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With the escalation of LTTE activities in the Colombo City since the
late 1980s, emergency and rescue services in Sri Lanka especially in the
City of Colombo have been strengthened. More men and modern equipment
have been provided to the relevant authorities.
But sad to say more often than not these emergency services reach the
place after considerable delay.
For instance, if you telephone the Fire Brigade they will ask who you
are, from what telephone number you are calling etc. With CLI
facilities, is it necessary to ask for these? They will also request you
to inform the police if you have already not done so.
Sometimes it takes almost 20 t0 30 minutes for the fire engines to
reach the place concern on February 23rd morning, after the bomb went
off in a bus at Mt. Lavinia around 10.55 a.m., two fire engines from the
CMC went past Wellawatte around 11.40 a.m. that is 45 minutes after the
bomb went off.
I remember in 1996 soon after the Central Bank bomb went off, the
CMC’s snorkel fire engine went past the Town Hall towards the site of
the blast about one hour afterwards. Perhaps it was not at the fire
brigade head office at the time but had to be got down from elsewhere.
Does the IGP or the fire chief ever test the efficiency and speed of
their emergency services by giving them an emergency call and see for
themselves how long or how soon they take to respond, and reach the
place.
In other countries this is done on a regular basis as a routine
excercise to keep the staff on full alert all the time. It is also
necessary that the police and fire and rescue department has only one
set of telephone numbers with hunting facilities and adequate number of
officers to handle the incoming calls.
These lines should also have no dialing facilities, so as to ensure
that those manning the desk cannot dial friends and keep chatting, which
is why the emergency lines are either engaged all the time or not
answered with the first ring itself. Any comments Mr. IGP and fire
chief?
TILAK FERNAND -
Colombo 6
This news article gives renewed hope to us Buddhists. Minister Dinesh
Gunawardena’s name will be remembered for ever for the good deed he has
committed. I sincerely believe that this will not stop here.
There are a lot of Buddhist religious sites that have been destroyed
by the terrorists in the North and the East. We cannot be satisfied
unless and until those places are claimed and declared as sacred sites.
NIHAL JAYASINGHE
The CTB Maskeliya to Colombo bus route through Norton Bridge runs
through tea estates and is normally a less frequented road.
There is much traffic on this road only during the Adam’s Peak climb
which commences from the Poya day in December and ends with the Vesak
Poya.
The CTB operation on this route commences at 4 a.m. from Maskeliya
and there are buses at regular intervals.
There, not being many designated bus stops, passengers are picked up
as and where they stop the bus.
I had to attend a clinic at the Sri Jayawardenapura Hospital at 1
p.m. on February 21. The early hours of the day I was on the road. When
the bus arrived, sometimes between 5.14 and 5.30 a.m. by Luccombe Tea
Garden, I put my hand out to stop the bus.
The driver just ignored my signal to ‘stop’ and drove by. I ran
behind the bus but of no avail. Luckily for me the CTB bus to Kandy
following behind arrived which I stopped and got in. Both buses arrived
simultaneously at Norton Bridge and I changed bus.
The conductor issuing me a ticket to Colombo said that they saw me
stopping the bus, but thought that I was going to Kandy and therefore
did not stop. I asked him why he presumed that I was going to Kandy and
he replied me nothing.
The attitude of these people having made me angry, I did not want to
further the conversation which would have only lead to a heated argument
making me more angry than before and leaving me frustrated as I could do
nothing to correct the situation.
This was not the fist time this bus had proceeded in this manner.
The same happened to me two weeks before on February 7 morning. Could
any one imagine the predicament of a traveller on a chilly morning at
5.30 a.m. left on a lonely road without being picked up by the bus.
More so, when he or she has an urgent appointment to keep. There
aren’t many buses on this road, that you may take the next bus and get
on with your journey.
Moreover I am 67-years-old and a heart patient at that, who had to
keep the date at the clinic. I have been advised not to exert myself.
Trust that the authorities concerned would take necessary action that
no passengers are left on the lurch by errand drivers.
The newspapers say that no more new buses would be added to the
private bus operators fleet. However, a further 350 buses are said to be
added to the CTB. The addition of buses to the CTB is a welcome move,
subject to it being of service to the public.
LESLIE M. R. DASON -
Maskeliya
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