Having unwittingly disturbed a hornets’ nest through my letter under
the caption ‘Traffic Police up to highway robbery’ (DN Sep. 18) and
subsequently after reading through several letters from readers on the
subject in Daily News columns, I have to point out that a very important
question still remains unanswered.
We have to thank the Police for responding to my letter by their
letter (Sep. 25), pointing out that ‘paying gratification to a fine is
an offence’ and for their letter (Oct. 20) to the effect that the eight
months old complaint from W.P.H. Kollupitiya (DN Sept. 27) would be
investigated into.
However, it is regretted that the all important contents of Shaik
Anwar Ahamath’s letter (DN Oct. 06) have so far been overlooked by the
Police.
The writer, therein, referred to his experience in the U.K., where
hand held detectors were found to be notoriously unreliable and that all
speed offences recorded by hand held detectors were thrown out from
courts.
He also says that police in U.K. are now relying only on fixed
detectors detecting speeding. As such, a clarification from the Police
is required as to whether the existing practice of using hand held
detectors for detecting speeding motorists will be dispensed with and
instead, the fixed camera system would be introduced.
It has to be stressed that lots of motorists who have fallen victim
to the erroneous recordings on hand held detectors, are anxiously
awaiting the Police viewpoint on this subject, which is of utmost
importance to them. Our position, through past experience, is that,
visual detection is far more reliable than the hard held camera.
G.G.J –
Kotte
All Sri Lanka Telecom customers were eagerly waiting for November 1,
2007 to see a reduction in their telephone tariff. The
Telecommunications Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka issued a public
notice in the newspapers of October 5, 2007 detailing the new revised
tariffs. The question is will the new tariffs really reduce the final
telephone bill?
Let us take a detailed look and compare the present and proposed
tariffs;
Time durations
* Proposed peak period has been increased from 10hrs to 11hrs on
weekdays and from 6hrs to 7 hrs on Saturday. - Charges will increase!
* Proposed economy period has been reduced from 6 hrs to 5 hrs on
weekdays and from 10 hrs to 9 hrs on Saturday. - Charges will increase!
* No change in the hours during discount period.
Billing discount
* Reduced from Rs. 600 to Rs. 400, this will obviously increase the
charges by Rs. 200 for all customers who were enjoying 200 units worth
of free calls.
Call charges
* A new start-up fee of Rs. 1/50 has been introduced with no clear
explanation. Assuming that it is for every new call taken, this will add
a large amount to the customers’ bill. (Please correct me if my
assumption is incorrect.)
* SLT to SLT has been reduced from Rs. 3 to Rs. 2/80. Considering the
proposed per second billing any significant advantage to the customer is
unlikely.
* Economy period billing rate at present is 180 seconds which means
that a call during this period can last up to three times for the cost
of one unit. Under the proposed charges, a call during this period can
last only up to 2 times the cost of one unit. - Charges will increase!
* Discount period billing rate at present is 540 seconds which means
that a call during this period can last up to 9 times for the cost of
one unit. Under the proposed charges, a call during this period can last
only up to 5, 6 times the cost of one unit.
- Charges will increase!
* Cost of long distance calls during peak period has been reduced,
but increased during economy and discount periods. Most people make
these calls after 6 p.m. except during an emergency.
- Charges will increase!
* New higher chares have been introduced for calls from SLT to mobile
phones. - Charges will increase!
* New higher charges have been introduced for calls from SLT to other
fixed line phones.
- Charges will increase!
Considering all the above increases in the new proposed tariffs, it
is certain that the final bill of the customer will see a substantial
increase leading to complaints and recriminations.
It is my opinion that this proposed revision of tariffs is put on
hold until a detailed study is made and a simple uncomplicated solution
is derived to reduce the tariffs. In the interim. The SLT could apply
the 8.72 per cent discount for each bill.
SLT CONSUMER
This is with reference to the letter written by Lionel Leanage of
Ambalangoda relating to 7th Cross Road, Panadura which appeared in the
Daily News of September 26 under the ‘People’s Voices’ column.
A person has to pass 7th Cross Road to get to Fonseka Road, Panadura
where I reside. The stretch of road from the turn off from 7th Cross
Road towards Fonseka Road up to Dias Place Junction is in the same
position as 7th Cross Road with full of pot-holes and filled muddy
water, after a heavy shower. The drains on the sides are not cut so as
to enable the waste water to flow evenly.
Moreover, there is garbage collected by the road side near the
entrance to the compound of a former Chairman of the Panadura Urban
Council with a collection of stagnant water.
These have become the ideal breeding places for dengue and filaria
mosquitoes. There is a Montessori School and Day Care Centre situated
close to the heap of garbage.
The Home for the Elders is also situated on this road and inmates who
go to the hospital for treatment has to pass the above stretch of road
at much risk to their lives. Corrective measures should be taken by the
Panadura Urban Council immediately to avoid a dengue epidemic among the
residents living in this area and the children attending the school and
those in the Day Care Centre as they are already faced with a health
hazard.
In this connection, I wish to recall that I wrote under the above
column which appeared in the Daily News of July 14 about the ‘Poor roads
in Panadura town’ and that there is no proper surface drainage system.
While drawing the attention of the Chief Minister of the Western
Provincial Council he was requested to intervene and ensure that the
repairs to the damaged roads are attended to, by the Urban Council
without delay or in the alternative that steps be taken to have them
repaired by the Provincial Road Development Authority but it is a matter
for regret that no action has been so far taken in this regard. I
reiterate the request already made and also that the repair work be
expedited.
H.W. GOONESEKERA –
Panadura
The unjustified comments by Jennifer Van Twest over the ‘Sirasa
Superstar selection’ published in your journal of November 3rd is
irrational. Two singers out of the 12 finalists were selected/ voted by
the people to vie for the Superstar title.
Both singers were talented and popular. But, Pradeep Rangana emerged
as the winner and there is no doubt he was the right choice due to many
reasons. Pradeep could sing classical songs as well as other songs
expressively and well. For example, the classical song he had selected
to sing, has become very popular after he sang it doing a great justice
to the song sung by versatile singer Sunil Edirisinghe.
Surendra Perera is also a talented singer, but here religion didn’t
come in to play. Most of the Buddhists voted for him.
Therefore, it’s unjustifiable to drag religion into the issue.
PADMA COLONNE -
Colombo 9
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