Rights and responsibilities
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The meeting started, as usual composed, as officials took their seats and the audience – representing various consumer groups and the public — prepared for a 2-hour interaction with officials representing state utilities – water, electricity and petroleum.The event was the second annual forum titled ‘Consumer Rights Forum’ organised by the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL) held on Tuesday to mark ‘Consumer Rights Day’.
The four high-level officials representing the Water Board, the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB), the Lanka Electricity Company Pvt Ltd (LECO) and the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC), as per standard practice, spoke on the role of each institution and also handling of customer complaints, often extending their allocated time.
While all the speeches took over an hour, less than 30 minutes was allocated for questions, often a poor Sri Lankan practice. While more information and issues emerge during question time, the unfortunate tendency to allocate just a few minutes for this segment at most seminars, workshops or group discussions leaves little room for questions and comments while more than half the entire session is devoted to sometimes boring and often repetitive speeches.
While the PUCSL should be commended for holding such public hearings which provide an opportunity to the public to vent their frustration on officials on issues pertaining to inefficiency and indifference at state utilities, more time should be set aside for the public to have their say than hearing what officials have to say.
Be that as it may, questions were fired from the audience on a range of issues like electricity bills, water meters, inequalities in the costing of electricity to power electric vehicles and the rights of consumer with regard to groundwater use.
The last one was interesting and a relevant issue in many towns. What are the rights of consumers when enormous amounts of water are extracted from groundwater resources through tube wells which could dry up other wells in the area?
The question was in connection with a large Indian fruit juice producer with a factory off Pannala in the Kurunegala district. Dabur, one of India’s largest juice producers whose Sri Lanka production is largely for export, draws millions of litres of water from the ground. Recently, there were also reports that Coca Cola wanted to start a plant in Sri Lanka to service the Indian market. While the plan has either been abandoned or yet to get approval, with water representing 99 per cent of the product, the authorities need to consider projects that require large water use particularly in the context of Sri Lanka’s dwindling water resources carefully. This is of vital importance as parts of the country are often affected by drought.
At the meeting, the senior officials appeared nice, relaxed and friendly. But is this the real thing? Are officials that friendly when consumers try to visit them in their offices? Do they have access to these officials – the CPC Managing Director, the LECO General Manager and the Additional GMs from the Water Board and CEB? Do consumer hotlines work? Are consumers kept waiting on hotlines for a long time before someone responds? Another point of consumer interest is: Are hotlines free calls to consumers or do consumers have to pay while being kept on hold and in the call queue? The reality is that the CEB’s hotline is not toll- free while the Water Board hotline is only toll free to SLT and Mobitel users.
This was the first time the PUCSL had included all three sectors – water, power and fuel – in the consumer forum, with the previous one dealing with power only.
Ironically, on the same day of the Consumer Forum with officials responding courteously and also defending their institutions against complaints, this newspaper received a letter from a consumer from Grandpass, Colombo 14, who reported seeing a water pipe leak on the pavement and, conscious of his civic obligations, called the Water Board hotline 1939 and complained about the leak. He promptly received an SMS with the complaint reference number.
The next morning the leak still existed and on inquiring from people nearby, he was told that Water Board workers came to the location but left because they didn’t have the necessary equipment! So much for civic consciousness and one man’s concern over water-wastage.
At Tuesday’s Consumer Forum, one of the members in the audience came out strongly against consumer rights. Not that he was opposed to consumer rights but he pointed out: “Everywhere everyone talks of rights… their rights, our rights, etc in many spheres of rights. But what about one’s obligations (to society) and responsibilities? Shouldn’t responsibilities and obligations run hand-in-hand with one’s rights?”
As time was running out, the moderator had to cut him short which was unfortunate because his short remarks appeared to be the most valuable in today’s context where values are declining rapidly like the manner in which parliamentarians behave in the legislature or proudly show off their cuffed hands outside courthouses even though they have been accused of heinous crimes. Or for that matter where all of us are guilty – at one time or another – of breaking road rules to get to our destination on time.
“Anney mahattaya,munn que-way nedda (Sir, didn’t I tell you so),” chipped in Kussi Amma Sera (KAS), offering her ‘2 cents worth’ of advice.
I was quick to point out that she is also a violator of the law, crossing the road at any point without using pedestrian crossings. That quietened her a bit.
However, two wrongs don’t make a right. At another interesting event organized by the Sunday Times Business Club on the same day, Tuesday, participants raised the issue of rights and responsibilities of individuals particularly road users – vehicle drivers and pedestrians – with both groups breaking the law on occasion. The discussion which centered on four key themes: Traffic chaos in Colombo; protest demonstrations inconveniencing the public; balancing work with family; and attracting investments, also drew attention to the fact that while people have rights, they also have a responsibility to society.
One remark in particular is useful to record. “Last year, during the drought, I was moved by a comment from an individual who said that he had asked his family to use water sparingly. It was also stated that a lot of water was wasted at car sales centre hosing the cars every morning while thousands of people were suffering without water. I took a decision then and there to wash my car using a bucket of water,” he said.
Using water sparingly, crossing the road at a pedestrian crossing, stopping at traffic lights and not tooting the horn in annoyance at the car in front to speed up, dumping garbage in designated areas and switching off unnecessary lights not only at home but also in office are some ways in which Sri Lankans can behave responsibly. There are many like-minded programmes and campaigns launched when new governments take office like ‘Be Sri Lankan, Buy Sri Lankan’, ‘Peace and Justice’, ‘Sri Lanka Can’, ‘Shared values’ or ‘Diversity’.
Thus, rather than complaining about the authorities all the time, why not a campaign on ‘obligations and responsibilities of a citizen’? Hearing footsteps and expecting the bossy KAS to barge into the conversation and drag it to nowhere, I quickly switch off the computer.