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| Sunday, 02 March 2003 |
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Letters |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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Please forward your letters to [email protected] in plain text format within the e-mail message, since as a policy we do not open any attachments.
Are Bolgoda wetlands under threat again? As a citizen of this country who takes a passionate interest in our wetlands, I cannot help but write this letter. Bolgoda Lake, which people incorrectly believe to be the North Lake near St. Michael and Moratuwa sailing club etc., is probably the largest navigable waterway in the country. The Northern part of this lake extends beyond Weras Ganga to Dehiwala-Wellawatte canal system and the Southern part to Kalu Ganga. The middle section is open to the Indian Ocean via Panadura estuary and the southern part (beyond the South Lake), via Thalpitiya Canal although there is a natural sandbar between the canal and the Indian Ocean. The presence of a temporary sand bar at Panadura estuary during the low tide and the permanent one at Thalpitiya Canal makes this a semi-closed lagoon. The wetlands around the lake which extends to about 6,000ha perform an invaluable function. During the heavy rainy season, it acts as a sponge to absorb the rain water and then through its natural drainage system drains the excess water to the river which in turn discharges it to the Indian Ocean. This process prevents the whole of Bolgoda Wetlands area going under flood water in the rainy season providing instant flushing of this semi-closed lagoon enabling complete purification of the entire lake system. If this natural drainage system is tampered with even in a small way, it will lead to severe flooding and will prevent the flushing of the water which will lead to putrefying of the lake system. Some flooding is inevitable and the stretch of Panadura-Ratnapura road gets flooded at Rammukkana preventing access to Panadura from Bandaragama and beyond but such flooding disappear within a few days due to the natural drainage system that remain undisturbed by human activities so far. Sometimes it is necessary to break the sand bar at the end of Thalpitiya Canal to flush out the excess water that drains into the river. Those who live in Panadura and go past Panadura must know that Panadura town gets covered in water during the rainy season since a small marshy area known as Moderawila was filled to build an industrial town. Moderawila was a tiny marshy area compared with Bolgoda Wetlands. Furthermore, the ecological stability of this lake is determined by the sea water and fresh water influx into the Lake and the mixing process therein, providing sufficient renewal of essential nutrients, organic matters and dissolved gases. If the natural influx of the freshwater is disturbed the ecological stability will be affected which can lead to increase level of salinity, algal bloom and other disasters which can in turn lead to the death and decay of flora and fauna. The residents of Bolgoda wetlands area which is under threat depend on the river, the associated network of waterway and the wetlands for fishing, irrigating their paddy fields and fresh water for drinking. If the ecosystem of this part of the wetlands and the river is killed, they will be denied of all these. The part that is under threat is the relatively unspoilt part of the lake with the least harmful impact from the land based human activities. This is probably the most scenic part of the lake and one must visit the area to appreciate its beauty and the aesthetic value. This lake, its associated network of waterways and the wetlands is a gift from our mother nature to the whole country. As the current guardians of this planet earth do not we owe a duty to preserve it in pristine condition for the benefit of the present and future generations? Those who are interested in the environment and in particular the wetlands in the country are fully aware of the disaster that was brought upon Muthurajawela, the largest wetland in the country by the construction of the Katunayake Expressway. When pointed out by Surath Wickramasinghe, the president of the Chamber of Construction Industry at a meeting held with the funding agencies in January 2002 that the road trace of Katunayake Expressway was a waste of financial resources, the Colombo representative of the Asian Development Bank agreed with Mr. Wickramasinghe that it was a bad choice! The article that appeared in the Sunday Times (Plus) on 17 March 2002 highlighted the misery caused to some of the villages in that area and the Hamilton Canal by pumping sand from the sea to fill the largest wetland in the country. Pumping of sea sand to fill the wetlands not only kills their
ecosystems but mining sea sand increases the sea and coastal erosion.The
ADB is partly responsible for the present crisis at Bolgoda. As a resident
of the area and a person who owns a productive rubber land in Gelanigama/Baddegoda,
I am well aware that there was no threat to Bolgoda wetlands from the time
RDA selected the trace that was going through Gelanigama in 1995, until a
comparison of a trace over Bolgoda wetlands was carried out in early 1999.
In July 1999, the CEA firmly rejected the trace over Bolgoda wetlands for
environmental reasons. So, except for the short period between early to
July 1999 I was fully aware that my productive rubber land will be
acquired by the RDA for the Expressway. Rubber trees grown by the human
beings can be replaced with proper compensation but natural wealth and the
beauty cannot be replaced. Fifty-five years after Independence and we still do not have a national policy for early childhood education in this country. Politicians are forever harping on our 'national treasure'. When they say national treasure do they mean children over the age of five ? We would be grateful if someone clarifies this. The global understanding is that the importance given to early childhood education must be of the highest quality. Do any of these individuals whom we have elected into office really care about the poor state of early childhood education practised in this country by most individuals who are merely bent on making money?. Our Association has constantly highlighted the plight of desperate parents and errant educators. Certainly there are dedicated educators who try their best to make the best of a bad situation. I have sat at many meetings called by the Ministry of Social Services in order to formulate the national policy where after many refreshments and time spent we sill wait in hope for this all important document to be presented to Parliament. Why is such a vital issue not given the status it is required ? We have
already written to the Prime Minister and await his response with anxiety.
It is time that his attention was directed at the roots of the problem. Bravo SLT - for the Internet Card Congratulations to Sri Lanka Telecom for the introduction of the internet prepaid card. The card costing Rs. 200 for 10 hours usage, for casual internet users by Sri Lanka Telecom is a prudent move towards popularising the internet usage in Sri Lanka, especially amongst the school children and ordinary people. The moderately priced card is a great boon to parents whose children have computers at home and wish to gather knowledge through the internet, for their homework. This is almost similar to the system I suggested, an year ago, through the media to Sri Lanka Telecom to introduce a "Dial and Surf the Net" system (as in Oman), which can be operated from a computer, with a modem at home, connecting through a special number without having to pay any connection and monthly package charges. Only the telephone bill is to be paid. The new SLT internet card renders a great service to school children wishing to obtain information from the internet on casual basis as and when required for their school work. This also helps the ordinary people who cannot afford to pay for an internet package on monthly basis. But unfortunately there are two drawbacks in the internet card system. The validity of the card is three months from the date of first use. School children will browse the internet only when information is required, such as the encyclopedia. Some information will be required today and the next time they will need the information will be after 3 months. Hence the validity of the card should be made at least one year. The second drawback is the high cost of the telephone call charges. Only after 10 p.m. there is a low tariff for telephone calls, hence the children will have to wait up breaking rest till 10 p.m. to browse the net to gather information. For the benefit of school children the lowest tariff should start from 9 p.m. or in the alternative, SLT could have special one hour lowest charge period from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. which could be utilised by the school children, without breaking rest. Bravo! SLT has done a great job on the innovation, why not make it more
user friendly and accessible to more and more people, by adding the above
services. Coconut pluckers or pickers as they are called an indispensable lot in the coconut plantations, for they have to bring down the nuts from the trees for the industry to move. Pickers operate in groups, especially on estates, each man can pick the coconuts of about 80 trees or trees over 1 1/2 acres extent in about an hour's time. His is a skilled job - balancing feats involved - as he carries upright a long and heavy picking stick from tree to tree over rocks and terrain in the process, he needs good eyesight and physical fitness to do his job, and also good concentration over his movements and work, the slackness of which has had instances of picked nuts falling on his head, tripping and falling over as he moves about and ever been stung by poisonous snakes lying on his path. The present generation of pickers however are past their prime in life and are ageing, and the chances of replacements when they are no longer fit to carry on seems bleak, as it appears that there are no takers for his job, as evidenced by the absence of young blood in any of their groups at present. There is already a dearth of their ilk and some of them exploit the situation by demanding exorbitant fees for their service. We had news recently that the North Western Province Youth movement was
to start a scheme to train young men as pickers which is a step in the
right direction, and we wish them success in their endeavour, for the
question of a scarcity of pickers which seems to be inevitable in the not
too distant future will effect the coconut plantation sector and the
industry as a whole. Kandyans' plea for federal states - a response I was pleased to read in your columns recently, a writing by minister Kiriella, under the heading "Kandyans urged for three Federal States in 1920 and 1940." The pith and substance of the Minister's writing suggests that the federal units of any future federation must be kept small in numbers and cohesive in structure. He mentions the three federal units proposed by the Kandyan leaders at the time to comprise Ruhunu, Maya and Pihiti. The cohesive nature of these three proposed units, the minister expounds: "1. The Northern and the Eastern Provinces in which the Tamils predominate. (Pihiti) 2. The Kandyan Province. (Maya) 3. The Southern and the Western Provinces." (Ruhunu) In 1928 and in 1948 these territorial divisions provided the national dimensions which provided communal cohesion. Today, after 55 years, and after several social and communal conflicts, the national dimensions have been differently spun. It therefore will be difficult to find cohesive territorial units to fit into a future Federation, other than to found them around the natural habitat of the three principal ethnic groups; the Sinhala, Tamil, and the Muslims. If the Federal units are established to encompass the natural habitat of these three ethnic groups, then the further requirements of ensuring to them the protection of such fundamental rights: as human rights, the right to development, cultural and social rights and any other rights that the members of these communities may desire could efficiently and effectively protected. This will also enable to provide a constitution which is asymmetrical
leaving each of these communities to legislate and execute laws which deal
with their "own affairs", defined in a future constitution,
leaving matters that fall outside such a definition, to be dealt as
"general affairs" by the epicentre of a future federation, at
Jayawardenepura. Let me applaud the minister for racing this issue and
thank you for publishing his views in your columns. Further I thank you if
you would allow some space to make these observations of mine too, public. Overseeing public entertainment Enjoyment is one of the instincts of human beings. It facilitates getting over or minimising the effects of suffering which is inevitable in our lives. With the spread of TV facilities in this country over the last two decades the business of entertainment has escalated providing direct and indirect employment to tens of thousands of persons and good income to many organisers and artistes. These have been good and bad impacts on society. Therefore, those involved have to be constantly reminded that the forms of entertainment should not go off the rails of decency and that tendencies to violence and obscenity should be eliminated in the performances before the public. It is indeed praiseworthy that many composers and artistes have been rendering services in certain programmes of dramas, song, dancing, music and humour to contain such evils as hatred, arrogance, avarice and social inequalities and, most importantly, to curb internecine conflicts, which arose from fallacious concepts of superiority in status of one ethnic group over another. Accordingly human values have been upheld to override petty political or sectional interests, which had insidiously been promoted by propaganda of unscrupulous elements. It is suggested that a regulatory board should be established for overseeing public entertainment programmes and that the board should consist of a few men and women drawn from politically neutral, liberal, knowledgeable and selfless persons. The participation of women in the directorate has to be ensured to represent adequately the interests of the fair sex and children who form the majority of the population. A considerable number of women and children are victims of exploitation of some form or other and are languishing in silence. One of the aims of the board should be not to stifle creativity, talent and enterprise, which are prerequisites to move away from conservatism. The structure, scope and the actual performance of the existing Public Performances Board (PPB) will necessarily have to be reviewed vis-a-vis the board proposed above in order to avoid duplication, friction and wastage of national efforts. It appears that periodical reports on the working of the PPB have not been made known to the public through the media. Legislative measures will have to be considered with reference to he
suggestions made above. Nevertheless, in practice, legislation alone is no
sufficient remedy unless public awareness on the gravity of the situation
is created for a change of heart from the culture of violence and crime
that is prevalent in the country. Towards that end it would be necessary
to utilize expertise in propaganda. This is in response to the article of Mrs. Sithy Iyne Weerasiri in the Sunday Observer of February 9, on the above subject, she has stated that she was a born Muslim (moor). "We have created man from sperm mixed with ovum to put him to proof and endowed him with eight and hearing and shown him right-path, whether he be grateful or ungrateful" (AlQuraan 76: 2,3). "Blessed shall be the man who has kept it pure and ruined he that has corrupted it" (Al-Quraan 91: 8,9). Accordingly her important relevant documents are registered as Muslim (moor). Consequence to her marriage to a Sinhala Buddhist, she is no more a Muslim. But still by race she is a moor (Lanka Marakkala), whose husband was born and registered as Sinhala Buddhist, because his race is Sinhala and religion is Buddhism. Accordingly he is called a Sinhala Buddhist. Mrs. Sihy Iyne born a Muslim (moor) was converted to a Buddhist, but
she could not convert her race. So she could be called Moor (Marakkala)
Buddhist. In Beruwala and some areas in South Coast, there are some
families whose surnames are 'Marakkalahe' (moor). But they are Buddist or
Christians. Likewise Mrs. Sithy Iyn could be called as a Moor (Marakkala)
Buddhist, or Moor 'Kafir' (Non Muslim). |
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