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| Monday, 26 April 2004 |
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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.
It is time that appointments to Foreign Missions too, need a full overhauling and clean up among other priorities to lift the country out of the present pathetic situation. It had been the practice of appointing unqualified political discards and corrupt henchmen, for positions from Ambassadors, High Commissioners down to the drivers, as favours for political support. The situation in the Foreign Ministry has come down to such a low level now the Foreign Ministry has come to be known as the Foreign Employment Bureau for political discards and corrupt henchmen. Now with the change of government we are pleased to hear that an exemplary figure of high calibre is appointed as the Minister of Foreign Affairs. We hope he will without bias make the necessary changes to regain the lost reputation among the countries world over, by appointing individuals with track records in the public service and of excellent character and who command respect in every way. D.B. GALPOTHTHAWELA - USA Terrorism means - Systematic intimidation as a method of governing. What happened to Iraq was more or less the same as stated above. The very people who preach democracy as a way of life are practicing atrocity against the innocent people of Iraq. The people of Iraq are suffering for no fault of theirs, but because their former leader was an anti-American. USA declared war against Iraq to destroy all Weapons of Mass Destruction. What did they find? Nothing. Even the UN Chief Weapon Inspector declared that there were no such weapons in Iraq. Later, it was declared that Sadam must be captured and democracy should be established. What the people of Iraq must be thinking is that the Americans have completed their task for what they declared war against Iraq and now they must vacate Iraq and allow the Iraq to decide their own fate. As far as the Iraq is concerned the USA/UN forces are Forces in occupation. C. MOHAMED - Colombo Misconduct of disobedience of lawful order In the private sector if a subordinate disobeys a lawful order given by a superior entitled to give such order, the services of the subordinate would be suspended and the subordinate would be subjected to a disciplinary procedure which may end with the termination of the services of the subordinate. This administrative instrument ensures efficiency of the private sector. In the State sector the position seems to be such that, a subordinate can disobey a lawful order of a superior entitled by law to give that order, and get away with the act of disobedience. Perhaps the State as employer does not consider willful disobedience to a lawful order as an act of misconduct. Member of the public may refer to the "Presidential Inquiry Report" regarding the inquiry into the raid on the army safe house - the raid by the police. In this report, certain entries on page 3 refer to failure by the IGP to comply with orders issued by the commissioner appointed to inquire. Why is it that there are double standards of discipline in the employment of persons in this land? DENROY - Etul Kotte I had a minor problem with regard to reading the letters over the T.V., especially small characters, and I had to consult my eye specialist surgeon at Kinsey Road Diagnoform, Colombo. First question asked by the specialist was what bulb I was using to view the T.V. for lighting the T.V., i.e. to fall on it. When told that I used energy saving bulbs, his response was "there lies the problem", and strongly advised not to use energy saving bulbs or fluorescent tubes as the rays emanating from them are harmful for the eyes. He also told today children, even very small ones are brought for eye treatment, and the reason lies there. Olden days when there were no electricity people used coconut oil lamps which are very soothing to the eyes and people had very much less eye problems. Energy saving bulbs were started to be used a few years back, strongly advised by the Electricity Dept. backed by the govt. The Electricity Dept. even issued energy saving bulbs on credit and we were allowed the option of deducting the cost in installments from the electricity bills. Before doing all this, they increased the electricity charges and it was only a ruse intended to deceive us. Children must not be allowed to read or view the T.V. under these harmful bulbs. Use an ordinary bulb of about 60 w or 75 w or even 100 w depending on the largeness of the room. These are called day-light bulbs. V. K. B. RAMANAYAKE - Maharagama Telecom bills - where are they? We have not received our telephone bills since January 2004. Four months have already lapsed but the Telecom is silent. A new billing system was introduced in September 2003 and we had to wait a few months to receive our bills. But what has happened after December? If the new system is not effective they must adhere to the old system and send bills regularly without causing inconvenience to the customers. I hope and wish that the Telecom will not put the burden on the customers by sending bills one after the other every fortnight as they did at the introduction of the new billing system for no fault of the customers. The attention of the higher authorities is sought on this matter for a reasonable solution. M.G. - Peralanda After December Telecom consumers have not received any bills up to now. They are in arrears for four months. What is wrong with the Department? I hope they will not send us a bill covering the full period all of a sudden! D. E. ABEYWEERA - Kelaniya Prevention of accidents at railway crossings It is being often reported in the print and electronic media that rail/motor accidents take place very regularly in different parts of the country. These accidents lead to serious injuries and sometimes deaths are caused to more than one person. These accidents commonly occur at unguarded level crossings, may be on the main road or sometimes on by-roads. A motorist is expected to stop before entering a level crossing and allow the train to pass through. Then only should he proceed giving way for other motor vehicles at crossings on the road. On the road when a motorist approaches another road, he could observe vehicles and pedestrians travelling on the other road. Then he should stop, look right, left and right and then only he should proceed. But when a motorist approaches an unguarded level crossing, he may not be aware about the railway crossing due to not being acquainted with this road or due to not having a sign board or if the driver is not able to notice the level crossing due to various reasons like absent mindedness, noise from stereo set-ups, passenger conversations, sleepiness, drunkenness, fatigue, illnesses, mental or physical depression or attempting in haste to pass through with excitement etc. Sometimes the drivers may have not seen the approaching train as the path is not clearly visible due to scrub growth etc., around the railway line. Serious train accidents have occurred and extensive damage has been caused to motor vehicles resulting in several deaths where precious lives would have been lost. At certain vulnerable places not one but several serious accidents have taken place. A few rare cases have taken place due to mechanical failures of motor vehicles like brakes, steering, suspension, or tyres etc. As stated in the media there are several hundreds of unprotected railway crossings still existing. Some errant drivers enter the rail track on seeing a train approaching at close range. By some unfortunate circumstances, if the engine stops, the driver would not be able to start immediately due to excitement caused by passengers screaming. Then disaster certainly occurs. Government or the local authority is marking time as the cost of erecting gates, traffic lights, barriers, or tallbars, is expensive. Even the bamboo barriers are not seen at most of these crossings. Several new crossings have come up due to new roads being constructed across the existing railway lines. I suggest the best and the cheapest method to prevent these accidents 'are by constructing two road humps on either side of the railway lines' (If possible a double hump is still better) with a prominent sign board before approaching the crossing. A motorist even if his mind is disturbed would be brought to a dead speed and he could become aware of what is in front and can take all precautions, if a train is approaching. This could certainly not cause any delay, for the fast moving vehicles but could become the safest at the least cost to the Government until permanent gates are installed. The ordinary drivers alone cannot be blamed as stating they are careless, rash, drunk, foolish, or unintelligent etc. because even the intelligent, educated and responsible drivers also have become victims of these accidents. If this suggestion is acted upon it could definitely prevent accidents and save many lives and damage to vehicles. BERTIE G. JIRASINGHA - Narahenpita Reference the article DN April 1 under caption "Wages Boards ordinance - notification" The past ruled Government has increased a sum of Rs. 1,000 to those security officers, in-charge of operational personnel, officer-in-charge; shift supervisors; supervisors, security guards, watchers and patrolmen. This come into force with effect from April 1, 2004. I was appointed as a clerk in a private security service. The clerks, pay-roll clerks and the typists of the security staff in this field have ignored by the Wages Board Ordinance. Hence we don't benefit this salary increment of Rs. 1,000 from the month of April 2004. It is very unfair for ignoring these poor clerks in Sri Lanka, who engaged in the security field. I hope the new Government will take quick action to solve the salary problem. C.DE. Z. EDWARD - Etul Kotte Mr. Marapane was dropped from the national list. He went without protest. Mr. Azwer was dropped from the list. He went without protest. Tyronne Fernando was dropped from the list. He kicked up a devil of a row. He gave press interviews and TV interviews and "released" to the press a letter he wrote to his leader. Tyronne is well known as having used his position as Foreign Minister to send a large number of his Moratuwa supporters for employment in our missions abroad. He is also known to have used his position to travel round the world canvassing support for his impudent bid to become Secretary-General of UN. He spent a vast amount of taxpayers' money for this purpose. Tyronne claims his omission from the list is "a cause for international consternation and bewilderment". He does not tell us on what evidence he makes this ludicrous claim. He also says it was "a lack of wisdom" which made Ranil drop him and alleges (without offering any proof) that "the whole country is angered". Tyronne goes on to make the preposterous claim that UNP's victory in 2001 was secured "consequent to a motion of No Confidence" which he (Tyronne) drafted! Tyronne speaks of considering "crossing over" to the UPFA. In political language "crossing over" means crossing the floor. How can he cross the floor, not being a member of Parliament. While accusing Ranil of "harbouring thugs and crooks" he himself has blotted his copybook by wasting taxpayers' money chasing the o'- -the will-o'-the-wisp of the UN post. Piyal Gamage - Colombo 4 |
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