Odds & Ends

Those who thought they saw the last of Karuna Amman, the renegade LTTE military hero, when he was recently forced to flee after the culmination of a showdown with his number two Pilliyan may be highly mistaken. The word coming down the grapevine is that no one should be surprised to see him back here in action.

What they say is that like the godfathers in the West willing to give visas and other backing to the LTTE leadership even after labelling it a terrorist organisation, Karuna too has his powerful links abroad and especially from the immediate vicinity of Sri Lanka.

The Telecom Regulator Kanchana Ratwatte who had remained stone deaf to various criticisms and especially to allegations levelled by experts that our telephone tariffs remain high despite wide reductions in regional countries thanks to vast advances in technology, has finally decided to break his silence.

We are informed that he would meet the media next week to ‘enlighten the general public’.

Did vanity get the better of a big man? IGP Victor Perera on completing his first year in office wanted some celebrations. So he threw a lunch and awarded some scholarships among other things to mark the occasion. But to be fair by the man it must be said that unlike most khaki coats who would get benefactors to foot such a tamasha in a star class joint, the man was more down to earth. It was hosted at the junior officers’ mess.

The TNA big wig who makes lot of noise about woes of his people has so far not spent a cent from his decentralized budget this year in his district, according to a minute of the District Development Committee. He is not the only one from his party to do this either. Another elected colleague from the district too has failed to spend even a cent on development activities.

The big wig has not even sighted his electorate in more than a year. And what is more they have also stopped going for consultations as in the past with Tambi hiding in the jungles of the Wanni.

A grave milk crisis is facing the country with most people unable to afford the life giving drink; while there are thousands and thousands of prime big cattle straying all over the East after recent fighting to dislodge the striped variety also landed their owners in displaced camps.

But so far nothing concrete done to solve the problem, though there have been many a booru-cratic meeting over the issue. The branded ones can easily be handed back to their owners, but till they are resettled where can they keep them?