after so many months the 60% such an increase was given only to the profit generating state institutions. The employees of institutions that were running at a loss were totally ignored. That increase was given due to the unbearable cost of living that was prevailing at that particular time. But no Unions protested in support of those employees who were deprived of that salary increase. Did not the price of a loaf of bread the same both to the employees of profit-making and loss-making state institutions? After all, losses were due to mismanagement and corruption and the employees were not responsible for it. Then again, the PA government appointed a salary commission and until the report was out they offered interim allowances to the employees of the state institutions. The government wilfully delayed the report of the salary committee and it is still continuing with the interim allowance with even adding it to the basic salary. Did the Unions rise against this too? NAZLY CASSIM - Colombo 1
Hambantota district is a territory of dry zone in Southern province in Sri Lanka. The people of this district are farmers. The people of this area are affected by lack of sufficient water for their own usage and cultivation. Water is supplied to this area by way of tanks and canals. The rainy season throughout the year is limited. Therefore people are affected by drought most of the year. The authorities should give a priority to solve the water problem of this area rather than construct a harbour. At present, in Sri Lanka three major harbours are situated in Colombo, Galle, and Trincomalee. Our country is a small country. The import and export activities can be done through the present harbours. In Arabian countries, seawater purification plants are constructed and used for the use of people. If seawater purification plant is constructed in the Hambantota area, it may be useful to the masses than a large harbour. The modern technology is advanced in the world it can be used for seawater purification. D. KALUTOTA - Matara.
I am deeply saddened to read of the two children run over at Kandana, and not shocked by the events that unfolded thereafter. It was just a way of people letting known their frustration and letting out the pressures that have been building up for years, without the City or the authorities who are responsible acting in a manner to eliminate the dangers posed to them (the public) in their daily life. When an unfortunate and unnecessary accident like this occurs especially with children being the victims that value just went off! I was in Sri Lanka not too long ago, and while being driven home from the airport, I experienced the driver of my van stop for pedestrians. I commended him for his actions and asked him if he checked his rear view mirror before stopping? He did. I lived in the suburbs of Colombo for two years in 1994/95 and travelled to and for daily. "My stopping for pedestrians" apart from being always blared at from behind, once made an irate bus driver attempt to run me off the road at Dehiwela junction, and eventually was rammed by a CWE lorry by a chatty driver who claimed that he did not see me stopped for a pedestrian to cross. So, reading the sad news just makes me shake my head in disbelief that the authorities administering the cities not done their job in first educating all drivers passing through their cities and pedestrians alike to act responsibly, and thereafter implementing the laws with heavy penalties for those who break them. Apart from picking up revenues it will certainly make the pedestrian crossings SAFE. After all, isn't that why one has special crossing points? NOEL - Canada |
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