• Traitors to the Nation should be executed in public

• Are we to slaughter our cattle here in Sri Lanka and search for meat markets elsewhere?

• Alcohol/Tobacco Control Act welcome

• Bus fare change Rs.1

• Make arrangements to transfer pension

• Poor roads in Panadura town

   

Traitors to the Nation should be executed in public

It was sickening to learn that six members of the Army including a Major who had been in connivance with the LTTE and leaking information to our arch enemy for the greed of money.

There have been traitors in the past and there are traitors at present in various facets and there will be traitors in the future.

There will be traitors who will even sell their mother for a coin. A traitor to our own Motherland is almost similar to matricide or patricide and there should be no mercy whatsoever for such traitors.

If these members of the Forces are found guilty

(a) confiscate the wealth they have amassed by conniving with our arch enemy the LTTE,

(b) execute them in public as a deterrent.

If Sri Lankan the law does not permit, let's change the law.

MALIN ABEYATUNGE - Australia - via email

Are we to slaughter our cattle here in Sri Lanka and search for meat markets elsewhere?

Thank you Ven. Prof. Dhammavihari Thera, Sanghanayaka (Honoris Causa), Amarapura - Dharmaraksita Nikaya for the above letter (Reference DN Nov. 28). What a shocking news!

The beautiful innocent cow gives us milk, our children grow with it, helps us to beautify our gardens and vegetations with their waste products.

Cow dung is the best natural fertilizer we can find. Use this animal for all these good deeds and cut it down into pieces and eat the flesh! Whom can we call animals! What harm have the animal done to human beings?

What is the economic progress we are talking of? Export our animals! Within one year all our cows, goats and pigs will be over, then what flesh are we going to export? Foolish, disastrous, disgraceful decisions - I would like to ask who make them.

Frankly speaking, we must stop animal slaughter completely because we do not have such a big animal kingdom in Sri Lanka. At the same time to fulfill meat eater's demand, our country can import meat from other countries without destroying our own wealth.

Economic growth can be reached by using our natural resources such as tea, rubber, coconut, vegetable, fruits and flowers. Try methods to preserve them and export to needed countries.

Spend money to buy technology to improve on these areas. Far Eastern countries have methods to preserve/canned fruits like jack, breadfruit and many other fruits and vegetables abundantly available in our small island.

As long as law makers, money makers are greedy to fill their fat pockets, country will never reach its goals in any way, may it be peace, economic growth or any other progress. For everybody's information, India has stopped exporting meat to the Middle East countries completely.

Sri Lanka is a democratic country, Peoples' opinion have to be respected, it is we who run the country. Law makers live with our hard earned money. No two words about it, Sri Lanka is not going to export meat to any other country!

PADMINE KAMALAGODA - Dubai - via email

Alcohol/Tobacco Control Act welcome

THE commencement of the implementation of Alcohol/Tobacco Control Act from December 1 is most welcome. It is a long awaited necessity which we yearned for and finally could achieve triumph.

Congratulations and thanks to Minister of Healthcare and Nutrition, the Director - Non-communicable Disease Programme and all those who supported with deep dedication to fulfil this task of enacting and implementing this Act.

I hope that it would continue successfully and those who are to be appointed to the Authority would not become a prey to any of the deceptive strategies of the industries concerned, that may come forward in near future in indirect manner.

Well done! Minister of Healthcare and Nutrition and the Director - Non-communicable Disease Programme.

MANJARI PEIRIS - Maharagama

Bus fare change Rs.1

Being a daily bus traveller by State and private buses I wish to enlighten the sticky situation we face when we tender our bus fare and when we are to wait for the change of Rs. 1 the conductor owes us.

I no doubt believe that many thousands of bus travellers will join me and agree to disapprove of the very unreasonable attitude of some of the errant bus conductors, we the poor travellers face while travelling in the only mode and source of our daily travel.

Though some bus fares are Rs. 6.50, Rs. 7.50, Rs. 8.50 and so on both in the State and private buses its just absurd, as its no way that one could expect the balance or even the passenger to tender exactly due to the scarcity of the 50 cents coin. But however one cannot say that there is a scarcity for the Rs. 1 coin, which is widely in circulation.

It's usually that the conductor has in his possession many Rs. 1 coins as he encounters many hundreds of passengers. It's now been a 'tradition' that most of the conductors just ignore to return the balance of Rs. 1. We could just imagine and estimate the number of Rs. 1 coins that will accumulate during the end of the day.

What is most astonishing is that why some conductors deliberately ignore to return the Rs. 1 change even they have these coins with them (at times hidden in their trouser pockets) I have seen and experienced that some conductors even when they have change with them pretend not to have change, and the next immediate passenger is deprived of his/her Rs. 1 change.

When we ask for the balance, some conductors get annoyed and return as if throwing it on to the passenger in a very rude manner.

Citing the present Cost of Living a Rs. 1 coin is regarded as big money when accumulated, as it's all-hard earned, and why must we make the conductor earn money in the incorrect way.

We could come across only a handful of genuine conductors. What I suggest to the Transport Minister or the authorities concern is to consider the fares which are Rs. 9, Rs. 19, Rs. 29 and so on to be a round figure viz - Rs. 10, Rs. 20, Rs. 30.

This will prevent the conductor depriving the passenger even if he has this change of Rs. 1 to offer the passenger. And also these conductors who are deliberately ignoring to return back the change should be taken to task by some means which the authorities concern should decide.

M. A. J. SAMATH - Gampola

Make arrangements to transfer pension

My pension was transferred from the Director of Pensions, Dehiwela to Asst. Director of Pensions - Kesbewa office on July 31, 2006.

I have been writing to Asst. Director of Pensions - Kesbewa office for the last five months (July to November 2006) straight with original copies of my Life Certificate, Citizenship, Passport photograph and all other required documents.

All these documents were attested and individually signed by the Counsellor General for Sri Lanka in Canada. The documents were sent to Asst. Director of Pensions - Kesbewa office by Registered Post for each of these five months. Unfortunately with no response whatsoever.

I have served the Postal Department for 36 long years without a blemish in my record.

I am 83 years old. I suffered a stroke in January 2006 which left my left leg and hand lifeless. It is therefore a great effort for me to walk a short distance. In order to get these documents attested and signed each month, I have to make a long trip to the downtown area of Toronto.

This is very strenuous on me physically and emotionally and I am very discouraged at the way my file has been handled so far.

This letter is to request the Assistant Director of Pensions, Kesbewa to kindly get my file attended to and transfer my pension monies for these five months to the Seylan Bank at Dehiwela.

In addition, I would also like my file transferred to The Director of Pensions, M. A. P. Nimal Gunawardena CAS, Assistant Direct of Pensions, The Secretariat, Colombo 10. Mr. Gunawardena is aware of my situation and he has been requested to make arrangements to transfer my pension to Canada.

V. B. DE ZILWA - Canada

Poor roads in Panadura town

Most of the roads in the Panadura town which are supposed to be maintained by the Panadura Urban Council are in a parlous state especially with pools of water collected during rainy days. Moreover there is no proper surface drainage system.

The above situation has arisen consequent to the damages caused to the roads as a result of relaying of pipe lines connected with the Kalu Ganga water supply project to provide an uninterrupted water supply to the residents.

Although this work is now over and the company who undertook the contract has paid the Urban Council for the damages to the roads they have failed to utilise the funds so received and attend to the necessary repairs thus causing much inconvenience to motorists and the residents.

In this regard I wish to draw the attention of the Chief Minister of the Western Provincial Council and request him to intervene and ensure that the repairs are attended to by the Urban Council to the damaged roads or in the alternative that steps be taken to have them duly repaired by the provincial RDA.

H. W. GOONESEKERA - Panadura