Looking for the most courteous bus drivers? Look no further. Colombo
is just best known for the most chivalrous bus drivers in the entire
known world. The horns in these hulking vehicles are hardly uttered as
they sail by on the excellent roadways of Colombo.
The reason why these polite drivers have earned their name is
reasonably due to the excellent union power that they are withheld
under.
This power is so good that even the authorities have let them do
whatever they decide to do. No fines, no laws to govern them, is simply
because they are such good ambassadors of the road. Obviously! Driving
along with the most utmost care for other vehicles and pedestrians has
definitely earned their right to be called 'Angels of traffic'.
If people think that they drive perfectly fine within the city
limits, wait till you see them on the rural highways. Absolutely
amazing! As for the lucky passengers who ride these mammoths everyday
get to savour time management at its best.
The drivers use careful overtaking manoeuvres' when trying to get
these passengers (some who are clinging on to one another outside the
doors) to their favourable destinations.
These tactics, which are used when trying to get to the next bus stop
before the other driver are definitely considered safe. Especially when
the police approve of these tactics and look on when they are issuing
fines to the more troublesome drivers who suffer from road rage, who are
either people who don't have a union to back them up or old women.
If the police need to find a good place to observe these drivers in
order to award them for their chivalry, Dharmapala Mawatha will be a
nice place to start. This is where they display a manoeuvre which, I
guess, they call, 'learning to drive on all four lanes in one direction
when only two are meant for either direction'.
MOHAMED FEISAL
via email
When a group of monkeys reach the top of the roof the first thing
they do is to raise the tiles and peep into see whether the inmates of
the house are available. They know the situation of the kitchen. If
nobody is seen they slowly come inside and grab anything eatable and
vanish.
A half-used coconut husk is even enough for them to grab and run.
When they climb the coconut trees all the young coconuts are plucked and
thrown down as if they are veteran pluckers, papaw, mangoes, anoda or
any eatable fruits, they won't spare.
A Katu Anoda tree with full of fruits about 20 to 30 in all plucked
and thrown in a couple of minutes. The owner was so annoyed he had to
cut down the tree. In rural areas they attack even human beings for no
reason. At Medamahanuwara (a town about 20 miles from Kandy along the
Mahiyangana Road) a teacher was attacked by monkeys on her way to
Udawela School.
She had to be hospitalised for a couple of days. They are not scared
of crackers being thrown them. they avoid with no difficulty. They are
scared of only the Catapult. When the Catapult shown they vanish. But no
sooner the owner leaves the premises, they return in no time. Is it that
the monkey business has reached among monkey population.
The other menace is the wild boar in rural areas. They do not spare a
single home grown yams like sweet potatoes, vel ala, kiriala and manioc.
They attack even young coconut plants. It is dangerous to travel lonely
in the night as they attack with their protruded teeth.
Several villagers as well as estate workers had to be hospitalised.
The increase of the wild boar population has affected the cultivation of
paddy. They destroy the paddy fields with no mercy towards the innocent
paddy cultivators. It appears that they too have started running wild.
The increase in the number of monkeys and wild boar is due to
non-availability of guns, the villagers complain. Some suitable remedial
action has to be taken by the authorities.
TIKIRI BANDARA EKANAYAKE
Ampitiya
Conductors of many private buses in the Moratuwa area do not issue
tickets despite the rule coming into force from January 1.
Unless stern action is taken against the conductors who violate the
rule, the poor commuters who will have to face the penalty of paying the
fines and humiliation.
The rule says any commuter found without ticket is liable for a fine
of Rs. 100 and double the ticket fare.
The conductor who does not issue the ticket is not punished. The
checkers should fine the conductor for not issuing the ticket not the
poor commuter.
Whoever who made this rule is favouring the conductor and the private
bus owners. Who knows for what gain?
James
Moratuwa
I refer to the news item published in the Daily News of October 10
regarding garbage.
the Municipal Commissioner in his comments has either got his facts
wrong, or has been misinformed.
During the period when hand carts were used to collect garbage from
every road, lane and by-lane an excellent job was done. No garbage was
left behind and they worked right throughout the week starting at 7 in
the morning.
This collection was so consistent that you were sure the garbage man
will collect your garbage the following day and thus there was no
garbage piled up on the sides of roads. so much for efficiency and
dedication to work. But what happens now Mr. Commissioner with all the
sophisticated vehicles - dump trucks, tractors, trailers etc.
The collection of garbage is absolutely haphazard and chaotic. The
tractors that are detailed to collect garbage come around at different
times of the day and on different days of the week. So, you are not sure
whether it will come the next day.
It all depends on the whims and fancies of the garbage collectors.
Sometimes they do not come for over three days. So, how do we get rid of
our rotting and foul smelling garbage?
Quickly resort to dumping this garbage at a point on the road where
garbage has already been dumped. This is done purely due to
circumstances beyond one's control and not due to lack of civic
consciousness.
Of course as Mr. Gunawardhana says, there are those who come from the
richer class who throw the garbage from their cars on to the road sides
whether the garbage man comes or not.
May be they think it is a status symbol! Therefore, you cannot
completely blame householders for garbage piling up on road sides, as
the fault lies with the DMMC.
Does anybody in authority check the attendance of the labour force,
whether they are attending to their duties after signing the attendance
register in the morning.
Do they put in 8 hours duty for the day or are they engaged in
private work outside after signing the register? It is common knowledge
in the MC area that most of the labour staff are not at their posts
after signing.
This then is the crux of the problem. Without the required staff how
on earth can the garbage tractor go on its rounds?
A disciplined, motivated and work oriented staff is a sine qua non
for any institution to function efficiently.
VERNIE
Dehiwela
I am a Canadian of Sri Lankan origin with family members still living
in Sri Lanka.
Their lives have been in turmoil for the past three decades for no
fault of theirs but for the fact that they are innocent victims caught
in the web of endless violence.
So it is heartening and consoling to read Dr. Ranjan Fernando's
article suggesting simple but pragmatic suggestions. It is only when
political leaders from both sides of the spectrum are willing to place
the future of the country above everything else can we hope to defeat
the prevailing evil forces.
Dr. Fernando's premise that a foundation has to be laid through a
legitimate education system that enables students and those who work in
the public and private sectors to learn and appreciate the respective
languages is a sound one. The idea is not rocket science.
Two solitudes, one country - the common denominator is that the two
rich languages were both born from one Indic language, Sanskrit.
NADA T. CHELVAM
Canada
The Teaching Hospital at Karapitiya is one of the major hospitals in
Sri Lanka and it is the only hospital where most of the specialties
available for the Southern Province. The services provided by the
hospital are deteriorating currently due to severe shortage of medical
officers.
The main reason for this is the reduction of recruiting post intern
medical officers to the hospital since last couple of years.
There are several types of lists issued by the Ministry of Health to
appoint medical officers according to the medical officers transfer
scheme. Post intern list, annual transfer list and special appeal list
are those. Out of these, the post intern list is the most important list
to supply medical officers to units with severe shortage of medical
officers.
The reason for this is the number of vacancies on this list is equal
to the number of medical officers who are getting appointed as post
intern medical officers. And therefore each and every advertised vacancy
is filled.
Units with heavy workloads are never applied by medical officers even
though they are advertised in the annual transfer list or any other
special list and these units suffer severe shortage right throughout the
year inconveniencing the general public.
The Ministry of Health seems to be having a poor understanding
regarding the problem and keeps on advertising units with heavy
workloads in list other than the post intern medical officer's vacancy
list. Because of this some important units such as the Orthopaedic,
Neurosurgery, Paediatrics and OPD etc, in the Karapitiya Teaching
Hospital are suffering from the shortage and services are deteriorating
rapidly.
The authorities should take immediate steps to overcome this problem.
A. L. Ratnayake
Galle |
