Letters
View(s):Temple noise: It’s forbidden by law but it continues
Lettters by D.S. Wijeyaratne of Ratmalana, (ST 8/11) and Krishni Iresha’s ‘Crackers after midnight for a perahera’ (ST 15/11) have revealed what people who live around temples all over Sri Lanka, not only in Ratmalana and Galle have to undergo.
Although I am not a victim of this disturbance, I have heard regular complaints from my friends.
At some temples a similar public nuisance takes place, from 4.30 a.m. to 6.30 a.m. (study time) and again from 5 p.m.- 7 p.m., (study time) on a daily basis where poojas and pirith are conducted in the temples, with the use of blaring loud speakers.
At some temples this happens on four Sundays plus Poya day. It is worse on Poya Days as there are 24-hour activities – blaring through loud speakers disturbing the peace of the people.
Where is the “compassion and loving kindness to all,” taught by the Buddha?
No protests are made by the public as all law enforcement authorities are silent on this issue and temples have political and police clout.
Some Chief Priests and temple dayaka sabavas are not happy if loud speakers are not fitted along the road on the electrical posts – for religious as well as public functions conducted at these temples.
On November 9, 2007, the Supreme Court gave its decision in a case where, the right of one party to use loudspeakers was weighed against the annoyance, disturbance and harm caused to those other parties who were compelled against their will to listen to the amplified sounds which emanate from these loudspeakers.
The court made it quite clear that Sri Lanka is a secular state and, constitutionally, protecting the environment and safeguarding public health require that there can be no exceptions to accommodate the perceived religious propensities of one group or another.
Even if a permit is given under Section 90 of the Police Ordinance, the noise emitted from the sound amplification equipment should not be allowed to extend beyond the precincts of the particular premises. (Quoted from a news item around March 20-25 on the internet)
The law forbids these activities but it goes on without any control.
If priests and dayaka sabavas cannot use their commonsense and maithreeya to solve this issue, can the Yahapaalanaya Government step in to solve this simple problem at least by legal means?
May all living beings be happy! Sabbe Satta Bavanthu Sukitatwa.
Sumith de Silva
Kesbewa, Piliyandala
Deafening sound of silence
People pay tribute to victims at the Place de la Republique in Paris, France, November 19. REUTERS
Anybody who is somebody and some nobodies have all rushed to roundly condemn the senseless and horrendous carnage in Paris.
We have yet to hear a word from these worthies about the bombing of the hospital in Afghanistan.
Perhaps because there was much sense in the latter and it was surgically executed.
Cassandra Perera
Mirihana
Bring back the good old shramadana campaigns
There are positive signs of the country moving towards a peaceful and prosperous future for all citizens in a united Sri Lanka with a national government – whatever it may be – but nothing has been mentioned about the participation of the general public in development projects initiated by the state.
I am talking about the good old mass shramadana campaigns that were popular in the 1960s and ’70s.
Involving the people in voluntary work locally according to the needs of the specific areas where they live, could help not only to shoulder the burden of the state but also unite the community.
True, lots of factors prevent people from organising such campaigns due to their busy way of life, but sacrificing one day a month for the wellbeing of the country will not affect our lifestyle.
How many remember the widely used slogan of the 1960s – ‘Let’s get together for the nation’s good. Let’s work together and grow more food’? With the demise of the ‘land army’ this slogan too faded into thin air.
Kanagar Raveendiran
Colombo 6
These are the students who need to be applauded
It’s not a tele-drama. Recently, we saw on TV, students walking over iron bars, crossing rivers daily to go to school. These students should be appreciated and awarded, more than students scoring the highest marks in exams.
Iron bars, do not bar their education. We applaud their determination and courage.
Villagers in certain areas have to perform the same gymnastics daily. How unfair is this? When some regions are developed with ‘expressways and highways’, some have to cross deep waters and iron bars (so called bridges) for their daily activities.
Anon
Galle
What about the apathy of CMC?
With reference to the article, ‘Public apathy, garbage pose dengue threat: NCDU warns’, by Joshua Sunderaraj, the apathy of the Colombo Municipal Council (CMC) all around Colombo is obvious for anyone to see.
Not only in their failure in the timely collection of garbage but in Public Health Inspectors’ visits and the cleaning of clogged drains and manholes, the CMC’s inefficiency is more than appalling.
If I remember right, soon after the political change of January 8, the Mayor of Colombo said that he heaves a sigh of relief because he can, at last, do his job properly as a servant to the people.
Funny, because a walk around Colombo will show that both the garbage situation and the clogged, overflowing drains and manholes situation has got worse since then.
I live down Siddhartha Path in Kirulapona, just outside the limits of the City of Colombo and for the past nine months, I have never seen a PHI visit this area even though I have made requests.
The garbage is hardly ever collected on time – some of us have had to lodge complaints with the CMC for it to be collected and then we have to face the ire of the “Garbage Collection team”.
The smaller drains along the road are incessantly blocked and overflowing and breeding mosquitoes by the millions as is the main storm drain that flows across into the canal.
Yes, the public need to be taken to task for their irresponsibility, but what do we do about the CMC and its officers who exist with our monies?
A. Nihal Perera
Kirulapona
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