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Morning Spice by Ginger So they are selling butchered stray dogs to foreigners. Mind you the one who got caught red handed was a stray dog catcher or whoever you may call him. The victim and the seller Ginger feels belong to the same species. One cannot think of anything more despicable than this dastardly act. We cannot blame the foreigner who ordered it quite as much as the man who supplied him or her with the dead dog, Mind you it had been decapitated and then packed and ready for delivery. We do not absolve the foreigner who made the order. Anyone who can eat the flesh of a man's best friend displays a heartlessness that is a bit depressing. So too it is with those who can eat horse flesh and try to justify it on various grounds. They too are not only companions but are made use of. Ginger is straying and emoting a bit at this stage. But this selling of dogs even on their way to the pound could be a little disturbing. There is no law against killing dogs though ironically crocodiles who are maneaters are a protected species. So what shall we do to stop this menace? Throw the dog catcher to the cross or pass laws that killing dogs for food is punishable by law. It is up to the animal lovers to take up the case. Migraine and
anaesthetics Now we get back to the question of this anaesthetic that dentist use to numb your gums. It is called lidocaine and those who are migraine victims are prescribed lidocaine nasal drops. This is supposed to give them immediate relief but there is a hitch at times and that is that the headache recurs in a short time in the case of some. Cultural force feeding Now this happens to be just about that stage in the innings which is the fairly crucial and where the first fifteen overs are about to be completed or thereabouts. Usually things happen at this stage. The other day we did not witness Sanath's dismissal. In the past they used to give flashes during the newscast which they don't now. In any case most of the viewers switch on to other stations during propaganda time. The fact is you just can't have your cake and eat it. If you want to stick to your schedule then hand it over to another station. Pathetic effects of Telecom privatization I regret to mention that Prof. Rohan Samarajeewa, DG/Telecom Regulatory Commission in his reply in The Island of May 2, 1998, in response to my letter has only evaded in giving an appropriate reply. In the interest of the Telecom users he should give an acceptable reply to all the points raised in the letter for allowing the Telecom and the government to heap additional burdens on the consumers and also should take appropriate action to reduce the telecom charges. He should also request the government to remove the GST and Defence Levy on the charges of domestic land phone users. The public is not interested in the propaganda activities of Regulatory Commissions, Telecom or by the government, or in the irrational excuses given for increasing the charges, reducing the duration of a call-unit, adding GST and Defence Levy on the final amount. What they want is a quality service at an affordable price. But what is disgusting is that the numerous letters that have appeared in the national newspapers requesting to reduce the telecom charges, have only fallen on deaf ears. This apparently creates more suspicion in the minds of the public on the activities of Telecom and on all those concerned. Prof. Samarajeewa mentions that the Telecom was placed under a new management in August 1997 and the government had decided to allow a 25% increase in SLT's domestic revenue to continue to expand the network. Any right-thinking person will not accept this explanation as a change of management or privatization does not mean to allow a 25% increase of the consumers bill. The management and the foreign investor should pump the necessary funds to expand or develop the Telecom and also encourage the subscribers to use the telephone more often to boost their revenue and to make a reasonable profit. In business traditions when there is a change in ownership or management, the prices are lowered to attract more customers and thereby increase the sales and make the money. But the TRC and the Telecom apparently believes in bleeding the consumers to fatten themselves. Hope the fate will not be that of a broiler chicken! The Telecom and the TRC should not raise the bills of the present subscribers to give new telephones for those in the waiting lists. Why should the consumers pay for the development of the network after privatization, as they are not made shareholders of Telecom? In that case, enroll all subscribers as shareholders of Sri Lanka Telecom and pay them also annual dividends, bonuses, etc. to them. If the government has sold the 35% shares of the Telecom to a foreign company and quietly told the company "You buy the shares now and get your money back by increasing the telephone bills by 25%", then the 351,900 telephone subscribers in the country have been deceived and the national wealth plundered. Is this the Sri Lankan style of privatization? The Telecom revenue has been Rs. 10,486 million in 1995 and has gone upto Rs. 13,428 million in 1997; which is an increase of Rs. 2,942 million earned by raising the charges and reducing the duration of call-units and also by eliminating the cheap rate (but substituted by the Standard and Economy rates which are higher than the cheap rate). Then what is the reason to drastically increase the charges within a few months again? The Telecom has raised the rental by 80% and also the call charges, and now spending millions of rupees on advertisements in both the electronic and print media requesting the public to use their facilities; although they are unable to give connections to the thousands who are in the waiting lists for several years. Hence, one wonders whether there will be another increase to recover the huge advertising costs. One Telecom advertisement encourages the consumers to call off-peak hours and have a huge saving on the telephone bill. Once the consumers have made use of this facility, at the end of the month they have been taken for a ride by billing them at the higher rate for all the units consumed as it has exceeded 200 units per month. In the past, this type of advertisements to plunder the consumers is unheard of in a statutory institution or in a reputed company. The Telecom should also provide full details of all calls taken per month. Like the details given for IDD calls; the number dialled, the duration and the charges for each local and national calls also be given in the bill. I wonder what the legal position is, if the consumer says, "I don't accept the Telecom bill as no details of the calls taken are given in the bill". No Telecom meters are installed for the consumers to check unlike in the case of water or electricity? I would appreciate very much if a lawyer could answer this question. Unfortunately there is no scientific definition of a 'unit' in the telecommunication usage like for electricity, etc. (e.g., one unit of electricity equals 1kWh). By this, the authorities are deceiving the consumers by having an arbitrary unit and reducing the duration of the unit every now and then. There should be a statutory definition of a unit and telecom operators should not be allowed to change the duration of a unit. For IDD calls the duration of a unit is only six seconds. Hence, for local and national calls also the duration of a unit should be six seconds and the charges should be proportionately reduced. Upto April 14, 1998, the duration of a unit for an Economy Rate Local Call was 240 seconds and that for the Peak Rate Call was 86 seconds and the charge for each unit was Rs. 1.38. On this basis, the charge for a unit of six seconds will be only 3.45 cents at Economy Rate and 9.63 cents at Peak Rate charges. By reducing the duration of a call-unit for six seconds and the charges proportionately, the consumers will benefit immensely as the Telecom presently charges for the full duration even if one speaks only for a few seconds. If the customer has spoken even a few seconds more than the duration of a unit, he will be billed for the next full unit. According to the new rates, if the duration of a unit was 180 seconds and if the consumer speaks say for only 12 seconds, still the consumer is charged for the full unit i.e., Rs. 1.65 plus 20.6 cents (12.5% GST) plus 8.4 cents (4.5% Defence Levy on the final amount); i.e., a total of Rs. 1.94 for a unit. However, if the consumer is charged on the proposed basis it will cost him only 13 cents for the 12 seconds. However, the best system would be like for water and electricity charges, where the consumers are charged only for the amount consumed; for the Telecom also to charge only for the exact duration called e.g., for every second used without having a unit system. In the present 'unit' system, the consumers are cheated by charging also for the balance duration of every unit which they have not made use of. The government and other regulatory authorities responsible should be very mindful of what happened in Indonesia and the ultimate supreme political sacrifice which had to be made by the Indonesian President; all because of sharp increases in prices of essential commodities without being conscious about the hardships that fell on the consumers. The Indonesian situation and the ever-increasing cost of living in Sri Lanka should be an eye-opener to our politicians and some of the politically appointed bureaucrats who are only concerned in increasing the revenue to satisfy the politicians and perhaps for their existence. Regrettably, the word "Privatization" to handover the national assets to a foreign company has become a nightmare for the public. Dr. A. R. Mohamed, C.W.E. outlet needed at Soysapura, Moratuwa The residents of the above housing scheme where over 25,000 people live, requested Minister Kingsley Wickramaratne M.P. for a C.W.F. outlet to this scheme. This was done by a letter signed by over 300 families and dated 27.08.1997. When contacted, the Chairman C.W.E. Peter Jayasekera, too agreed to our request and wanted us to forward a letter from Jeevan Kumaratunga M.P. and Deputy Minister. This too was complied with. In this connection a reminder was sent to the Minister K. Wickrama-ratne, dated 07.10.97. As there was no acknowledgement the first letter or the reminder we followed with a telegram on 03.12.1997. When the Chairman Peter Jayasekera requested us to find a suitable premises for a C.W.E. outlet in the Soysapura Complex we did go ahead to arrange for same and informed the Chairman who expressed appreciation of the arrangement. H. G. P. Jayasekera, While in Ja-Ela, if you are accosted by a fair, lean, affable, well-dressed, middle-aged woman who comes to where you are and starts to open her bag of tricks to move you to pity over a tale of personal woe, you are probably, under the spell of this 'vamp' of a woman whose victims are largely women. This could happen to you in the bus-stops, railway station the market place in Ja-Ela. It was just recently that I learnt from a person in my area during a casual conversation, how a respectable woman was conned by this cheat into surrendering her necklace "to buy the type of blood wanted urgently by her husband lying seriously ill on a hospital bed". The victim after regaining her cool had reported the matter to the Ja-Ela police station. The OIC of the Ja-Ela police station when contacted, stated that this woman had cheated several women in a similar manner and that she is now in the police net, because there was a complaint in this case. Reggie Perera |
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