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SOME State institutions have all kinds of forms, documents etc., in
Sinhala or Tamil with English as well. This enables a person to fill
such documents in English, if he does not know either Sinhala or Tamil.
Even tender forms in some institutions are printed only in Sinhala
without in English.
Therefore, the authorities should urge all State institutions to
follow one method in dealing with documents providing to the public.
Some Boards that have day-to-day business with the public, like the
Water Board, have their documents only in Sinhala. How can the Tamils
and Muslims or for that matter anyone who does not know Sinhala fill
such forms? Do they have only English educated customers?
First, let all Government documents be available in all three
languages for the citizens to realise that there is no discrimination in
this nation.
FERLYN JUNKEER -
Colombo 13
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REFERRING to the letters from G.G.J. of Kotte and W.P.H., Kollupitiya,
I tend to give the benefit of the doubt to the Constables.
It is probable that the speed camera genuinely showed an inflated
speed of 81 kph because as in UK, these cameras, when hand held were
found to be notoriously unreliable.
In one case, a scooter with a mechanically restricted maximum speed
of 30 mph was recorded as travelling at 80 mph and in another case, the
defence showed the camera recording the speed of an immobile wall at 70
mph as the slightest movement of the hand corrupts the object it is
aimed at.
Consequently all speed offences recorded by hand held cameras were
thrown out in court and the police in UK have discontinued its use and
rely only on fixed cameras which provide irrefutable evidence of the
speed and the vehicle. The road is marked with lines at measured
intervals.
The camera is triggered by a speed trap and takes two quick flash
pictures as the speeding vehicle goes over the marked lines.
The time between the flashes is known and the pictures will show the
vehicle registration number, the number of lines crossed in that time
and the calculated speed of the passing vehicle.
SHAIK ANWAR –
AHAMATH
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I REFER to the above and write to inform you that I am a doctor by
profession. My main office of medical practice is in Trichy, India. I
used to travel frequently for providing medical service to my patients
in various countries including Sri Lanka and the UK.
I purchased a ticket from Emirates to travel from Colombo to London
Heathrow on September 1, 2007.
As there was no direct flight to London, Heathrow, the ticket was
booked to travel via Dubai. Accordingly on September 1, 2007, I
travelled in business class (flight No. EK558) which was scheduled to
depart from Colombo at 1205 hrs and arrive in Dubai at 1450 hrs.
From Dubai, I was supposed to travel in first class on flight EK0005
which was scheduled to depart from Dubai at 1615 hrs and to arrive in
London Heathrow at 2040 hrs local time.
However, flight EK558 in fact left Colombo only at 1330 hrs and
arrived in Dubai 1630 hrs. It was one hour and twenty five minutes
behind the schedule.
As a result the flight EK0005 had already left from Dubai to London
Heathrow.
Since there was no other flight on that date, all the passengers were
taken into a hotel in Dubai. I stayed in the hotel overnight and on
September 2, 2007 I was asked to travel on flight No. BA108 which left
from Dubai at 0910 hrs and arrived in London Heathrow at 1340 hrs as per
the local time.
On arrival in London Heathrow, I found that my luggage Ref. No. EK
457329 was missing. Then I made a compliant about my missing luggage and
was given the reference as LHR BA84719 and asked to wait for further
information about the delivery of my bag.
When I booked the ticket I also booked for transport from London
Heathrow Airport to my home address in London.
But on arrival I was not provided transport facilities by Emirates.
It was extremely difficult for me to find transport to get home and
finally I paid Sterling Pounds 60 to the driver of the mini cab for
taking me home from the Airport.
As I said earlier I am a frequent traveller and buyer of the travel
tickets using my ‘Skywards’ card. I never had any notable difficulties
in my previous travelling but on this particular occasion, I faced a
very bad and unpleasant experience as a result of the missing flight in
Dubai.
Even though I booked a first class ticket, I was not given the proper
care and facilities provided to passengers travelling on first class
tickets.
I suffered stress and mental agony as I missed the flight in Dubai.
The airline’s staff in Dubai did not take any care and attention in
providing a standard service to the passengers.
I spent a sleepless night thinking about my commitments undertaken in
London on 1st Saturday late evening and Sunday, September 2, 2007.
I bought a saree to give as a present to my friend’s mother in London
to wear on her 81st birth party in the evening of September 1, 2007 but
I could not do it because my luggage was missing and I did not receive
it until September 5, 2007.
If I would have travelled in the flight EK0005 and it arrived in
London as scheduled at 2040 hrs, I would have attended the birthday
celebrations and she would have worn the saree at the function.
One week before my travelling on September 1, 2007, I made prior
arrangements with the local television channel in London to present a
live programme on September 2, 2007 about the Homeopathy medical
treatment which was cancelled and I incurred a loss.
Further I could not see my patients for four days because of the
stress and agony suffered as a result of the delay, missing my luggage
and the nightmare experienced in Dubai and again incurred a financial
loss.
All the details of my patients in London and their medical
information were in the luggage, I was unable to see my patients until
September 6. This again caused a severe financial loss.
DR. R. THIYAGARAJAN –
India
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IT IS no doubt that supreme power of the State’s judiciary is the
final mechanism, that steers a nation in the correct and conducive
direction she needs. Here human right should be considered after giving
priority to the human needs.
In the case of A/L students perhaps with their kith and kin count
more in number than the total population of the boycotting educators of
the country. If we look on this statistic, the students, who have been
waiting to know the result, which may be the initial obstacle to cross
over in their life, should have priority to know it in time.
Undoubtedly the striking teachers have the right to go on, but
without penalising the future of those who have been educated by them in
the schools, and in their tuition classes on extra fees.
The evil stands on the cross road, as a youngster needs, A/L result
for his application to reach just in time or little earlier of the
closing date for a job particularly in a private firm.
He should not have missed this opportunity because of the strike. A
prosperous future for a well disciplined and designed society of younger
generation is the need of the nation at present, and the educators are
the chosen skippers for this immaculate enterprise.
U. C. H. MOHIDEEN –
Gelioya
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OUR Chief Justice speaking in the context of opening a Provincial
Court of Appeal in Anuradhapura has spoken about the need for
decentralisation in our land.
His words being “The Central Government can devolve power in a
flexible way .... We don’t have to kill each other. We have to solve our
problems ourselves.”
While applauding the Chief Justice’s plea for decentralisation to
solve our national problem, it is also vital to note that in Sri Lanka
today there are others who have major problems. Not only those in the
conflict areas.
We have those in the deep South, on the plantations, the Kandyan
peasantry, the urban poor, those in the border villages. All these need
to be taken care of. For this, decentralisation is certainly the answer.
Over to all those who see the need for decentralisation.
SYDNEY KNIGHT -
Colombo 3
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