9th August 1998

Whose fiasco is this?

I am a government pensioner who has served the public for 37 years in various parts of the island. I retired on 08-06 -1984 on the Class I maximum of the station masters' service and I am now drawing a monthly pension of Rs. 3893/35cts. This amount is hardly sufficient for my expenses on food. An ordinary rice meal is Rs. 30/-. I need at least Rs. 100/- daily for my food. In addition I have to pay Rs. 500/- as rent for my room. I have not an inch of land to call my own.

The parliamentarions who are also public servants are paid big pay packets and they are entitled for pension rights for serving for a period of five years. What a contrast?

In Western countries like England the state pensioners are treated with great esteem.

I remember meeting an English elderly couple at Nanu Oya in 1975. They were both state Pensioners enjoying a holiday in Sri Lanka. I am ashamed to say that I cannot afford to visit Kataragama or Anuradapura. Whose fiasco is this?

Jinadasa Wickremasuriya,
Matara.

Incompetent Officials

A single bus has been detailed on the Kandy Lady McCallum's Drive, run by the Kandy South Transport Board.

The Minister of Transport has issued a clear directive, to the effect that depots should always provide a bus on a route where only one bus has been detalied. For the past four days no bus has been operated on the Kandy-Lady McCallum's Drive, road. The previous week the regular bus operated for only three days. School children, and other commuters, most of them season ticket holders, are compelled to walk about two miles to the Katugastota Road to get a bus.

It is my opinion that the Depot Operations Manager is not aware of where the regular bus runs, because the umpteen number of time-keepers at the Clock Tower Bus stand detail this bus to destinations of their choice instead of on the regular route.

I regret to inform the Minister of Transport that as much as he failed to get doctors to sign attendance registers, he has failed to get his Transport Board officials to follow his directives.

Donald Perera
Kandy

Wake up educators!

One of the major reasons for the deterioration of the level of mastery of English by our teachers/educators is the post 1956 Sinhala only swabasha educational policies.

We are now feeling the repercussions of short sighted politically expedient policies.

I myself was a victim, having learnt English as a second language under some interesting and hilarious government trained English teachers once I got to my O & A Level Classes at Royal College. This was about the time that the true post 1956 genre of graduate teachers (politically sponsored) started arriving on the education scene at my old school.

Given an option (which should have been the correct thing to do) I would have opted to be educated in English.

Unfortunately for us who grew up before the age of liberalization, we did not have any International Schools either.

We who live in a tiny island cannot afford the luxury of language isolation such as a large nation like China or Russia or France.

Hence it is not surprising that I read about large scale English exam bloopers. Thanks to technology, there is a simple remedy.

Provincial Education Departments should be at the cutting edge of technology transfer to students. The proof reader's job is made much easier if the test paper has previously been sub rammar checking software. While they do not solve our problem of abysmal English standards or utterly incompetent(often politically sponsored) Instructors, word processors at least make them less obvious and less stressful to the confused student. Such technology is not expensive.

I hope those in charge of our educational policies read this letter. Wake Up Educators.

Mano Ratwatte
Colombo 5

He who kills, kills himself

Those with human feelings will fully agree with Nalini Colonne's letter in the Sunday Times of July 26, under the headline "what kind of barbarians are we"?. This valuable contribution exposing the horrors of man's cruelty to sentient beings for the gratification of his appetite is an eye opener to the state, Buddhist clergy any laity and non- vegetarians.

The following are some of the utterances of great persons about this crime:

Lord Buddha- "for fear of causing terror to living beings, let the Bodhisatva who is disciplining himself to attain compassion refrain from eating flesh." ( from the Lankevatara Sutra). Jesus Christ - "And the flesh of slain beasts in his body will become his own tomb. For I tell you truly, he who kills, kills himself, and he who eats the flesh of slain beasts eats the body of death."

(From the Essence, Gospel of Peace)

Leonardo Da Vinci - "Truly man is the king of beasts, for his brutality exceeds theirs. We live by the death of others. We are burial places."

It is a big disadvantage that there is no leader like Anagarika Dharmapala among the Buddhist clergy or laity to rouse the feelings of the people against the barbarous and gruesome killings of animals. The curses of the dying animals at the slaughter houses are bringing misery and devastation to the whole world.

Until the wars by human beings against innocent and defenceless animals are stopped, there will be no end of the wars among human beings in the whole world.

S.D Weeratunga
Polgolla

Neglected pensioners

It is a pity, disappointing and regrettable to observe that nobody in high offices today, is bothered at all, over the sad plights and difficult positions of the state pensioners! Today's state pensioners were the state officers (public servants) of yesteryears and the state officers (public servants) of today, are the state pensioners of tomorrow! Why is step-motherly treatment extended to the state pensioners always, when there are financial increases or adjustments, by the state, I really wonder!

The disciplined pensioners have served the public and the country at large, humbly, loyally, dedicatedly, obediently and wholeheartedly, for a period of continuous, thirty to forty years span, (irrespective of what , who or which political party was in power, and thereby, earned the legitimate right to have been awarded pensions of 2/3rd of their last drawn salaries.

The cost of living is day-by-day skyrocketing and the poor pensioners are helplessly distressed and in stress, with their mere (petty) pensions, unable to live (solve their daily problems) to make both ends meet! Most of the state pensioners are not so happy, and they are in a much depressed state, that has got to be looked into without fail, by the state! It's the bounden duty of the (state) - government in power today, to solve all the shortcomings, and urgent needs of these helpless, neglected poor pensioners, in order to console, and care for them, at their old ages, with utmost interest, at least for their past loyal dedicated services to the nation!

S. T. Arasu
Kalubowila

Silly Silly Malla a health hazard

The seemingly weightless handy, plastic shopping bag, the "Silly Silly Malla" has become a welcome gift given usually free with a purchase even from the humblest boutique. It is sometimes kept back, to keep food stuffs away from ants and insects and also to keep articles of value or for the disposal of garbage, usually into the streets or water-courses.

More often than not, it is just thrown away to be carried away by the wind until it gets lodged in a drain, lake bund or some other object. Not many have given thought to and taken serious notice of the fact that this is one of the causes of the overflowing of drains and flooding even after a single heavy shower, especially in Colombo.

However, there is a much more serious menace than that, because these bags thrown away have become a happy breeding ground for the life- threatening mosquito, a bite from which transmits Dengue. Several doctors have atttributed the regular spread of this life threatening disease to the rain water collected in these thrown away bags which are happy breeding grounds for these mosquitoes.

The authorities should take serious notice of this health hazard and ban the production of this environment-polluting bag as is being done in some other countries.

If there are however, constraints to this, the public must be vigorously educated about this hazard and encouraged to carry with them a cane basket or cloth shopping bag as they did before the plastic bag era.

Tissa Amarasekera
Kandy

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