By Minna Thaheer
Mosquitoes, mosquitoes, mosquitoes. "The little creatures are turning out to be too smart these days: remarked a man who was at a 'Kade' to buy his daily provisions.
Over the counter he requests "Paan Raththalakui coil ekakui". A loaf of bread and a mosquito coil.
Sadly the mosquito coil has crept prominently into one's day-to-day little shopping needs and has become a do-or-die necessity.
One is hardly aware of the millions of rupees dumped on coils, specially by the city folk who are hit by the manance badly. The money spent on them can reach up to an alarmingly staggering rate of Rs 105 billion yearly.
A random survey in the Colombo District alone shows 700,000 coils burning a night. This leads logically at least 2 million coils burning per night all over the country.
The cost per night can be more than Rs. 4 million and per month over Rs. 120 million.
This computation calls for a serious review of the daily expenditure on burning coils and a permanent solution to the mosquito menace.
With all the big money spent on coils which can only drive away mosquitoes for only a few hours begs a crucial question. Couldn't this money be effectively and more meaningfully used to seek a permanent solution to the mosquito menace.
Health Minister A.H.M. Fowzie concedes, the expenditure is too much for a developing country like ours.
"But we are taking all measures to bring the threatening condition under control by implementing various projects specially draining of the clogged canals", he said.
"Of the expenditure itself he said we should consider contributing a small amount to such mosquito control projects", he said.
"In the case of certain mosquitoes, the elimination is feasible" says Dr. Punsiri Fernando, Director of the Anti-Malaria Campaign. "But it is not easy to eliminate mosquitoes that transmit malaria mainly due to the extensive nature of their breeding places like vast areas where waste water has collected", he explained.
"Often the extensive mosquito breeding is due to the direct result of man-made breeding places", stresses Dr. Fernando.
"Elimination of breeding places can be done by disposing of discarded tins, cans, tyres, repair cracks in cesspits, proper maintenance of water drains, cleaning of clogged roof gutters, changing water in flower vases etc.", he said.
He agrees that coils should not certainly be our choice. This should be opted only when other simpler non-chemical methods such as tethering cattle (mosquitoes prefer animal blood to human blood) rearing fish would not suffice" he stated.
Commenting on the exorbitant amount spent on coils the CMOH of Colombo Municipality Dr. Tissa Seneviratne too concedes that it is an utter waste, and this money properly spent can be used more profitably in other areas.
Dr. Seneviratne feels the menace is mainly due to clogged canals which need extensive cleaning and this can be very costly.
"However, though the draining works underway, it is the people, specially canal dwellers who contribute to the vast pollution which has gone beyond control" says Dr. Seneviratne.
"Although the Municipality takes care to repair cesspits and spray D.D.T. once a week it is humanly impossible to control all mosquito breeding sites", he lamented.
"We are now using new techniques of fogging where adult mosquitoes are killed by spraying of heavy chemicals into drains, and under covered areas.
"We have also appealed for Malatheon imports directly from the WHO due to the menace", Dr Seneviratne said.
"Every individual should be responsible for keeping his or her home free of mosquito breeding places", Dr. Seneviratne stressed.
The Colombo Municipality appeals to every city dweller to dispose all receptacles which will be potential mosquito breeding places. If this problem was brought under control one could save a great part of the monthly expenditure on mosquito coils which amounts to minimum of Rs. 150 it said.
By Kshalini Nonis
As a prelude to the re-opening of the Jaffna University on June 15, some 50 final year medical students will have their clinicals from Tuesday at the Teaching Hospital of the Jaffna University.
According to Chairman of the University Grants Commission (UGC) Prof. S. Thilakaratne these students have been given priority as they sat for their final examinations a few months ago.
By Kumaradasa Wagista
A fleet of 100 tramcars from Canada are to be operated in Colombo by next year, Acting Mayor K. Ganeshalingam said.
Several roads in Fort and Pettah will be redesigned to accommodate them and work is expected to begin next month. This service will be operated on a Build Operate and Transfer basis (BOT).
Asked whether tramcars could be successfully operated at a time power-cuts were experienced, Mr. Ganeshalingam said "It was foolish to think that there would be power cuts next year also. We should not depend on hydro power alone".
Taking Fort as a hub, tramcars will run to busy areas like Borella, Kotahena, Mattakkuliya, Grandpass at first. It will be later extended to other areas, Mr. Ganeshalingam said.
According to the proposed road redesigning scheme, the existing arcades of some buildings in the Fort area will be extended and new arcades will be built in other areas.
Work will be handled by the CMC under the supervision of Canadian experts, he added.
The Mahajana Eksath Peramuna (MEP) called for the introduction of the executive committee system of government at the parliamentary Select Committee sittings on the devolution package on Friday.
A cornerstone of the Donoughmore Constitution, the Executive Committee system gave every parliamentarian a voice in decision-making. This will also change the dictatorial system of government of today, the delegates said.
Every MP takes the oath to uphold the unitary state of the country. Therefore any constitutional changes should be made within the framework of a unitary state, the MEP said.
The delegation also referred to a petition filed by Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike in the Supreme Court in 1987 which said that no government could change the unitary state of Sri Lanka on any mandate.
On the re-demarcation of the divisional district the MEP opposed the idea of demarcation based on the volume of the ethnic groups and called a halt to the Panambalama Commission involved in redemarcating saying that it is a conspiracy to make the Sinhalese and the Muslims the minority where they are rightfully the majority, thus giving more opportunities to continue the argument of traditional homelands.
The MEP suggested that the unit of devolution should be a district as it is more efficient and the cost of administration is less than the existing local government authorities.
They advocated a form of development authority on the lines of bodies like Mahaweli Authority to develop the Trincomalee Harbour and its environs which could lead to rapid economic development in areas in the North Central Province, parts of the Northern Province and parts of the Eastern Province.
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