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Pro-people priorities

While the UNF administration didn't seem to have suffered any qualms of conscience in opting for luxury cars and fund-gobbling superfluities when confronted with the task of deciding between them and the people's essential requirements, the UPFA Government wins our commendation for having pro-people priorities.

As disclosed by Finance Minister Dr. Sarath Amunugama, the Government has made the humane choice of using the rupees one billion Indian loan facility to supply people's everyday essentials, such as medicines and transport facilities, rather than extravagantly and unconscionably lavish it on luxury cars and other symbols of opulence which are far beyond the reach of the ordinary citizens.

The April 2 verdict of the people was against this distorted sense of values of the UNF. The proud boast was made from the highest pedestals of this party that an economic recovery was ushered in under the stewardship of the UNP. In fact impressive facts and figures were trotted out. But it is now disclosed that all this was mere froth and bubble minus substantial economic success. It was advertising hype by the regime, of the most chimerical kind.

True, there were some profits and gains but all this was concentrated in the hands of a self-aggrandizing few who also thrived on kickbacks. The majority of the people were relegated to living off the crumbs which fell of the rich man's lavish banquet table.

Need we say that this is no development at all? Economic growth which doesn't benefit the mass of the people cannot be described as development by any stretch of the imagination.

Thus, it is left to the UPFA Government to pull the people out of the economic quagmire. It is our hope that it would meet the profoundest expectations of the people and usher in the ideal of growth with equity.

Besides lavishing valuable money on inessential luxury goods, UNF politicians used public funds to strengthen their support base. The roofing sheets scandal is a case in point. It is in the fitness of things that this cheap, vote buying tactic should backfire.

Public funds should be siphoned to meet people's needs and none else. We urge the strengthening of mechanisms, such as the cooperative societies network, to ensure that the people's needs are met on time. We also urge diligence, sacrifice and hard work on the part of the present rulers.

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Deal firmly with Dengue

The decision taken by Healthcare and Nutrition Minister Nimal Siripala De Silva to impose spot fines on households who don't keep their surroundings clean resulting in the Dengue epidemic would receive the wholehearted endorsement of the public.

According to media reports the Legal Draftsman's Department is already preparing the necessary legislation with the Minister also calling for urgency on the matter.

No doubt the Minister who held the Health portfolio under the previous PA regime is aware of the magnitude of the problem he is facing with Dengue rated among the number one killers in the country.

Added to this are the constraints placed on the Health budget in drawing out large scale programmes to combat the epidemic on a countrywide scale.

Knowing the seriousness of the problem the Minister has decided to tackle the Dengue epidemic at the root by compelling the public to be a little more civic conscious in keeping their environment clean and free from pollution.

Today most residential areas in the city stink to high heaven with mountains of garbage piled at street corners with the local authorities paying scant attention.

There are unattended drains and pools of stagnated rain water which also get collected in empty tins, coconut shells and other receptacles casually discarded by residents providing ready breeding grounds for the Dengue mosquito.

It is no accident that around 70 per cent of the Dengue victims come from the city as reported in the media.

Therefore no one would fault the Minister for this timely action to arrest the breeding of Dengue which has already claimed several lives.

A well thought out publicity drive would also help in getting the message through to the public.

The Minister should also ensure that the proposed law has adequate teeth to deal with the offenders.

The public today tend to disregard laws when they see the authorities dragging their feet in their implementation.

Even at present there are local government laws which impose penalties for breeding of pigs and cattle in residential areas. But the offenders carry on by paying santhosams to the Public Health Inspectors who pretend to conduct raids on these locations.

Perhaps this may have been the reason for the Minister's latest decision to order stringent punishment on errant PHIs.He should ensure an effective enforcement mechanism to the proposed law if the problem is to be effectively tackled. Periodic raids by the Public Health Inspectors(PHIs) on these locations are only for public consumption since it is well known they look the other way for a consideration.

It is in this light the Minister's directive to deal severely with errant PHI's should be commended.

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