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| Tuesday, 04 January 2005 |
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The darkest of clouds display a silver lining The darkest of clouds have a silver lining. We must hope and pray that there will not be a repetition let not pessimism cloud our minds. Vested interests try to paint a gloomy and twisted picture of the sad and tragic incident that hit Sri Lanka for the first time with such fury to ravage and destroy houses and families with total destruction to property and deaths. Friendly and generous kind-hearted nations are coming in to rescue. Food and money for disaster relief is pouring in, use this liberal assistance wisely and prudently for the full benefit of the distressed half-starved refugees. Thanks to the good and generous people of Sri Lanka too and to all religious institutions, temples, churches and schools even students give their saving. Great indeed. The time has come to show the true colours of Sri Lankans in keeping with their inimitable hospitality. Some other countries face these disasters annually more frequent. Sri Lanka is blessed many times. This is something very rare. Unite, help and work to alleviate the gripping poverty and relieve the agony of the disaster victims. Pray to save the nation from a repetition. Thank the Government for prompt action taken. CARL NANAYAKKARA, Kalutara Better customer service need at Osu Sala I have found that purchasing medicines from Osu Sala takes a long time, though the employees are busy throughout. The problem, I think is the insufficient number of employees to cope with the demand. The place is overcrowded. There are a few chairs for the customers. But many have to keep standing. On the eve of Christmas day I had to stand for more than two hours from 11 a.m. Perhaps that was Christmas shopping time for medicines also. The customers also make matters worse by standing crowded in front of the counters when their turn is far down the line and obstruct those whose turns are called up from reaching the counters. Every number is called out by the employees and at times they become inaudible and some of the customers miss their turns. The management could have the numbers electronically operated as in some places like the counter at the telecommunication paying office at Punchi Borella or use a mike as in some other places. The numbers are also called out only in Sinhala and that also makes some of the customers to miss their turns, to prevent which they crowd in front of the counters. The management should make some better arrangements to give a better service to its customers. ARUL, Colombo 13 Chinese aid for Norochcholai power plant project It was reported recently, over the electronic media - that, Minister for Tourism has successfully negotiated with the Chinese Government to fund the Norochcholai Coal Power Project and already a Chinese delegation is in Sri Lanka to study the project. It is heartening that the Chinese Government has understood the perilous state of the power sector in our country, the main input for economic and social growth and had come forward to help. It should be remembered with gratitude the contribution of the Chinese Government in the construction of that picturesque building, BMICH, the Hulstsdorf Courts Complex, Nilambe Mini Hydro Power Plant etc. Similarly the Coal Power Plant at Norochcholai will add to their magnanimous offer to eleviate the sufferings of our people by opening the doors for foreign investments and thereby provide employment. One advantage in constructing the plant by the Chinese is that the CEB or the authorities could do away with the Tender procedure, evaluation etc. which would normally take nearly a year. Thus the commissioning of the plant could be advanced by nearly a year. As we know and experienced the Chinese, when undertaking a job, they do not waste time and man power. Perhaps the plant could be commissioned in late 2009 or early 2010. Towards this end the CEB should immediately undertake the acquisition of land, start fillings if necessary, construct the 42 houses to house the displaced and other infrastructure facilities out of the local component funding. Strangely this should have been done no sooner the Cabinet approval was received in somewhere July 2004 to prove their sincererity in undertaking the project without demonstrations or picketing. G. A. D. SIRIMAL, Boralesgamuwa We are experiencing a widespread freak behavioural pattern in the country. When the Court sentences some people take to the streets in supposed protest. These things do not happen normally, they have to be orchestrated. When a musical show is to be staged, a few priests take to the streets, the great majority of the priests are fortunately truly religious and desist. Next thing will be a 'walk' when a student fails an exam or fails to be selected for a job. Even leaders of political parties are similarly affected. I suspect that the orchestrations is due to a very low-pressure area in the bay of Bengal. Astrology supports this theory, and who in our country will dare to say astrology is bunkum. DR. P. DISSANAYAKE, Colombo 5 There is hardly any discipline in Government Departments, Local Authorities, Corporations and other statutory bodies, now a days, because no deterrent punishment is given to the miscreants owing to trade union interference. The common sin of omission and commission is the breach of the three-days rule of replying to letters of the public or of at least sending an acknowledgement within three days. I wish to relate a typical example: In the bill forms of the Ceylon Electricity Board you find on the reverse in cage 4 "Queries on the Electricity Bill and Service Connection should be referred to your Area Electrical Engineer." Once I found the Meter Reader overcharging me by 30 units as a result of taking down the meter readings carelessly. I wrote to the Area Electrical Engineer, but I got from him not even an acknowledgement though I invited his attention twice. On bringing this matter to the notice to the Chairman of the C.E.B., I received a reply from the General Manager (W.P., South) making all sorts of excuses for the mistake of the Meter Reader instead of taking disciplinary action as a deterrent to others similarly bent! Obviously the staff officer is afraid to pull up his subordinates as there had been cases where the staff officer is transferred and the errant small fry is kept at the same office to carry on their nefarious activities uninterrupted. F. J., Mt. Lavinia A couple of thousand years ago a man unlawfully rebelled against a lawfully established republic and incited its citizens also to unlawfully rebel against that republic. That man was judicially tried before a lawfully established court and was judicially sentenced to death. He was found guilty of the crime of anarchy. Today in the Democratic Republic of Sri Lanka within a legally established government, another man expressed rebelliousness against a lawfully established court of the supreme order, and by his words and conduct unlawfully sought to incite others, the common republicans to rebel against that court. Sri Lanka holds tenaciously to a democratic social order in which the rule of law and its judiciary deals with a crime on the demerits of merits of the crime irrespective of person or personality of the individual perpetrating the criminal offence. Two thousand years ago that anarchist was judicially punished with death which he accepted and which punishment the republicans accepted as the inevitability of the operation of law which protected all citizens at that time. But here, the UNP and its leader seeks to rebel. Today in Sri Lanka too, as it was in that republic of two thousand years ago, the rule of law and the judiciary protects all of us who live within the law. So why is that the UNP and its leader seeks to incite the public against the Supreme Court? Because Popo the Puppet can do anything when others pull the string. DENROY, Etul Kotte |
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