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THursday, 16 May 2013

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Provincial Council Elections in the North

The much awaited Provincial Council elections are to be held in the North in a few months time. Political parties are getting ready for the event. At present there are nine Provincial Councils in Sri Lanka. Provincial Councils have turned out to be white elephants and seem to serve no useful purpose. At present there are nine Provincial Councils. I think the solution is to move the goalposts. We should go back to the age old division of the country - to the three divisions of Ruhunu Rata, Maya Rata and Pihiti Rata.

The Ruhunurata extended from the Bentota river to the Mahaweli in the East.

The Pihitirata also known as the Rajarata, included the Jafffna peninsular and reached the area around Anuradhapura. In the ancient periods, we had a Yuvaraja in Jaffna. So, we can have Provincial Councils, but they will be bigger in extent and will eliminate the present nine provinces, which was a division by the white rulers and is not sacrosanct.

A fact that everybody seems to have conveniently forgotten is that there were some fifty three thousand Sinhalese people living in the Jaffna District who were evicted by the LTTE.

Some had been born there and had no relatives in the South. They also should be given their voting rights.

Dr. Chandra Weeraratne
Ratmalana


Vehicle smoke emission test

Vehicles manufactured before 1974 are exempted from the vehicle smoke emission test.

This has not been reviewed on any yearly basis. It would be realistic if vehicles which have exceeded 25 years from the date of manufacture be exempted from the smoke emission test, since these are very old vehicles. Spare parts too are difficult to obtain and only a few vehicles are to be found on the roads.

The owners of these vehicles too, are leading a retired life and most cannot afford to buy a new vehicle.

Compelling a vehicle emission test for vehicles that are older than 25 years is similar to trying to transform an elderly person to be a youth. I appeal to the authorities concerned to make an in-depth study of this suggestion for implementation.

Karalasingam Sivalingam
Nugegoda


We should learn all three languages

The long awaited implementation of the Trilingual Education Programme under the government's Ten Year National Plan took a steady start in the North with the official launch by the Governor for the North. The programme was launched on April 26, 2013 at Mankulam Maha Vidyalaya in Mullaitivu. As a fitting start to the occasion, the Zonal Director of Mullaitivu, Malini Weniton made the welcome speech in all three languages followed by a speech by the Provincial Director of Education V. Selvarajah, stressing the benefits of learning all three languages. Provincial ADE for Sinhala Ms. Sutharshi, made the Vote of Thanks in Sinhala and Tamil.

Speaking on this occasion, the Governor said that the event marked an important day in the lives of the younger generation of today as it heralded a new era where there would be no linguistic barriers for people to communicate better with each other in their day-to-day life, if the trilingual education programme is implemented successfully according to the intended systematic plan. He went on stressing the need for learning all three languages for the peaceful, harmonious coexistence of all Sri Lankans.

In spite of all these efforts and good work of the Governor and the officials, we may not easily achieve the goal of making the North a Trilingual Province without the genuine commitment of all concerned towards this good cause. Therefore, we should not look at the trilingual initiative as a political ploy as it is a national plan and is being implemented in other parts of the country, too. What we should do is have a neutral view on the initiative beyond all our political affiliations, if we are really concerned about the peaceful, harmonious co-existence of our younger generation as Sri Lankans without any linguistic barrier for communication, follow the strategy plan that is being implemented to make us all trilingual for the common good.

S.A. Croos
Mannar


Commonwealth was to keep the wealth

The Commonwealth is a fabrication of the British hierarchy to keep together the colonies which they exploited, to keep their home fires alight. The British leadership gave up their colonies when Mahathma Ghandi and Jawaharlal Nehru of India demanded independence. Sometime in 1946 all colonies were given Independence from the British Throne. So was Ceylon (Sri Lanka). Subsequently finances piled up in the vaults of the government Treasury and Lanka escaped from the stranglehold of foreign power. After some years of governance by the United National Party, during which very little was done to develop the country, came S.W.R.D. Bandaranayake who formed the Sri Lanka Freedom Party, having left the UNP led by D.S. Senanayake.

Conspirators assassinated him, but his wife Sirimavo took over the reins. Before long little Sri Lanka was known by countries that mattered and could help. However the UNP led by J.R. Jayawardena engineered its victory and the rule by the UNP continued under Ranasinghe Premadasa until he was assassinated by the LTTE at a May Day procession that he hoped to lead. The vacancy was filled by ex-President Chandrika Kumaratunga. She served two terms as the President. In November 2005 Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa was elected to lead the country as its President. Despite other contenders, he is now serving his second term as the President of Sri Lanka and has developed the country to heights never imagined before.

Ivor Samarasinghe


Safety precautions is the best policy

When we consider the increasing rate of daily accidents, it is high time for the populace to ponder seriously, the general safety rules regarding housekeeping, road safety, passages, work place, work groups, gates, staircases and escalators, swimming, sports and athletics, industrial safety and health. Citizens, both young and old should observe the important information on safety rules and comply with the precautionary measures for personal safety and health.

The authorities concerned should extend safety and health training and awareness programmes with health checkups to lead citizens to be familiar with and perform safe behavioural principles by keeping individual hygiene, strictly to prepare for danger or hazard to avoid injury in their environment before, during and after work.

Personal protective equipment is very important and a must in the use of machinery an equipment, especially in construction site safety. Prevention of work related illnesses such as, oxygen deficiency, hazardous gas concentration, improper ventilation methods, noise induced hearing loss, heat stress induced disorders, organic solvent toxicities, health effects caused by dust, vibration disorders, heavy metal toxicities, muscular-skeletal diseases due to over-exerting, construction site safety due to work, assembly and transport of scaffold, steel bars, machinery, lifts, hoists, cranes, and concrete casting iron work using hand carts or pump cars should be given preference.

In short personal healthcare and precautions from accidents should be the ‘Morning Prayer’ and ‘Daily Bread’, right throughout the seven stages of man.

Ivor Hapuarachchi


Galle Road at Nagas junction in poor state

The Galle Road at the Nagas junction in Kalutara North and at the Pohoddaramulla junction goes under water during rainy days. This causes extreme inconvenience to motorists as well as pedestrians.

It is said that this sad situation is due to the non-availability of a proper drainage system and parapet walls built by people living close to the Galle Road, which tend to block the flow of water.

The situation which prevails on the Kalutara North Galle Road is much worse due to its poor maintenance and large size pot holes.

Wayside dwellers of the Kalutara Galle Road have expressed their disappointment that the responsible authorities despite several reminders have neglected repairing these areas, yet nothing seems to be happening.

H.L. Sunil Shantha
Kalutara Central Special Cor.

 

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