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| Thursday, 12 December 2002 |
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Letters | |
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I was out exercising with my daughter at my favourite place the independence square. We finished our walk and sat on the ledge to rest awhile. We then observed two security guards who we hadn't seen before, walk up to a young couple seated close to us and question them. We were curious as this is a public place and anyone has the freedom to be there. Also we are used to seeing young athletes from the sports grounds across the road, coming over at the end of the day to catch the bus back home. Obviously these upstarts in uniform weren't aware of it. So they ordered them in the rudest Sinhala language to move away, as only 'respectable' people used that place! My daughter and I were horrified and disgusted and before we could ask these guards whose authority they were exercising, they walked off. The young athletes too very meekly collected their athletic gear and prepared to go away. We tried to prevail on them to stay, but as the order came from a uniform they said, they rather obey or else! They smiled apologetically and left holding hands. As they were young and in love this rejection didn't bother them. But it did spoil our day. Of course with all the violence and bad behaviour exhibited by the young I suppose they could cope with rudeness. This also shows a lot of patience and forebearence amongst some. May be it does take all types to make the world! VASANTHI, The power generation that Sri Lanka needs I read the article (DN Nov 15) by a Consultant Electrical Engineer Varnakulasinghe with much interest. He had very clearly indicated the position of the power supply in Sri Lanka, the shortfall expected and what it would take for the CEB and the taxpayer over a long period of time. It gave us laymen a clear picture of what the future holds as far as the electricity supply is concerned. According to him and many others, the CEB can ill afford to venture into a power supply project when the shortfall of the CEB in financial terms, was minus at the time of the new government took over and it stands as a deficit of Rs. 16 Billion thereby causing immense hardship to the consumer. He says that it will be un-economical to supply power generated by an oil powered project. It is also clear that the only salvation is to venture into a Coal Power Project as it will be the cheapest source of supply. It is strange that with these facts available, the budget proposes on oil-powered project at Kerawalapitiya. It is obvious that the private sector will not invest in a project at Trincomalee, due to the uncertainty of the peace factor, not knowing how long it will take - may be three to four year for peace to be a reality. But why cannot the Ministry of Power invite the private sector to invest in a coal power project in the deep south that is under developed and where there is no danger of a war escalating to prohibit such a venture? Aren't there foreign investors who will be interested in a BOI project? I hope that the consumer will not be kept in the dark as in the past and small industrialists crippled to the extent of closure of their factories. The staggering cost of production in the tea industry in particular will once again will have to go in search of oil powered generators to supply power at high costs. I am sure the engineers in the CEB should be able to give an acceptable answer. I would like to refer to the intelligent and thought provoking speech of Hon. Minister Milinda Moragoda at the budget debate in Parliament where amongst other things he says as follows. "To make our bulbs glow all the time we need to invest on huge power generators, which are costly. But if there is any party who wishes to do this they should be allowed to do so. This will save the Government funds which would otherwise have to be raised by taxation to pay of the power plants." These are facts that need attention of the Ministry of Power and the CEB as of urgent necessity. L. U. WEERASINGHE, As a native English speaker I have been reading with interest the ongoing debate over English language - as it is spoken and as it is broken. I wish to point out that the concept of accent does not extend to incorrect emphases on syllables that were never meant to receive the main emphasis. Accent will be obvious in vowel sounds, particularly "a's", "i's" and "e's", but will not cause too much consternation to the uninitiated listener. However, as a native English speaker I am frequently alarmed, and often totally confused by the use of incorrect syllabic emphases which turn words such as DEposit into DEPosit (rhymes with deficit), develop and developing into deveLOP and deveLOPPING (rhymes with shopping), and thus renders the usage unintelligible. While I am certainly not suggesting that we all enunciate and pronunciate in upper class British dulcet tones, attention must be given to the language being understandable to those who are the listeners. A good standard of English pronunciation, with as neutral an accent as possible should be the goal of all who pride themselves on good oral communication skills. For those who work as newsreaders and announcers in the electronic media the adoption of clear, concise and easy to understand English is absolutely essential to the successful dissemination of the message. Children should be taught correct pronunciation and enunciation from day one; this would obviate the need for remedial work later. N.E.S., Before the new Tax (VAT) came into operation the import of drugs were subject to 12.5% GST. With VAT coming into operation from 1st of August 2002 GST was removed and the import of drugs were subject to VAT. When the public started agitating against the government on the high cost of drugs as a result of paying VAT on drugs, Government exempted drugs from VAT hoping drug prices to come down in the open market at least by mid of October 2002. But to date the cost of drugs are the same. The removal of VAT has not done any good to the general public where drugs are concerned. The Ministry of Consumer affairs should intervene in this matter and the drug importing Multi-national companies should be taken to task. D. E. ABEYWEERA, Put your house in order is a familiar refrain or admonition. The most important house after one's own castle is the House of Representatives or Parliament. Is it in order? What is its purpose? Is it living up to its purpose? In a recent incident if not for the vigilant act of one (Mr. Palliyaguru) poor innocent children too would have been forced to witness violence in the raw that too by their own leaders in the least expected venue. Why should the House 'edit' its proceedings? What is required is an unexpurgated version of what has transpired in the august Assembly. The Hansard should be a verbatim report. The current practice of permitting a version as agreed between the leaders or whatever it is, helps to hide or camouflage what has to be made known to the public. The actual happening should not only be recorded in the Hansard but also be televised live to the public. It would ensure good behaviour and exemplary performance. It is a deterrent as well as a reward. No politician would abhor publicity or advertisement especially at state expense. The country should know the type of representatives they had to send to the house that matters under the existing system. We have no provision for recall or reprimand but we can assess their performance as well as their behaviour from the telecast as well as the 'non-doctored' version. Doctored version gives only the desired parts. It is not the true report. There may be deceit in the doctored version. What has happened is the truth and what is published is the version the entrenched membership wants others to absorb. This flows as an extension of the Presidential immunities and prerogatives. To enable them to concentrate on their mission Parliamentarians are given sufficient privileges and perks which includes among others substantial allowances which are upwardly revised as and when required even after they cease to be members and become retired members. They have to change and change for the better. Are we to console ourselves falling back on the dictum 'people get the government they deserve'. ARE WE THAT BAD? R. SUNTHARALINGAM, BoI cheats - the bane of our country The ugly head of cheating and pillaging in the corporate world was raised again recently. A company is alleged to have embezzled over Rs. 50 million by misusing the perks offered to BoI companies. Most of the money had been embezzled by not paying import duties on raw materials. Thus it is clear that this money has been stolen from the expected revenue income of the Government which is in turn the general public. Further the cheated amount would have directly affected the budget deficit faced by the country. Therefore it can be seen that if most of the BoI cheats are caught then probably the budget deficit could be reduced substantially. It is also evident that the practice of granting BoI status to incompetent businesses with powerful connections has ruined the country.A layman could argue that because of these cheating companies the consumers could get products at lower prices. However, the ramifications are greater. A company which goes great lengths to earn extra profit by perverting its BoI status could also easily fool the consumers with their product offerings! Further these fly-by-night, rogue companies tend to severely damage the local Industry by flooding the local market with cheap low quality products thereby hoping to squeeze out the hones, established players. Ultimately consumers would get more substandard product coupled with lesser choice! So I hope the relevant authorities and more importantly the general public will open their eyes to this pathetic situation plaguing our country. A.C.C., |
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