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| Sunday, 5 June 2005 |
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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.
In your editorial in the Sunday Observer of 29.05.2005 you have brought out the bureaucratic apathy and criminal negligence that goes on in our country. Over the years many citizens have written about the bureaucratic actions. Many editorials had been written in the papers. But the bureaucratic actions go on regardless. With the passage of time the bureaucratic actions have been increasing and not decreasing. Whichever the government has been in our country, they have not got any control over the public service. It is the public service that has got the control over the government. And whoever is in the opposition will encourage and support the public service to engage in strikes at the drop of a pin for their benefit. Politicians and trade union leaders look after the interest of the public servants for their benefit of course. But who is there when ordinary citizens are pushed from pillar to post for months which could be done in a matter of minutes making the citizens to waste their time and money and to incur losses due to the information they needed being not given in time for them to make use of it. In this regard the Government and the opposition must get together, forgetting their political advantages, and put the government machinery in order. Arul. It is very sad and unfortunate to hear of a secretarian violence erupting in the Trincomalee town over a siting of a holy statue. This incident calls for us to have second thoughts about erecting statues of Holy Founders or Dignitaries in places like towns and cities. A sight of a particular statue in such a place, where people of different faiths live and work may not carry its religious significance to all alike. Besides, cities and towns are noisy, chaotic, crowded and polluted places and therefore, putting up statues on the main roads or streets may affect the serenity, sanctity and the reverence they naturally evoke. Therefore, may the heads of all religious faiths have an inter-dialogue on this issue and reach a common consensus to confine erection of holy statues only to actual places of worship - temples, kovils and churches and not to erect them in public places? Such a move would certainly help prevent not only religious conflicts but also help different communities live in harmony. U. M. G. Goonetilleke, As a parent myself, I salute Her Excellency the President for her wise decision taken to launch a scheme as an accelerated program to uplift the standards in our daham pasal by providing free uniforms to all daham pasal students from next year. This new arrangement certainly would to a great extent serve as an incentive and mostly benefit those children in very poor families who hardly can afford to attend daham pasal without proper white apparel. However, the distribution of such uniforms have to be carried out in a manner so that students attending daham pasal regularly would be able to avail of this privilege. Another vital aspect to be re-viewed is the question of private tuition classes conducted on Sundays which would tend to coincide with daham pasal sessions. Since Sunday is the only day in the week daham pasal are conducted, it would be fair on the part of private tuition institutions to review this situation and also is their moral right to make suitable adjustments in their curriculum and timetables to make way for these students to attend Sunday daham pasal without any interruption to their studies. Don Sarath Abeysekera, Commencing April this year an additional tax, a Social Responsibility Levy (SRL) is deducted from my salary. I thought it was a good move and infact, every employed person should be made to pay at least Rs. 10 a month so that as a citizen of this country we are mindful of our social responsibility. I could not believe my eyes reading an article in a Sunday paper that the Cabinet has approved duty free vehicle permits of US$ 23,000 to all 225 parliamentarians. Not satisfied some are demanding permits for US$ 40,000. The MPs of our country indulge in luxury, whilst mother Lanka is holding up a begging bowl to the international community for aid to assist tsunami victims. I am so disgusted I have told our Accountant that I will not sign the pay slip in future, if the word social responsibility is not removed. He can deduct the tax to please the tax man, but not under the name of social responsibility. It is pretty obvious that none of our Parliamentarians know what social responsibility is. Then why are we asked to pay a Social Responsibility Levy? Will atleast Mr. Wimal Weerawansa or a member of JHU care to enlighten the public if they disagree with me. Disgusted Citizen. |
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