To whom it may concern Over to you Chairman Sri Lanka Telecom

Since May 4, my residence phone is out of order and on 5th morning, I reported the matter to Sri Lanka Telecom by dialing 1241 after spending hours to get through and was given a reference number 2223822 for my complaint and was assured the matter would be attended to by their technical staff.

Days went by but no one visited my residence to repair the telephone line. I repeatedly contacted 1241 once again spending hours of my valuable time not to mention even once you get through this line, one would be kept on hold for hours with no human response from the other end.

On two separate occasions, I was given two telephone numbers, 0112853451 for the Nugegoda exchange and 0112843240 for the Mattegoda response center as they would be the ones who are responsible to attend to such matters considering the area I live in.

But both these numbers are as good as the SLT service, never seem to be free even if you sit by the phone the whole day and keep dialing them, you would never get through to them.

It is Friday the 11th that I am writing this to the attention of the Chairman and everyone concerned at SLT, but my phone does not seem to work and no one from SLT has made any attempt to resolve my problem.

I call upon the SLT authorities to put their house in order, first by getting rid of answering machines and having more human contacts with the general public and reduce the response time to customer complaints over the phone to not more than one minute and repairs to be carried out within 24 hours. After all, the SLT customers are charged a monthly service fee.

R. P. PERERA, Mattegoda

Over to you Minister of Public Administration and Home Affairs

Regulations regarding access by the disabled persons to public buildings is already gazetted and thereby it has to be regarded as the law of the land. Rather than waiting for the construction of new buildings providing easy access or making structural alterations, this requirement can be met in already existing buildings by relocating certain units or branches of Government Departments within the same building to provide easy access to the disabled and handicapped persons.

If the pensions unit or the social services branch in a Divisional Secretariat is located in the upper floor, they should be brought down to the ground floor immediately. A glaring instance is the location of the Pension Unit of the Ratmalana Divisional Secretariat in an upper floor making it inaccessible to old and sickly pensioners.

A person is retired because it is assumed that he or she is no longer physically able to perform onerous duties effectively. In Sri Lanka at present, the lifespan of a person is quite long. As time goes on, almost all the pensioners will find it impossible to climb steps.

It is hoped that the Ministry of Public Administration and Home Affairs will get the Pension Unit of this office shifted downstairs without further delay and set an example to all other Government Departments.

A. W. SILVA, Mt. Lavinia

Over to you Municipal Commissioner, UDA

We are still subjected to the mercies of traffic snarls and impertinent drivers mornings and afternoons.

The Municipal Commissioner as far back as December 2006, promised us of a solution but nothing has happened.

The Asian International School has circulated false propaganda that the Thalakotuwa Gardens Road is vested or owned by the Municipality. This has lead to a worsening situation where anarchy prevails. Sensitivity to the residents' plight who commutes to work in the morning and at lunchtime is ignored.

The members of the Thalakotuwa Gardens Residential Estate find the indifferent attitude of the schools now unbearable and unacceptable.

It will be of no surprise if the situation worsens and acts of retaliation should occur thereby affecting the education of the students.

The burden of responsibility, should it occur, lies squarely on the Principal AIS who without any compassion of the residents' plight conspired and connived with the Municipal Commissioner to block an efficient system of controlling the traffic.

We wanted a Toll system in operation, so that the traffic will be organised causing the least amount of inconvenience to the residents and also to maintain our roads that is in disrepair.

This was put on hold as the Municipal Commissioner promised a solution. Nothing has happened.

The main road by act of deed is vested with the owners who has carte blanche right of way. It has not been assigned to anyone and cannot be assigned without the signatures of all the residents by deed.

We see many schools in and around Colombo focused in ensuring the least

inconvenience to the public; eg:- Royal College, Ladies College, Issipatana College, Gate Way College and Visakha Vidyalaya.

Why and how AIS, Illma and Moir cannot solve this problem seems a mystery. Whilst making money seems the criteria for their inertia, let the suffering residents be damned.

The Urban Development Authority is also responsible for permitting the operation of the three International Schools within 50 metres of each other. The master plan of theirs shows clearly that we are zoned in a highly residential area and they should have refused permits for opening of the schools.

The greed for money has found many players. Let all be warned that if there is no solution, responsibility will be on those mentioned above for turning Thalakotuwa into a volatile place.

Asian International, Illma International and Moir International please take heed.

Y. C. CHANG, Thalakotuwa Gardens