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| Sunday, 29 August 2004 |
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Letters |  |
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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.
Thanks to the Englishmen for giving us the train system, which is working up to today with very less maintenance and hanging onto the present needs. What had happened to the proposed line which was meant to take pilgrims to Kataragama? Authorities should improve our train network, where more commuters could use them whereby traffic on the highways could be reduced. If the authorities build a double railway track to Kandy, and run a train even with less cabins to Colombo at regular intervals. If Englishmen did it; why cannot us! Yasantha Samarasinghe, When markets develop, controlling interests in such markets develop. For example, the natural rubber is produced in other countries, but the USA stockpiles natural rubber and controls the price of natural rubber by releasing stockpiles when prices try to rise by the market force of demand. During the East Asian Currency Crisis in 1998, the then Malaysian Prime Minister, Mahathir Mohamed, said "Deliberate devaluation of the currency of a country by currency traders purely for profit is a serious denial of the right of independent nations." Mohamed's analysis of the so-called marketplace was indeed down-to-earth. In this backdrop, I suggest getting the rupee out of the free market and control its value through a basket of suitable foreign currencies, as it was done earlier. Ranjith Dodampegama, State employees - no free riders Recently many letters have appeared in newspapers expressing resentment of the public over non-payment of income tax by public servants. Whilst I do not find any reason to make changes to the present status-quo, as a government accountant, I certainly do not want to be called a free rider or a Pin Gona. Present inland revenue laws exempt a monthly income of Rs. 25,000 from tax. Therefore only a handful of us will be required to pay tax even if the tax exemption applicable to government servants is withdrawn. Therefore I appeal to the minister of finance to make all citizens of our country liable to income tax. If he does not want to displease a few and lose votes, monthly employment income of Government servants up to Rs. 25,000 can be made tax free. Thereby in total monthly earnings up to Rs. 50,000 are exempt from tax. How many government servants officially earn in excess of Rs. 50,000 a month? This will eliminate the non tax payer class of citizens and make every one happy. Who knows there can be compliance by those who are evading tax at present? Government accountant, The sea will eat up valuable land in Boossa Even though many a project to protect the coastal belt in Boossa area against sea erosion was launched ever and anon since 1995, a stretch of about 300 metres of this coastal belt from Boossa Army Camp junction to 68th mile post was excluded from every such project. There is no gainsaying the fact that this unprotected small stretch of land in between the protected portions is in invariably rendered more vulnerable to sea erosion than it was before. Every previous sea erosion has taken a heavy toll of valuable land, coconut plantations and buildings. It is therefore succinctly clear that unless protective measures are taken to safeguard this area the sea will definitely keep eating further into the land until it reaches Galle - Colombo highway, as has happened in several places on this coastal belt. Persistent representations made in this regard by the hapless residents (I am included), who had hitherto suffered stupendous loss of valuable land together with coconut plantations and everything else stood thereon each time there was coast erosion, unfortunately failed to evoke any response from the authorities concerned. It is pertinent to highlight herein the latest bizarre predicament, the residents of this stretch of land are plunged into, which is seemingly worse than ignoring the appeals for redress. I submitted a paper-cutting of one of the many letters I wrote to the media on this crucial issue, which appeared in the Daily News of 11.07.2002 to the then Minister of Public Administration, Mr. Vajira Abeywardena, who also represented Galle District to seek his help on this issue. When all my subsequent attempts to meet him at his office in Galle failed, I met his Coordinating Secretary, who found the paper-cutting missing. At his request I handed over a photo copy of the same, which he in turn forwarded to the Regional Engineer, Coast Conservation Dept., Galle with a stereo-typed letter as a routine matter and put paid to it. However, as revealed by the Director's letter No. WI/C/2000/11/Vol.11 dated 2002.11.27 addressed to Hon'ble Minister, Abeywardena with a copy to me, the Regional Engineer had been duty conscious enough to have inspected the unprotected stretch of land and submitted a report to the effect that it needed protection against sea erosion. Subsequently, somewhere in January 2004, Regional Engineer, intimated to us that action was being initiated to launch the long overdue process of protection of this stretch of land, brought and piled up the boulders required for the purpose in several places provided by the residents, who were enthralled by the good news. The sequence of events that followed is really startling and poignant. The Coast Conservation Authorities, after having capriciously transferred out the Regional Engineer jettisoned the envisaged process of protection and resorted to removing these boulders to another location in Pitiwella to strengthen the revertments already built there. Upon enquiry, the new Regional Engineer, who was attending to the strengthening of the revertments in Pitiwella responded by saying that he was merely carrying out the orders of his superiors and declined to elaborate further. The Chief Engineer could not adduce any cogent reason for their complete volte-face they made vis a vis this crucial issue, but was meandering and beating about the bush, while the Hon'ble Minister, Abeywardena chose to remain oblivious and maintain stoic silence, for some reason, which can better be imagined than explained. In this context, the onus of taking positive remedial measures to prevent the stretch of the coastal belt in question is now on the new government, which forsooth may do well to hasten the Coast Conservation Authorities to recommence the process of protection that was abandoned forthwith utilizing the boulders that are still lying in several places in the vicinity without procrastinating until it is too late. It is also imperative that this sordid episode be probed into simultaneously and disciplinary action taken against those responsible for this faux-pas and the related acts of misconduct so ignominious, and thereby bringing the Department to disrepute, whether they were politically motivated or otherwise. P. Herbert Mendis, Shame on Colombo University. This letter is regarding the Annual Inter University Regatta which was held at the Colombo Rowing Club (CRC) on August 11. I came to CRC to witness a healthy competition of rowing but what I experienced wasn't healthy at all. On that day the Colombo University students behaved in a very unsuitable manner; turning the prestigious Colombo Rowing Club into a fish market by howling and shouting filth at the Moratuwa University and other spectators. It was all in very bad taste. This annual regatta between Colombo and Moratuwa Universities is regarded as one of the most important rowing competitions in Sri Lanka and a parallel can be drawn to the Oxford-Cambridge University Boat Race in the UK. Unlike schoolboys, University students are expected to be more mature and be able to accept winning and losing in an equal manner. The Royal-Thomian regatta which upto now has been held in a very respectable way is cheered by so many schoolboys, but those boys always keep the names of their schools in high regard. But the behaviour of the Colombo University students has to be condemned and the Coach and the authorities of the Colombo University should be responsible for their charges' most unsuitable behaviour. Although the oarsmen and oarswomen from Colombo University beat the Moratuwa University quite convincingly, their victory was somewhat overshadowed by the behaviour of the cheering (or should I say jeering) squad from the Colombo University. Spectators at the regatta included the chief guest Jithendra Kumar (First Secretary of the Indian High Commission), Dr. Ray Wijewardena and numerous parents and other well wishers. Had Mr. Kumar and Dr. Ray been well versed in the Sinhala language, they also would have felt disgusted of University students of Sri Lanka! Previously this dual regatta has been held in the highest levels of sportsmanship ... but the incidents that took place on the 11th of August not only brought about a very negative image of the Colombo University, it also marked a bad day for the Colombo Rowing Club. Never before has such outrageously bad behaviour been observed at the peaceful Colombo Rowing Club, which has been the foundation for rowing in Sri Lanka for over 140 years. It's not whether you won or lost, it's how you play the game! A disgusted spectator, |
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