Private Bus Operators (PBO) are bloodsuckers of the commuters and
mudslingers to the government of the day. They inconvenience the
workers, school children and others either by wild-cat strikes, when
their crew is assaulted either by public or Police or by pre-planning
them to increase their fares.
They have in them the courage to create problems both to the public
and the State whenever they wished to do so. In many instances they
announce of a 100 percent increase and after the intervention of
authorities concerned they would be happy with a 50 percent increase.
Thus, they have been thriving well in their business. I remember,
when Police wanted to nab speeding or reckless drivers waiting in mufti
they opposed and it was dropped. No doubt, they have understood well
that every government is sacred of them. Fortunately the incumbent
Transport Minister seems to be bold enough to confront any threat or
whatsoever of the PBO.
Therefore, in order to suppress their whims of inconveniencing the
whole country I would suggest the following for the Minister to consider
them.
1. When PBOs declare a strike the government should allow office
workers of State institutions a grace period of one hour for their
arrival and one hour early for their departure and request same from the
Public Sector too.
2. At the sametime all State buses and trains should be put into
operation, providing security if necessary in certain areas.
Only then will they learn a lesson of finding extremely difficult to
pay for their finance companies. Thereby, with some excuses will resume
their services.
Last but not the least, the PBOs should not be allowed to increase
the fares of Rs six ticket under any circumstances.
Nazly Cassim - Colombo 13
It is being reported that the reform committee headed by veteran
Parliamentarian Joseph Michael Perera, after so much of deliberation and
criticism has apparently given some thought to the importance of
resorting to elections in choosing the key office bearers and the party
leader.
Reportedly a strong section of the party has wanted the franchise to
be extended down towards the grass roots and the leader Ranil
Wickremesinghe is said to have promised to look into this without delay
soon after he returns from India. This is necessarily a move in the
right direction and a great move indeed as the UNP is said to be
traditionally a Democratic party and also as it is a member of the
International Democratic Union. But the party hierarchy in this venture
had earlier deemed it fit to empower only the members of the executive
committee and the UNP Parliamentarians with voting rights.
By this fool hardy decision, the people’s representatives at the
grassroots who are more in touch with the common masses were considered
to be less important and were conveniently ignored and deprived of their
inalienable rights as stakeholders in choosing their leader. And thus
understandably the Provincial Councillers and the members of the Local
Government bodies of the party were up in arms against the undemocratic
and ill- conceived decision of the sophisticated so called high rankers
in the party.
As to the issue of empowering the UNP people’s representatives of the
local government bodies and Provincial Councils with voting rights in
choosing their leaders it should be necessarily viewed in the
perspective of the massive majorities of preferential votes with which
some of them were elected to office in previous elections and that too
against heavy odds in the face of unbriddled government powers and
goonery at the disposal of their opponents.
In this regard the magnificent performances of film actor turned
politician Ranjan Ramanayaka and the late Brigadier Janaka Perera at the
last PC elections is a case in point. There may be also many more of
their calibre close to the hearts of the electors at the grass roots,
who were returned with a large number of preferential votes in their
last elections.
Then how could any one with an iota of sensibility deprive such down
to earth peoples representatives of the party from executing their
rights as stakeholders in selecting their leader. It would be certainly
an unhealthy exercise of wrenching them of the authority vested in them
by their voters in their respective constituencies.
In this regard it should be noted that even the preferential vote
bank of Ranil Wickremesinghe in his own electorate is deplorably
dwindling election after election over the years and his party is
heavily defeated at his own stronghold Biyagama too and further
ironically many people in the country do not know what his constituency
is.
Thus the Provincial Councillers, members of the local government
bodies and also the electoral organizers who are incidentally future
Parliamentarians, should be definitely included in the electoral process
of selecting the key office-bearers and particularly the leader of the
party. And in the absence of such a step it is my belief that very soon
the party will be reduced to smithereens and the possibility of seeing
the biggest elephant shamelessly on the other side of the divide is any
body’s guess.
A W M Aiyoob - Galle
Martin Wickramasinghe fans have begun to sing their hosannas for
their favourite author. This is the ideal season for the exercise. It is
indeed very welcome. However it is pertinent for the uncommitted reader
to examine the veracity of the evaluations expressed of the literary
performance of this author. Else these evaluations could mislead the
reader.
These Wickramasinghe admirers quote non-Buddhist foreigners who have
praised his knowledge of Buddhism and comparative religion. But they
fail to comment on what the local Buddhist scholars credited with
indepth study of Buddhism, Prof W S Karunaratne of Peradeniya
University, in his Denuma Saha Dekuma, Ven Yakkaduwe Pragnanrama, Vice
Chancellor of Kelaniya University in his Bavatarana Vibhagaya and Ven
Pundit Kannimahara Sumangala in Nivan Muhunuvara Saha Bamunu Ditthiya
have expressed about Wickramasinghe’s knowledge of Buddhist Philosophy.
Prof Needham a non-Buddhist foreigner may have been delighted by
Wickramasinghe’s cockeyed view of Buddhism. Of his knowledge of
comparative religion let competent scholars decide.
Martin Wickramasinghe’s much extolled Sinhala Saityaye Negeema has
been torn to shreds by Richard de Silva’s Hela Poth Vimasuma for
Wickramasinghe’s erroneous judgments due to his baneful misunderstanding
of the texts. On several occasions Munidasa Cumaratunga, Jayanta
Wirasekera and Raipiel Tennakoon have highlighted Wickramasinghe’s
errors of criticism. Wickramasinghe just makes critical statements
without establishing them with textual evidence. He is also fond of
labelling literary works in the manner of Guttila Geetaya, Banakataa
Sahityaya etc. Kukavi Vaada, Gira Sandesa Vaada and Upahasa Vaada
clearly display Wickramasinghe’s inadequacy of literary criticism. His
falsifications are glaring in many instances.
Martin Wickramasinghe is well known as a short story writer and
novelist. How dull and stodgy they are revealed by L M A Silva’s Vichara
Vivaranaya, Vansanatha Deshabandu’s Sahitya Kollaya and Prof
Alawattagoda Pemadasa’s Nudutu Gamperaliya. By the way Nudutu
Gamperaliya is the only analytical study of this novel available.
D PARANAMANA - Wellawatte
The Government should have an inquiry to keep the public informed of
the reasons for the recent floods in Colombo and other areas and punish
all those who are responsible by confiscation of the properties and jail
terms.
Many innocent lives and valuable property has been lost due to this
deluge. For the floods in Colombo the responsibility has to be shared by
the Mayors (City Fathers) who held office in recent times - Sirisena
Cooray, Karu Jayasuriya, Omar Kamil, the council members, the Municipal
Engineers, contractors, Road Development Authority, the supervisors and
labourers of the CMC and Abans (Garbage cleaning contract company) and
all persons responsible for filling up low lying water retention areas.
Several years ago when Sirisena Cooray was the Mayor I saw
contractors doing the roads all over Colombo fixing very small outlet
lines to the manholes.
CMC workers report for work sign in pay their supervisor a bribe and
go off for private work. The same is with the CMC tractors who do
private work by removing building debris, cut trees etc. I am a resident
of Fife Road Colombo 5. This road was a perfect and excellent road.
Recently the CMC Road Development Department re-laid this road with a
new tar surface. Now several areas of this road have water which does
not flow out and remains stagnant. Several manholes are blocked and not
being cleaned. Someone made big money on this unwanted redoing of a good
road.
Abans workers do not clear the dirt and garbage on a daily basis, the
CMC workers do not remove immediately the sand and dirt taken out of
manholes.
The sand is left behind on the pavement and it goes back into the
manholes;
CMC engineers are never available on the phone and cannot be
contacted. All day long they are supposed to be at meetings. The public
who pay their salaries should be able to contact them on their mobiles.
The peons who answer the phones on behalf of their engineers are rude.
Something should be done to provide a better service to the public
without allowing the engineers to play truant.
As the war is over it would be useful to the Government to consider
having intelligent Army officials stationed at all important offices and
locations of the CMC to keep a check on this truant engineers and
labourers.
Chandra Jayasinghe - Colombo 5
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