Letters to the Editor
View(s):Remember the promise you made to pensioners?
Finance Minister Samaraweera stated publicly just before the postal votes were cast and amidst a major election campaign that, by November 8, 2019, all the pensioners will receive the increase sanctioned with effect from 1.7.2019 along with four months of arrears.
But it is sad to say that Minister Samaraweera has not kept his word or promise. I am a retired government servant in my late eighties and living off my monthly pension. I had NOT received either the increase or the four months arrears by November 8.
I was disappointed when I collected my November pension sans any increase. In my old age I am unable to pay frequent visits to the Divisional Secretariat and plead with the officers who handle the pension payments.
I am appealing to the Finance Minister to call for an explanation from the Divisional Secretariats that have failed to discharge their responsibility towards old pensioners like me. There are hundreds like me who are yet to be paid the increased pension.
I hope Minister Samaraweera will be able to devote at least a fraction of his time towards the plight of pensioners like me, and resolve the grievances of the pensioners.
S.Gunasekara Kurunegala
Using ‘Sri Lankan’ tag to gain sympathy is unacceptable
“Half Sri Lankan woman ….” This was the headline which detailed the story of a woman who has been in an incident at the Sydney Airport, for wearing track pants and a crop top and sitting on her boyfriend’s lap.
She has further claimed that she was targeted because she was “half Sri Lankan”. I am intrigued by that claim. If, as she claims, she has some roots in Sri Lanka, it amounts to a total affront to all Sri Lankans both females and males, as our culture, religious beliefs and traditions of all ethnic groups in our country, do not encourage the manner in which this woman was seen dressed and is said to have behaved in a public place.
There are millions of Sri Lankans of all ethnicities, living abroad in many countries permanently as well as temporarily, but these Sri Lankans behave and dress in an acceptable and cultured manner.If, as claimed by her, she has some Sri Lankan connection, she would not have appeared in public dressed that way and behaved in a manner which the airport authorities believed would have caused the airline to refuse her on a flight.
It appears that this woman has conveniently made use of Sri Lanka in order to gain sympathy and escape further outrage by using our country’s name. She has the freedom and the right to wear whatever she wants, but her dragging our country to gain sympathy is unacceptable.
Dress well and behave well and do not take cover by bringing in your half Sri Lankan ethnicity.
B.Anton Jeyanathan Via email
The good samaritan turned out to be a neighbour too
My daughter was returning home after picking up her two kids from school when her trishaw was flagged down by a gentleman as she was getting off. In her haste, she had left her phone in the trishaw.
A little while later I had a call to find out whom the phone belonged to, as my number had been on the phone. Late in the night, this gentleman had gone to my daughter’s apartment and returned her phone. It seems he had been on his way to attend his convocation ceremony when he hailed the trishaw. We are thankful for his kindness and wish him all the best for the future.
The best part of the story is that it turned out he is a budding doctor and lives in the same apartment building as my daughter and her family.
Jayanthi Nanayakkara Mattegoda