| Letters
to the Editor |
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Contents
Commuters
herded like cattle However, I
do not think that there is specified space per commuter when commuters
are loaded into public or private buses. Very often,
we barely manage to keep one foot on the floorboard of the bus while
the other is dangling or on someone else's foot. Despite all
these hardships, on the slightest provocation by the commuters or
the traffic police, the bus operators go on strike. The bus commuters
are mainly middle class workers. They are made to suffer these hardships
because they cannot get organised as a group to protest against
this injustice. Trade union leaders and party leaders also do not
think that workers have a right to travel in a decent manner to
work and back. Trade union
leaders only think of their subscription fees and want to show their
strength at May Day rallies. If there was
a decent transport system, more would travel by public transport
and it would save millions of rupees. There would be a better output
as people would get to their workplaces happily and on time. It
seems that we might have to wait until a worker who has travelled
by public transport becomes a minister of transport to solve these
problems. In this paradise
isle, animals have better rights than the citizens. The
mess piles up The poor representative
from the ministry had no defence . She had been in the Ministry
for 10 years. She deserves a medal for bravery. She had come
with a heap of papers setting out various proposals to solve the
garbage problem. I believe that all those papers too would eventually
end up in a pile of garbage. The presenter
should have ascertained the dates set for the implementation of
proposals, and thereafter, arranged another discussion after such
dates, to analyze the reasons why the programmes were not implemented.
Anyone who passes the new CEA premises at Battaramulla can see for
themselves the keenness to keep the environment clean. Adjoining
is a canal breeding mosquitoes. Fortunately, the water is so polluted
that dengue mosquitoes cannot survive there. Playing
pandu For re-levelling
and re-laying to be necessary so soon after construction, the work
has obviously been shoddy, necessitating an additional expenditure
of Rs. 64 million. Can a poor, developing Third World country afford
to waste such colossal sums of money? It must not be forgotten that
to create the Dambulla Stadium, 63 acres of forest cover were destroyed.
Our politicians certainly seem to have got their priorities mixed
up. Police,
get your act together The sad truth
is that the police do not enjoy the goodwill of the public anymore. The police
should first attempt to win the people's confidence by practising
self-restraint. Recruits to
the police should understand the problems of the public and the
country. Police personnel should be first trained how to obtain
public co-operation in the discharge of their duties. The need of
the hour is to maintain law and order in the country, and through
the appointment of an Independent Police Commission to ensure minimum
political interference. Tied
to a cylinder and a heavy price It prevents
their customers from buying gas from Laugfs, or from any other competitor. Although Shell
authorities claim that they would refund the money if the cylinder
is returned, the amount they refund (Rs. 1,300/-) is much less than
the amount originally charged. A vast majority of their customers
were customers of the then government-owned Gas Company, before
it was sold to Shell. We have been
using LP Gas since the 1970s and cannot trace the deposit receipt
for the cylinder. Therefore, we cannot return the cylinder to Shell,
and they will not make the refund as we have no receipts. Even if
the money is refunded, the amount is much less than the purchase
price of a new cylinder from Laugfs. Through its refusal to permit
the exchange of cylinders, the Shell Company continues to fleece
its customers. The price of
a Shell Gas cylinder containing 13 kgs which was Rs. 320 upto December
1999 was increased to Rs. 335 and revised to Rs. 365 in January
2000. In February, they effected another price increase. Since then,
there have been at least five price increases, the latest in June
this year where the price was raised to Rs. 514 for 12.5 kgs. Thus,
over a short period of 2 1/2 years, Shell Gas has increased the
price by more than 70 percent. We learn that
another company is to market LP gas shortly at a much lower price.
But, of what use is it to those who have been forced to buy Shell
Gas due to their hold on the cylinder? The Minister of Commerce
and Consumer Affairs should introduce legislation to enable the
domestic LP gas users to go to any dealer of their choice, without
being tied up by a cylinder. Otherwise we will be fleeced, disregarding
all ethics. Highway
to progress People visit
hospitals only when they are ill but roads are accessed in day-to-day
activities. The writer
has referred to the Katunayake Expressway where the work is already
in progress, and the Colombo Outer Circular Road (COCR) which is
in its designing stage. The Katunayake Expressway is something long
overdue. The COCR was first planned in the '60s. It was intended
to be the ring road of Colombo to divert vehicular traffic going
through the city to outer destinations. Unfortunately, the project
remained shelved. The results are self-explanatory with the never-ending
traffic jams and motor accidents. If the COCR
and the inner circular road were constructed at that time the present
problems could have been avoided to a considerable extent. These
two roads should, therefore, be constructed early. The COCR has
not been planned as a toll-levying expressway, but a free modern
highway with a dual carriageway with three traffic lanes on each
side. It would merge with the southern expressway at Kottawa and
proceed northwards, finally joining the Katunayake Expressway near
Wattala. Our road network,
especially in the western and southwestern part, is woefully inadequate
to cope with the heavy volume of traffic. The sooner we construct
the southern expressway, the outer circular road and the Katunayake
Expressway, the better it would be. This would also spur economic
activity and attract investors. I hope that the authorities would
start these projects without further delay, even at the cost of
cancelling other non-productive programmes. A
case of subverting the truth? This DIG who
periodically makes statements on his attempts to eradicate crime
appears to have been willing to cover up a crime. This may be because
the perpetrator happened to be a Service Commander. He even denied
that it was the SLAF Commander who telephoned him at the time of
the accident. Can Mr. Liyanage make a public statement that any
citizen, regardless of his rank, has the privilege of telephoning
him at any time to seek assistance over a traffic accident? 'Letters
to the Editor' should be brief and to the point.
Address them to: 'Letters to the Editor, The Sunday Times, P.O.Box 1136, Colombo. Or e-mail to steditor@wijeya.lk or stfeat@wijeya.lk Please note that letters cannot be acknowledged or returned. |
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