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Something fishy
A Fisheries Inspector recently went to the People's Bank branch in Dehiwela to close her fixed deposit and withdrew all her savings to deposit the money in a private bank in Piliyandala. But trouble started brewing when the notes she received from the state bank were fed through the counting machine at the private bank. One note was found to be a forged one.

The embarrassed customer explained that she had just collected the money from the state bank and rushed there to complain that they had handed over a forged note only to be told that it was her responsibility to check the money handed over to her and not that of the bank.

How the bank expects a customer to recognise a forged note when the well trained eyes of the employees there seem to have been tricked is difficult to say.

Stomach trick
Agriculture, Livestock and Samurdhi Minister S.B. Dissanayake who recently visited Karadiyanaru in the Batticaloa district had right royal treatment dished out to him by the LTTE when he dined at the rebel-run guesthouse Thenagam.

There were crabs, cuttle fish and other seafood specialties served at the luncheon after which the minister proceeded to the famous eastern beach at Passikudah. Having been highly taken up by the beauty of the place, Mr. Dissanayake asked the area's GA who was with him to allocate money to set up a guest house in the area. Maybe the way to a minister's budget is also through his stomach.

Words, words, words and the copy
Journalists already bored with the weekly Cabinet news conference were in for a more tedious session last week with Public Administration Minister Vajira Abeywardena making an appearance.

Mr. Abeywardena began talking on road development projects undertaken by the government and proceeded for nearly 45 minutes reading out statistics and other facts in detail, only to finally hand over to the reporters photocopies of all that he had read out.

Officials of the ministry who were also present could hardly manage a word.
It would have been a better idea if he called a separate news conference to speak on the topic and spared the journalists covering the Cabinet briefing of such a lengthy session.

Now they see garbage
Parliamentary Affairs Minister A.H.M. Azwar recently brought up the question of the environment hazard being caused to the area around the Parliamentary complex that is set amidst the Diyawanna Oya. He complained to Environment and Natural Resources Minister Rukman Senanayake that people were dumping garbage around and near the Parliament grounds when there were notice boards saying, "Dumping garbage here is prohibited."

If the parliamentarians are grumbling that the environment around the legislature is being blatantly polluted and nothing is being done to stop it, what hope is there for the ordinary citizens who have to live amidst ever piling-up rubbish with the local authorities turning a blind eye to the problem.

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