• Noise pollution and religious fervour

• Bureaucratic blunders

• Killer product - nominee at National Safety Awards

• The great man Muralitharan

  
   

Noise pollution and religious fervour

I refer to the several letters from readers published recently in your newspaper relating to the growing menace of noise pollution under the guise of religious fervour. It would perhaps be helpful for readers to be acquainted with the applicable law.

Noise is controlled under existing laws and regulations by regulating and/or prohibiting certain activities in specified locations and by setting standards for particular activities in specific localities. For example, in areas designated as 'silent zones', it is illegal to toot a horn at any time and under any circumstance whether the permissible noise level is exceeded or not. It is ironic to say the least that the very religious institutions situated in such 'silent zones' should be the worst offenders.

What is the necessity to make a noisy public spectacle of what essentially is - or should be - a deeply personal religious observance?

At present, the use of loudspeakers for public broadcast requires permission from the Sri Lanka Police as does, for example, the use of public roads for processions - whether religious or otherwise.

The use of loudspeakers without such permission is therefore illegal and the Police should stop these broadcast and seize all equipment used for such purposes. Where such a disturbance is deemed to be necessary, or unavoidable, the Police should consider granting permission on a case-by-case basis.

During an interview on a national television channel, an official from the Central Environmental Authority (CEA) revealed that the CEA was in the process of drawing up regulations for what it termed 'community noise' which would include noise from loudspeakers used for public broadcast. The police would then be required to measure noise levels from these loudspeakers before taking action to stop any disturbance caused by them.

By these regulations, the CEA would in effect equate the disturbance which is intentionally caused by the use of public loudspeakers for open air broadcast, with the noise that results from activities such as manufacturing (Where a certain amount of noise would be considered a necessary evil and where, although the intent is not to disturb the public, standards must be adhered to at added cost).

During the same interview, the official claimed, surprisingly, that most complaints pertaining to noise pollution were only with regard to 'road noise'. One wonders whether these officials are attached to the branch offices of the CEA on the Moon, maybe even Mars. Or, perhaps more likely, they have already been affected by noise pollution to the point of deafness.

PREMILA CANAGARATNA,
Colombo 7

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Bureaucratic blunders

I have been going through the long chain of letters on the above topic, sometimes with disappointment, disdain and other times with amusements. May I now contribute my experience regarding the matter which would have been experienced by our own people in other countries.

My sister applied for dual citizenship for her son in 2004. He was just sixteen then and waited for the next action which had to be from Sri Lanka. Immigration authorities had mentioned that it was half the payment for adults (Rs. 100,000) since he was 16. But the response was not yet coming till July of 2005.

This reply asking for some information, a second time. (The information submitted with the original application had been misplaced or lost) had been dated February 2005 and has taken 5 months to reach the destination. But they sent the details again and has not heard anything from our authorities until the lad had become an adult at 18 plus.

Then the next most horrendous request from the authorities was to pay the enhanced fee of 200,000. Now, I wonder whether this attitude is fair by any means. Are the authorities treating their own kind with jealousy and hatred just because the applicants are in a foreign country?

Aren't they ashamed of dragging their bureaucratic souls on an application for two years and demanding a ransom.

Next we come to the most hilarious part of it. The correspondence from the relevant department describes the heading as DUEL Citizenship. It may have been an oversight. But certainly the signatory should check the letters, specially the heading. Any 4- letter word starting with 'D' would have been okay such as Dial, Doll, Dull, etc. On the contrary, for the applicant, it becomes a Duel for citizenship.

The next unbecoming thing is the certificate issue by the department. It is the most ungainly certificate printed on foolscap size, discoloured parchment, which cannot be accommodated on any photo-copier. What a shame if it has to be shown to a foreigner.

This is a life time keep sake which should be able to be displayed with pride. But it is not to be so! It is worse than even a temporary residence permit. Certificate issued to a third - placed local relay team is much better.

If the higher officers of the Government Departments are not competitive and alert enough to correct these shortcomings, very soon the entire administration system will be doomed. It is normal in Sri Lanka to find fault with the subordinates for the lapses of higher officers.

PRINS JAYASINGHE,
Piliyandala, via email

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Killer product - nominee at National Safety Awards

The 6th National Safety Awards 2006 ceremony took place recently in Colombo to give away awards to 29 companies who were recognised as best organisations maintaining their safety standards to a national level of excellence. It was sponsored by Eagle Insurance in collaboration with the Department of Labour and the Employees' Trust Fund Board.

The Minister of Labour Relations and Foreign Employment, who was the chief guest at this ceremony mentioned that Rupees 200 million is lost due to industrial accidents every year, which is a burden to the economy. He also said that the workers must be safe and be taken care of.

The Minister of Labour assured their commitment in improving the health and the safety of employees and that the top management of the industries is also responsible in providing a safe environment for the workers.

The Commissioner General of the Department of Labour who had served on the selection board said that according to the data of the General Hospital 3-4 per cent admission is based on industrial accidents which is an immense challenge which we should avoid. He was hopeful that occupational safety would lead to success in business.

Surprisingly, one industry producing a killer product which causes immense burden to the individuals, families, state-run health sector and to the productivity of the country has been selected among these 29 nominees. But we are sorry that having one such industry been considered for one of these awards at this ceremony. The board of selection had attempted to impede the objectives of the recently passed, a nationally important act to control the promotion of tobacco which is a very timely issue.

There is no safety at all in an industry which produces such a lethal product. It harms everybody, the user and the non-user as well. I have personally spoken with tobacco victims and the family members of some victims who had worked for this industry.

Then how can we talk of the safety of this industry to its employees? How do they justify the end result of their product? I am sorry about this board; were they really ignorant on the gravity of this harm or mislead by other influences? How did they develop such courage to celebrate or to up-lift the position of these producers of a killer product?

Who misled them that this particular industry is safe? The industry is safe, but they are polluting the entire environment.

Then how come it becomes a successful or best business? If the product does not bring any benefit but only harm, how does that industry become effective?

We wonder whether the team member who went to assess the safety of this company did not smell the dust which is existing right from the entrance to the manufacturing section.

Also according to the Health Ministry, the majority of the hospital beds are occupied by patients suffering from smoking related diseases in Sri Lanka.

Do these industries pursue awards to suppress or cover the harm that they cause by gaining recognition in society? It is thousand times worth if they may realise and accept what harm that they do to this society and try to minimise it.

Those who organise these award ceremonies, are they really misled or are they benefitted in whatsoever manner?

When this Government has been trying to minimise the harm of tobacco by establishing an authority to stop promotions/sponsorship, how come we are in a contradictory situation now?

However, we regret that the formal authority who signed the award winners is holding a higher position in an important department who could not think about the healthcare of the hospital in his own country.

MANJARI PEIRIS,
Maharagama

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The great man Muralitharan

The Sri Lankan team returned home having been eliminated in the pre semi-final stage of the ICC Champions tournament. To those of us who love to watch this game, whether our boys have won or lost is not the main concern.

What matters is how they played the game. In this respect even in this tournament, we had bright spots indicative of special achievements of our players. They all deserve the grateful praise of the Sri Lankan cricket loving public.

Undoubtedly Muttiah Muralitharan is the best bowler, our country has so far produced. He is bound to be our best bowler as long as he continues in the game. But having said that, one cannot condone the joker fashion he adopts in batting as a tail ender even when the Sri Lanka side is in dire straits, this man seems to be unable to adopt a more serious attitude to his batting.

It is most regrettable that people who are supposed to coach the side which includes Muralitharan have not thought it necessary to rectify this matter. It would certainly be in the best interests of Sri Lanka Cricket, if Murali could be made to produce at least a few runs without throwing away his wicket in a silly manner and grinning back to the pavilion.

Percy Wickremesekera,
Nugegoda