The bumpy road to those X sites!

By Dilrukshi Handunnetti, Our Lobby Correspondent

Despite Presidential directives pleading for stringent financial controls, Thursday morning saw two Transport Ministry supplementaries amounting to a mammoth Rs. 800 million being presented by Deputy Minister Athauda Seneviratne in the absence of Minister A.H.M. Fowzie- who according to government backbenchers, was in delicate health.

But Telecommunications Minister Mangala Samaraweera decided to steal the show by making a carefully worded statement in which he denied the UNP charge of accessing porn websites- a key allegation on the UNP sponsored No-Confidence Motion against him for an alleged creditcard fraud.

The Minister countercharged that a malicious campaign to defame him has been carried out, but thanks to the Interpol, FBI and CID the truth has finally prevailed. The dig at the Jayewardene Centre as a 'Dharmista' place indulging in conspiracies and diabolical acts was too not missed!

Listing the many purchases the Ministry intended making, all with the holistic view of improving the transport system, which has been ailing for quite some time now, Deputy Minister Seneviratne claimed that the ministry had to bear the payment of compensation under a voluntary retirement scheme. As the minister occasionally floundered, the Opposition turned waspish, and heckled him.

"You destroyed the SLTB- a tragedy for which we have to pay heavily. Burdened by your follies and ill- conceived plans, the PA is condemned to bear the brunt. You employed too many, and now we are paying them to retire voluntarily and compensate them," he charged.

The UNP General Secretary Gamini Atukorale who normally sticks to defined areas of parliamentary parlance, chose to tackle roads and transport with zeal on Thursday. Cheekily, he insisted that his comments about the A9 Kandy road were relevant- after all, as A9 has cost many hundreds of lives!

"Take the main roads; pot holes and all. While moves were afoot to improve them, there were over 25 roads closed in the Colombo city causing a breakdown in the commuter transport," he charged.

By way of illustration, he opined that patients died on their way to hospitals due to road closure, and monks could not even make it on time to give the 'pansukula,' so the only thing left for this government to do was to offer 'pansukula' and transfer merit to the entire transport sector which was already dead.

Dealing exhaustively on war, he said that there was a procurement and commission feast, mayors being assassinated and increasing numbers of disabled and dead combatants. Some get filthy rich , he said, at the expense of the nation and all this was, he insisted, related to the capture of the main supply route- hence relevant to the subject at hand!

Here was a man suffering from amnesia, and spoke as if nothing similar happened during the UNP regime. It was then that barbarism became the norm and people were ruled at gunpoint.

"If there is anything the PA has given the people,it is their freedom back and their self-esteem. It has done more, and those who suffered as refugees at least had enough buses to move in now," he said, quoting figures with a flourish-2,069 new buses!

Expressing plain disgust over the present transport system was Dewinuwara member Ronnie de Mel who spoke appreciatively about the many transport improvements effected by the UNP.

There were buses introduced to interior roads in the South, a welcome move. But today this service has been discontinued. Full of alliteration, he said that there was no bus, only 'thumbus.'

"We have to admit that things were not hunky-dory during the UNP either and there were lapses. But many things were also achieved for the people, specially the rural folk. We began to carpet the Colombo - Galle road, and did not finish. But the allocations were ready. So all that PA had to do was to implement the plans, but nothing was done. Except for enormous publicity stunts and the efforts to pull the public's leg, nothing considerable has been achieved," he sniped. Paying homage to the SLFP stalwarts who created a vibrant transport system was Medawachchiya member Tissa Karaliyadda.

Kebithigollewa, a village in the throes of terrorism had no facilities despite the ever increasing refugee population. But today, it had 25 buses operating and the people were at least happy in this respect, and it gave fresh hope to a marginalised section of people engulfed by fear. He appealed that sense must prevail in public oriented tasks.

"The tragedy is that we have allowed petty political divisions to become all important in our lives. It has only created suffering for the people. Politics has unfortunately crept into all sectors, and this was the criterion on which decisions were also based. Let us get rid of this tragi-comic approach at least when dealing with issues that matter" he said, urging the government to take steps against those who scuttled progress and made the path thorny.

Badulla Parliamentarian Lakshman Seneviratne at the outset, wished a speedy recovery to the Minister who was in delicate health. And then he focused all his fire on the Deputy Minister for his 'feeble explanation' in the morning.

He said that there were henchmen everywhere and politicians could not totally ignore this factor.

"What mattered however," he said, "was the pressure of trade unions who often made impossible demands and brought vital sectors literally to a standstill."

The topic soon turned to the Jayewardene Centre. Main Opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe, one of the Board of Governors of the centre decided to make an impromptu speech to clear its three Directors of having accessed porn sites or committing illegal activities.

"I vouch for their integrity, and they are not the kind of people who would access adult sites. Yes, we are moving from super highways to information highways," he said smiling, while giving a brief explanation about the several independent units which functioned within the Centre, one being Interactive Internet Ltd which has allegedly accessed these sites through the Centre.

Coming back to transport and raising the vital query as to whether the allocations were appropriately utilized was MP R. Rajaratnam who urged that the distribution of funds needed to be free of politics.

"Priority must be given to the deserving, be it people or roads. When people were plagued by various problems and the roads are not illuminated, naturally people would want to know whether the government was worth it. This was the reality- and people wanted better roads, better transport and better vehicles," he said.

Irrepressible W.J.M. Lokubandara, the new Chief Opposition Whip started off by making a few punches at the governing types with glee.

Highlighting the travails of city commuters was MP Tyronne Fernando who explained in gentle tones how there were too many traffic bottlenecks with too many roads being closed.

"More buses is not the answer, but fly-overs to avoid the threatening traffic jams. People could not crawl to work, but they needed to get themselves moving fast or perish. Colombo was a hub of activity by day and people needed proper facilities.

"Once the best railway of the British Empire, the situation of Sri Lanka's railways today was sad indeed. Roads have become veritable death traps with traffic related offences being on the increase, he said.

And the MP, passionately appealed for the imposition of penalties on offenders and the implementation of laws with greater efficiency.

Fourteen thousand operating buses, a similar numbers of three wheelers and duty free imported buses formed only the tip of the iceberg, he said- and hoped that the Sri Lankan transport system would improve to the level it deserves to rise up to.

Return to News/Comments Contents