• I salute you Mr. President

• Lady Mayor unreachable while citizens suffer

• Noisy construction in Colombo

• Noise pollution by religious institutions

• Piliyandala-Kohuwala Road - ensure least inconvenience to public
   

I salute you Mr. President

WE salute you Mr. President (Reference DN Nov. 29). You are a great man indeed. You sure have your heart in the correct place to let your son join the Navy.

This should open the sick Prabhakaren's eyes wider and understand the concept of living by example. He wants his Eelam again now. Why doesn't he send his son also to become a walking bomb instead of trying to make him a gentleman?

Why the double standing?

All the poor and uneducated Tamils should give their sons to him for making walking bombs and do whatever he says and meantime his son is getting ready to be a leader of a 'Mad Eelam' with uneducated bush monkies.

He is so keen and trying his level best to let the world know that the people in the North and South of Sri Lanka are suffering with no food etc.

Why don't he provide them with food and the necessities and the long forgotten security, instead of buying weapons and missiles? Why go after the Government and beg for food for them?

Be a man and show them that you care for them. Give them the food and shelter instead of killing them. What kind of freedom you have if you have no security? You have no life without peace of mind. What a way of showing the poor helpless Tamils that he really cares for them? It is very easy for anyone to blame the other.

But to take the responsibility for your own actions, only a mindful person would know. I don't think people like Prabhakaran will ever understand that. Be careful that there is a saying called "What goes around comes around", your game will be over soon.

SUJATHA PELPOLA - via email

Lady Mayor unreachable while citizens suffer

FOR over one month, I have been complaining to the Dehiwala - Mt. Lavinia Municipal Council that the drains along Asiri Mawatha are filled with muck and for the slightest rains the entire road goes under water causing much hardship to the residents.

I called the Council's General number 2738701 and asked to speak to the Mayor. I was given a direct number 2738704. I called this number and wanted to speak to the Mayor.

A lady who answered the phone said that she's the Mayor's Secretary and that the Mayor was at a meeting. I told her the problem.

She promised to convey that to the Mayor. Two days passed and since nothing happened, I called Mayor's Secretary again. I was told that she was not available and the Mayor was out of the country.

One gentleman who answered spoke in Sinhala and when I told my problem all over again he said that the matter will be attended to tomorrow.

Since nothing happened for 3 days thereafter, I called the Mayor's Secretary again. This time I was told that it will be done tomorrow definitely. Again, I wanted to speak to the Mayor but I was told she was not in office.

Since nothing happened for three days thereafter, I called the Council's General number and asked to speak to the Municipal Commissioner. I narrated my story all over again to him.

He said he will attend to the matter. Two days later, a gang of labourers cleaned up the drains, took all the muck out of the drains and left it on the side of the road and went away. I thought that it will be taken away the next day at least, but it did not happen.

This was causing a traffic problem since the road is narrow and the vehicle avoid going over the muck. I called the Municipal Commissioner once again and told him the situation.

He bluntly told me that the Council does not have tractors to remove the muck. I asked him whether it is the duty of the citizens to take the muck away for which he dashed the phone.

As at today, more than 75 per cent of the muck has gone back to the drain for the heavy showers that we had been experiencing during the last few days.

I called the Mayor's office on November 23 at 11:22 am with the hope of at least getting the 25 per cent of the muck that is left on the sides of the road be cleared and I was once again told that the Mayor is at a discussion and cannot be disturbed. I wonder what she's discussing while rate payers are suffering.

I must add here that the collection of garbage along Asiri Mawatha does not take place regularly. The garbage collectors come only once a week or sometimes once in ten days!

However, they come on the 30th of each month and demand payments. More often than not, we are forced to throw the garbage on to the roads as there are no gardens in our homes to bury them.

I must mention that before the present Mayor took office, collection of garbage was done once in every two or three days. I used to call the former Mayor at times when the garbage collectors had not come and I used to get a response from him with an apology. The former Mayor was accessible unlike the present one.

The present Mayor when she came canvassing to my house told me that she will provide a better service and she accused the then administration of being corrupt. But, it is sad to say that the present mayor is unreachable and we have no one to complain to.

S. H. MOHAMED - Dehiwala

Noisy construction in Colombo

THERE are a few multi-storey buildings coming up within the strip of 200 yards from the Galle Face roundabout to Temple Trees, presently the President's residents.

In a site, which we do not know, work goes on throughout the night hitting and banging, thus disturbing people's sleep.

Star class hotels and luxury apartments are in the neighbourhood in addition to Kollupitiya police station and the President's abode. It is strange so far no one has taken any action. Will the IGP look into this matter?

W. L. S. - Colombo 3 - via email

Noise pollution by religious institutions

NARME Wickremasinghe, has brought to light that the infamous noise emanating from various religious institutions, including temples and churches... or Hindu Kovils, or observing bajans in certain places.

What he or she must understand is, that all those pomp and pagentry, customs, conventional or unconventional had infiltrated into our country, since the foreign invasion to Sri Lanka in the 16th century, customs for good or for bad are being adhered to by us now.

But what of the noise, superseding the statutory, decibel standard of volume, emanating from those huge Tuition Houses, which are in simple vocabulary, called Tuition Kadayas, which are coming-up like mushrooms overnight, attracting students school-going/ private, who are wishfully daydreaming, that they would achieve their targets, by visiting these Kadayas, who run the most lucrative business of the island.

Why, the aim of every parent is to see that his/her child would get the gist of the best education and so motivates the child ,to live up to the Jonesses.

So here the Master of Bsc. B.com, or Management, the narrator or the lecturer, screaming at the top of their voices, surpassing the permissible volume standards, similar to speeches made by politicians, standing on the podium simply to give the assurance to the student, that better luck next time.

Poor parents; but what of the public living in such environments. Even on a Poya day, the recording of those public speeches prevail... what about Sundays.

As Mr. Wickremesinghe pinpoints noise in any form is irritable, be it the tooting of horns on the highway, noise at religious festivals.

The CEA should find out ways and means of curtailing and streamlining such pollution at their parameters.

The public may voice their grievance to the CEA, but the lethargic authorities, may themselves by now be ad nauseam both physically and mentally, to this irritating nuisance of being reported repeatedly by the people living in such environments.

B. ABEYWICKRAMA - via email

Piliyandala-Kohuwala Road - ensure least inconvenience to public

It is understood that plans are afoot to widen the Piliyandala-Kohuwala main road (route no. 120) to make way to a four lane highway. The widened road is supposed to be linked to the projected Southern highway at Katuwawala.

Infrastructure development are the crying needs of the day and also the most talked about constrain to foreign investment. Therefore public cooperation is essential for such projects.

Even so these developments should whenever possible be done with the least inconvenience made to the public and to obtain maximum benefits, to both State and the public.

The road earmarked for expansion runs through a highly up market residential area and compensation on land acquisition could be very high, irrespective of the inconvenience caused to the affected residents.

However just 75 to 150 meters East to the existing road is a tract of neglected paddy and now marshy land extending even past Piliyandala, where the new road could be chartered.

If considered, the land acquisition expenses would be negligible and public will have the benefit of another main first class road, that would much reduce the present traffic congestion on the existing road.

The main purpose for the widening of this road I understand is to reduce commuting time to Colombo from the proposed Southern highway.

If so, the suggested new road on the lines of a expressway will amply suit the desired purpose with much more all round benefits. It is hoped the Minister and concerned officials will give this suggestion a thought.

G. PRATHAPASINGHE - Nugegoda