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| Saturday, 01 February 2003 |
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Letters | |
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Please forward your letters to [email protected] in plain text format within the e-mail message, since as a policy we do not open any attachments.
I read with interest the article appearing in the Daily News of 17th January relating to recent incidents of credit card frauds. In your article the statement ' For example, when the card is given to a certain counter for swiping, it should be done in the presence of the cardholder' is attributed to Mr.S.Wijekoon, Manager, HSBC Card Centre. I wonder whether the establishments have been told of this requirement. It is my experience that in hotels and restaurants the waiters take the card away, process them and bring back the charge slip for signature. So no swiping or any other part of the operation involved in creation of the charge slip is done in the presence of the cardholder. In the same article an official of the Sampath Bank has stated that 'customers who hand over their credit cards to waiters in hotels for swiping should be careful of doing so because anything could be done with the credit card if someone is smart enough'. Mr. Wijekoon's use of the word 'cardholder' is also significant. What is the definition of 'cardholder' ? Is it the person who presents the card for processing? Is it the owner of the card as named? I think that the only possible definition of the word cardholder, in this context, is the person named in the card. It should not be any person who apparently has possession of the card - it could have been acquired by unlawful means. If the establishment must swipe the card in the presence of the cardholder, it follows that establishment must satisfy itself that the person purporting to be the cardholder is the person named. If not, it does not fulfill the obligation to swipe the card in the cardholder's presence. There will be a problem of identity which gets further complicated by the fact that the cards do not specify the sex of the cardholder. In the context of the Sampath Bank's statement, can the Banks state unequivocally that they have taken adequate steps to safeguard the interest of the cardholder? PAUL FERNANDO CGR is planning to introduce a 'Hotel train' to Bandarawela according to a recent news item. Very good. Why not add first class compartments to every long distance train? I am sure there is a very good demand for airconditioned top served rail travel in Sri Lanka. Commuters are fed up of so called intercity bus service in general. CGR could repair and convert abandoned compartments into first class transport providers and charge a considerable amount from travellers competitive to road intercity transport. People will love to go to Matara, Badulla, Vavniya and Batticaloa in first class rail. K.U. PUSHPAKUMARA Two roads heading East from Colombo are being developed. Jayawardenapura Rd by RDA and Cotta Rd by CMC. This development has been going on the whole of 2002. Maybe the RDA and CMC are competing to get to the book of records for the slowest road development per Kilometer. The Jayawardenapura Road development starts from Castle St roundabout up to the turn to Parliament Rd and Cotta Rd from Borella junction to Ayurveda junction. The quality of work of CMC is so good the top surface is already giving way on Cotta Rd. Non rush hour traffic cannot move over 20 KMPH on Cotta Rd. The citizens and taxpayers concern is who is responsible for this state of affairs. Let us excuse Cotta Rd but all legislators use Jayawardenapura Rd. Do they notice or those at the wheel of their vehicles drive so fast they do not see or the tinted windows are too dark. We the law abiding public observe the lethargy of CEB, SLT, RDA & CMC. TISSA JAYAWEERA Central Bank is the watchdog of all banking sectors in Sri Lanka, and they do have a special department called Banking Supervision for the supervision of the banks. Earlier when the finance companies collapsed also Central Bank washed its hands off. Now the Central Bank tells us that Pramuka Bank is liquidated/closed and the depositors who have small deposits amounting to 5,000 to 50,000 will get their money back. What about the hard earned money of the retired private sector employees and Middle East returnees - they do have deposits of more than 50,000 each? What was the Banking Supervision Unit of Central Bank doing all these years of operation of Pramuka Bank? Were they told by Pramuka top brass, to close their eyes so that Pramuka could carry on regardless with their so-called illegal, unusual and questionable transactions. How many times have they inspected the books of this bank during the last 5 years? Now CBSL is working overtime after 5 years in unravelling the intricacies of these complex transactions, as told by them through newspaper advertisements. Is the Central Bank going to wash its hands off, if another bank collapses? People will have no faith in private banking sector, and the Central Bank unless Central Bank comes forward with a tangible solution to revive the Pramuka Bank in order that all depositors are paid their savings/investments back. A. DE SILVA It has been announced that the service of free incoming calls from mobile phones will come into effect either in July or August 2003, and that a higher rate will be levied only from the callers. If such were the decisions surely the companies are trying to fleece their customers. They are not giving a concession to anybody, instead they are recovering their dues by hook or crook. Further, if the caller's charges will be increased to make incoming free why wait till August this year? In this too, the companies are trying to take the maximum until the free call comes into effect. These companies should not attempt to plunder the customers. Without customers everything will be a farce for businessmen and commercial establishments. NAZLY CASSIM Loss of foreign mail has become very frequent of late. Cards go missing. Photographs never reach, obviously they are opened in the hope of finding money. When the money is not found the opened envelopes are probably just thrown away. This is obvious because three months ago two envelopes containing photographs reached us after a very long delay. They were found to be opened and cellotaped, and at least mailed to us in this instance by a somewhat merciful thief. The vultures who look for money don't realize how eagerly we wait for photographs and cards from our loved ones overseas which cannot be valued in terms of money. When we complain to the post office, we are told "if they are not sent by registered mail there is nothing we can do." Probably so, but should we get all our mail by registered post, and is that the answer to the problem? Is there no way that action can be taken by those in authority to put a stop to this organized robbing? I have heard numerous complaints of this nature, and I hope the Post Master in charge of Foreign Mails would take remedial action. H. G. JOSEPH We often hear and more often read in the newspapers about people in a 'fast unto death' campaign to get something done by the state or even undone. Isn't fasting oneself to death or attempting to do so both penal offences. Fasting to death is suicide if death ensues. The actual fasting with death as the goal is attempted suicide. Attempted suicide is a punishable offence under our Penal Code. Why then doesn't the police act by bodily carrying the offender before a Magistrate and remanding him. What about those we see often seated around such 'martyrs' holding up placards? There's is a more serious offence, namely, aiding and abetting a person to commit suicide - an offence which attracts the death penalty. Is it due to the ignorance of the law or disinterest on the part of the police that this practice is so common here? If I am wrong will some knowledgeable person enlighten me. L.K. DE ALWIS I write with reference to the news item captioned "Some JPs cannot even read the swearing-in declaration" which appeared in the Daily News of 26.12.2002. This forthright statement was made by no lesser person than a District Judge who happened to be the Chief Guest at a training programme arranged for JPs. Every citizen should congratulate the honourable District Judge who further stated that amongst those who appeared before him to take this oath, there were some who were physically impaired and disabled and others who were in want of knowledge even to read the swearing-in declaration. JP post is an honorary post which should be held by educated, dignified persons who have a high sense of responsibility and are conversant with the values attached to this rank. Once at his Rosmead Place residence, the late Mr. S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike during a conversation with me mentioned that whenever he travelled abroad he never failed to carry the brief case of his father which bore the letters JP in bold print and that alone was a passport which established his credentials. Such was the respect and regard that these two letters carried. Sorry to say that today these two letters have become a cheap political gift given many a time to political henchmen, many of whom have converted this sacred and honoured appointment to serve as a means to an end. As a result Justices of the Peace are seen on the pavements, under trees and umbrellas, ready to lend their official seal, for a fee. I wonder what percentage of the public is aware of the fact that a JP is appointed to render his services free of charge. G. D. PERERA, With regard to the VAT billing is it not legally required to show the cost of the item or service separately and the VAT separately? From December S.L.T. has started billing VAT but it is not shown separately in domestic bills, hence we cannot know the exact VAT charged though it is supposed to be 20%. I feel we are being overcharged taking the VAT as an excuse. My bills for the past 11 months from January to November have varied from Rs. 700/- to Rs. 1200/- maximum. But the bill for December is 3500/-. Even if 20% was added to Rs. 1200/- it would still not come to Rs. 3500/-. Subscribers have a legal right to know the exact amount of VAT they are being charged and I feel that Telecom or for that matter any other company has no right to hide the VAT in the cost of the item or service provided. When the G.S.T. & N.S.L. was in force Telecom showed it separately in their bills, but now it is only VAT. So why can't they show this one item separately if they could earlier show 2 items separately? J.D. It was splashed in our reputed paper - the Daily News of December 2002 that a good number of pensioners were to share 1,500 million rupees by way of arrears before the 31st of December 2002. Now most pensioners were waiting open-mouthed for their share of this large sum. Wither did it vanish? D.P. The Parliamentary Pensions Act, No. I of 1977 stipulates as follows:- "Under the Parliament Pensions Act, the Pensions of former Parliamentarians are automatically adjusted with the revision of allowances paid to the sitting members." (Self reliance in retirement - U.D.J. Jinadasa Daily News of 28.10.2002) This is precisely what has to be done to all Pensioners in the country i.e.: an automatic upward revision as and when an upward revision is undertaken for the current employees. This is entrenched in the legislation pertaining to the legislators and the President of the country. The lesser mortals also deserve the same treatment for the cost of living and the downward plunge of the rupee affects not only the legislators and the President but also the lesser mortals, latter more virulently than the former who have other safety nets as well. A. GOPALAKRISHNAN |
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