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Wide publicity was given to a news item where the Transport Minister
Dullas Alahapperuma inaugurated a new school bus service on the route
which recently saw the death of Dilshani Prarthana, the schoolgirl who
fell through a hole in a private bus.
This is not the first time such an incident has happened in Sri Lanka
and I am certain that this will not be the last.
At the Centenary Congress of the Sri Lanka Medical Association in
1987, late Dr. Sydney Premathiratne and I reported two similar deaths.
I reproduce here excerpts of that article titled ‘An unusual type of
traffic fatality in passengers of private buses’.
“The authors report here two almost similar but unusual accidents
that caused the deaths of two passengers.
“In the first case, the deceased was a 40 year old woman who was
commuting, standing in an over crowded private bus, when the corroded
floor board just in front of the rear wheel gave way causing her to fall
through.
“She was run over by the wheel and died instantaneously with
extensive injuries to the chest and pelvic organs.
“The second victim was a 5 year old child who died when the floor
board just behind the rear wheel gave way and he was run over in the
same way, again in a private bus which was reversing. His death was
caused by extensive abdominal injuries.
“Both these deaths were due to poor maintenance of the vehicle for
which the owners are directly responsible.
Steps should be taken to keep such vehicles out of the roads and
owners and drivers of the vehicles should be severely punished if we are
to prevent similar deaths in the future.”
I hope that the Minister who has extended an apology and condolences
on behalf of the Government to Dilhani’s parents, will take all possible
steps to prevent such tragedies in the future.
PROFESSOR RAVINDRA FERNANDO Senior Professor of
Forensic Medicine and Toxicology University of Colombo
We refer to the letter under the above caption sent by ‘J.N.’ of
Nugegoda and published in the section ‘Citizens’ Mail’ of the Daily News
of October 13.
It appears that the writer is unaware of the actions taken by the
Central Bank to alert the public to the risks associated in dealing with
unauthorised financial institutions and labours under the
misapprehension that no action has been taken.
The Central Bank has repeatedly warned the public via the media, of
the dangers associated with investing in unauthorised financial
institutions.
Members of the public, despite the warnings issued by the Central
Bank, knowingly place deposits with such institutions, they would
necessarily have to bear the consequences too.
S. S. RATNAYAKE Director Central Bank of Sri
Lanka
Almost all the newspapers published an article about school boys from
Kandy being jailed for cutting classes and watching porn shows in the e
cafe. This is nothing new. As much as the students, or even more, the
cafe owners should be punished.
The internet cafes actually appear to be doing a good job of allowing
access to those who have no access to computers, giving specially the
youngsters an education point and recreation center. However the ills
that accrue out of these cafes seem to far outweigh the goodness.
This has become a place where children get into smoking and drugs as
there is no supervision or control of what is allowed by the owners.
The cafe owners are only concerned of the income, so oftener the
youth come the better it is for them. These are somebody else’s
children, so who cares if they get into bad company and into bad habits
seems to be the attitude.
Internet cafes are worse than brothels - youngsters get hours and
hours of perverted pleasure for a pittance and these cause great damage
to their lives, including guilt and sexual perversion.
The games are found to be damaging to their psyche as most of them
are violent and murderous in nature. They are also addictive and there
are even Computer game players anonymous abroad to wean them from the
games.
Unless the owners take responsibility to supervise and control the
youngsters who come there, the children should not be allowed to go to
the cafes. In any particular area, the citizens must insist the
computers must be placed in an open hall where each screen can be seen
by the person in charge.
The owner must take responsibility to supervise the users - if not, a
parent or an elder must take initiative to be present taking time to
protect their children.
The youth should never be allowed to sit in closed cubicles where
they can log onto porn sites undetected. And the police in plain clothes
must check them out now and then. Computer is a powerful weapon. It can
make or destroy our youth. We must realise this and act wisely to
protect our impressionable youth.
DR. MAREENA THAHA REFFAI Dehiwela
Before the massive ‘Sakvithi’ Ranasinghe scandal was brought to the
notice of the general public another ‘Sakvithi’ having given a bogus
address in Nittambuwa who had pretended and confessed that he is the
owner of the rented house in which he had lived for a short period had
duped several individuals and wealthy businessmen of their luxury
vehicles before vacating the premises.
Police entries had been lodged at the Mirihana Police station.
The efforts of the inefficient Police personnel at this station had
proved futile. An unsuccessful search was made to locate a Montero Jeep
valued at Rupees 10 million taken from a wealthy businessman.
This culprit it is learnt has duped many in the pretext of
‘rent-a-car’ profession before leaving the premises he had taken on rent
in Nittambuwa. He had not only taken on agreement a number of cars on a
monthly rental basis but also taken huge advances from some to supply
reconditioned luxury vehicles. He even had promised lucrative jobs in
Japan and taken large sums of money from innocent young job seekers.
Although there have been several entries against his bogus activities
at several Police Stations, the Police personnel is yet to apprehend the
culprit, who appears to be an international racketeer.
The effected persons appear to take more interest than the Police in
searching his whereabouts. Once his brother-in-law had been remanded
after coming to know that some large sums of swindled money had been
lodged in his account. However he had been released on bail from the
Kaduwela Magistrates Courts.
Amongst those duped by this mini ‘Sakvithi’ is a cancer patient who
had rented his vehicle after abandoning his business. He has no peace of
mind, despite his grave illness, as he is unable to pay the monthly
rental to the finance company.
This matter has been brought to the notice of the Inspector General
of Police with the names and addresses of a number of his very close
relatives. It is reliably learnt that he has not fled the island as he
had been seen at a casinos betting with swindled money and that he is
telephoning his sister, a resident of Padukka, daily.
It is very strange that our police personnel had failed to nab the
culprit in spite of furnishing so much information about the so-called
‘rent-a-car’ swindler. It itself is a mystery.
SUNIL THENABADU Mt. Lavinia
It is an unpleasant scene to focus upon that pedestrians find it
extremely inconvenient to walk on either side of Peradeniya upper road
due to lack of space or pavement since the carpeting of the road, the
situation has aggravated.
The sides of the road are full of pits and dangerous drains. If one’s
feet slip into one of these pits, there is a risk of breaking legs.
Small children too walk along this narrow side of the road without
any assurance of road safety.
Therefore, I appeal to the Road Development Authority as well as the
Kandy Municipal Council to take immediate safety measures.
M. Y. M. MEEADH Kandy
A few months ago a three-wheeler was intercepted in Vavuniya. Police
detected an important haul of explosives concealed in the speakers.
Transport authorities and Police must take immediate steps to
dismantle speakers, radios and cassette-players in private buses.
Usually there are two fairly big speakers fixed in the luggage racks of
buses. Terrorists can easily use these to plant explosives. I don’t
think that bus crews check the speakers at all.
J. K. WIJEDASA Kandy
While the whole world is highlighting the importance of preventing
violence against women, some television channels in this country are
actively promoting it.
These television stations import cheap soap operas dubbed in Sinhala
from India and broadcast them for prime time viewing right into homes
and bedrooms in Sri Lanka.
This is a time when older children might well be watching and could
easily absorb the culture of women-bashing so explicitly portrayed in
these dramas.
Almost every soap opera run by this station is full of scenes in
which women are abused, assaulted and treated as chattels.
While the Prevention of Domestic Violence Act of 2005 provided
enabling legislation to bring direct offenders to book, it lacked the
teeth and institutional set up to deal with less obvious, more subtle,
promoters of the culture of violence against women. The only remedy left
in the hands of civil society in dealing with this problem is to name
and shame the offenders.
Unfortunately, in this and other matters in which the media is
involved, they stand up for each other and will not give publicity to
any campaign against one of their kind - like doctors who hide or defend
the medical mistakes of their colleagues.
In the end, one might well have to go before the Supreme Court as
this is clearly a case in which the fundamental rights of women are
being openly violated.
DW
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