Letters to the Editor

• Immigration:Let us come and go quickly
• Clean up holy Sri Pada
• Don't deprive widows who remarry
• Nation atthe cross-roads 
• Electrify railways 
• Posh hospitals must have good docs
• Let there be light at Kegalle hospital
• Railway's bad ways
• Ringing blow from billing chaos
• What are we going to do with our jumbos?

Immigration:Let us come and go quickly

An immigration officer's job is a disciplined, honourable and respected one and it is a pity that the standards set by Sri Lankan officers are not up to those of officers at international airports. How can it be, when selected passengers are given privileged treatment. It is tantamount to abuse and can only bring disrepute to the country to which many tourists and investors come. Surely their first impressions can't be too good!

The situation at airport departure counters is no better . There is no system by which doubtful or suspicious cases are handled separately, with scrutiny taking up lots of time as genuine passengers are kept waiting.

May I suggest to the Immigration Chief and authorities concerned that separate counters be set up for local and foreign passport holders in order to facilitate quick processing. And perhaps yet another for doubtful or suspicious cases requiring closer scrutiny. Can they do this as a matter of top priority in the interest of the public and the country as well?

Kumar Wijeyasekera,
Colombo.

Clean up holy Sri Pada

However, I must point out one serious flaw in an otherwise perfect scenario. Adam's Peak, the holiest mountain in the world has been converted today into a veritable garbage dump. This is indeed sad. 

My first pilgrimage to Adam's Peak was over 40 years ago. It was a momentous, spiritual experience for me. Last week I climbed the peak again and it was a nightmare. Today it is a trash dump. 

Every few metres of the way up, vendors are selling their wares and trinkets with ghetto-blasters blaring pop music. 

Plastic, waste paper and other garbage are dumped all the way up. Surely a few dustbins could take care of this. I saw the rotten carcasses of some animals on the wayside. Ostensibly they choked on plastic food containers. 

Some holiday -makers also climb up inebriated. One even slipped and was concussed. Throughout history, many celebrated persons such as Alexander the Great, Ibn Batuta, Fa-Hsien and the greatest of them all, Lord Buddha. John Still, the famous British Civil Servant wrote about the verdant virgin beauty of the flora and fauna here in 'JungleTide'. No more. 

Toilets are conspicuous by their absence. The odour of stale urine and rotting faeces pervades the air. At the peak is a heap of muck in the single, uncleaned toilet. 

The temple earns a lot, I understand from its temple nindagam and from the pilgrims' donations and contributions. What happens to all these funds? Surely there is no shortage of funds to clean up the holiest mountain in the world. 

If Sigiriya is kept elegantly clean, why not holy Sri Pada?

May be peace and harmony will dawn in your thrice blessed land if Sri Pada is cleaned up. 

Karina Rockefeller 
Frankfurt, Germany.

Don't deprive widows who remarry

Under Section 34 of this lawa widow is denied her deceased husband's pension if she remarries. This is a violation of the woman's rights and discriminatory.

The ongoing ethnic conflict has resulted in thousands being widowed, many of them young and with children to support. This section should therefore be amended to enable widows of deceased public servants, armed forces and police personnel to marry again to gain the support of a breadwinner for the family. 

Similarly, Section 43 denies the right of a bachelor or widower to marry because it will deprive the widow whom he may intend to marry of the right to her deceased husband's pension. The pension payment slip stipulates that the paying authority should be informed by the pensioner of any change in civil status. Things have changed radically since the above law of 1898 was enacted and put into force. Life expectancy has risen to 75 years and it is most unfair that a widow has to make a choice between a pension and the fulfilment which comes through a second marriage. 

I trust the Law Commission would study the defects in the W.&O.P Ordinance and suggest amendments to remove or suitably change these obsolete sections. 

J.B. Sirimane 
Kadawatha. 

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