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Morning Spice by
Ginger Now we hear that the CWE is to be privatised and hope this is not correct. Many a barb may have been directed at the CWE but at the same time it has served a useful purpose. It has been a useful ballast when runaway prices in the open market have forced considerable hardships on the poorer consumer. True the CWE has its own crop of shortcomings but when you come to think of it what state backed undertaking in any part of the world hasn’t. Ginger hopes that there will be some rethinking on the issue. The IMF or the infamous murder fund evidently has recommended the move according to the news item. No one knows what sinister thoughts direct its policy. Does it want a couple of generations to perish so that some future generation yet to be born can have a good time or does it want political chaos in the developing world so that those funding it can entitle the US, to meddle in the affairs of such nations and so call the tune there. Our experience of privatisation has not been a very happy one. What happened to gas and power. Has it made the consumer any happier? Make use of the World Bank by all means but put your foot down when you must. Raquel Welch The engagement was due partly to the efforts of a very strange broker. It is seldom that ones own daughter encourages the mother to get married again. Her daughter Tahnee played quite a role in her engagement. She had told them that it was obvious to every one that the two of them were very much in love and it would be foolish to turn their backs on a chance to be together. Corruption in China He was sentenced to sixteen years in prison but those who were found guilty of accepting over twelve thousand dollars were usually executed. But according to what the public were told he had been guilty of taking small presents and gifts of money. What the public are worried is whether all what he got was presented to court at the trial and whether some of his cronies have escaped unscathed. It was no surprise to read in the front page of a Sunday news paper of August 16th ’98 on the incidents of derailments in the railway being 184 from January to June this year. I am a septuagenarian and an ex-railwayman and watch the deterioration or should I say ruination which started when late Mr. Leslie Goonewardene became Minister of Transport and henchman of his commonly known as Allah (an insult to the great prophet) was appointed an Additional Secretary to the Minister. This man started to boss the bosses by first getting rid of Mr. B. D. Rampala the then G.M.R. — a G.M.R. without a peer; the qualification being the President of the Sevaka Sangamaya — political trade union. He drove the first nail into the coffin by promoting undisciplined into the rank and file. Then came the change of government and another political trade union leader who too became an Additional Secretary by virtue of being the President drove the last nail into the coffin. My humble opinion regarding the appointment of political trade union leader as Additional Secretaries set in beyond redemption and undisciplined raised its ugly head in the once well desciplined railway. The honest and dedicated worker was looked upon as “THE ENEMY”. The Navy is the ship, the Airforce the plane and the railway the train. Therefore the accent should be on the train the income earner. The rolling stock must be well maintained with every nut and bolt tightened and in place and all parts oiled and greased regularly. Adjustment of brakes should take priority over all others. for this the piston neck rings, rolling rings and vacuum hose pipe washers should be of a high quality and changed when defective. It is a common practice to spray a little sand or apply some grease to stop a piston neck ring leak or a vacuum hose pipe leak without changing the neck ring or washer. Everyone from the loco foreman down to the carriage examiner wants only one thing — the train to leave irrespective of what happens enroute. A cursory examination of the under carriage of rolling stock would reveal how thickly coated they are with dust. When they are thus coated a flaw could never be detected and runs until it breaks down causing a derailment. When a derailment or disaster occurs inquiries are held and more often than not the path of least resistance is followed, leaving the doors opened wider for further derailments etc. No inquiring officer would dare put down in writing that the root cause is due to lack of discipline resulting in utter negligence of rolling stock and track etc. The working Time Table and the book of rules clearly give the percentage of blanked vehicles that could be run on a train. This does not mean that a train is permitted to leave the starting point with that percentage where Loco Foremen and fitters are stationed. This is merely for the train crew in case a vehicle becomes defective enroute to proceed up to a station where fitters are stationed. When the vacuum brakes are ineffective on many vehicles the tendency is for the vehicles in the centre of the train to get lifted and jump off the rails on a sudden application of brakes by the driver. Today everything is given a twist to avoid doing the job and I must reiterate that there are more men than the number required to attend to all the maintenance etc. A close scrutiny of the undercarriage should reveal how a derailment could occur when a triangle bar drops on to the rails on the run. The cause of the recent derailment at Wilwatta has been put down to the nuts and bolts of the fish plates being removed by saboteurs. Please cheek on the number of trains that ran past this point on the up and down lines at this hour. Could not the engine crew of some train have seen men with spanners etc. behaving in a suspicious manner? One Mr. L. Jayasuriya who wrote on the railway some time back did mention that two sleepers should be placed under the joint where the rails meet in addition to the fish plate. He knew what he was talking about. Had the railway engineers taken the hint and heeded has advice I am sure this disaster could have been averted as spikes are driven into the sleepers to hold the rail firmly in position. It is party politics that has ruined the railway too. The malady is, the supporters of the party in power do not work and do not allow others to work either. These stooges derive a curious joy from bossing the bosses and throwing their weight around of course with political patronage. Most of the political trade union leaders have little or no education. They get elected to office because the minor staff out number the rest and their one ambition is to pull the top to the bottom. I am fully aware that putting the railway to right is almost akin to cleaning the Augean Stables. Thus far since dirty politics crept into this once well disciplined department it has proved to be a gigantic task — reason-no meaningful steps have been taken to arrest the prevalent and ever escalating indiscipline. The country must be put before self. We do not have forced labour. They have all joined on their own making vows and going on their bended knees to M.P’s and ministers through the henchmen. There are rules governing all workers, but sad indeed these rules are confined to the books today, as a spoken word commands more authority than the statute books. Do away with discipline and we create a monster and that monster has been created by all the politicians since 1956. We have sown the wind and reaped the whirlwind. It’s easy to send down circulars to the Heads of Departments asking them to get the work done but pray tell the country how to get the job done when intimidation and indiscipline is rampant in every walk of life. The boss is only a fellow at a loss at the cross roads. Take the good and leave off the bad from the colonial past when people living by the side of the track set the time on their clocks by watching the train pass. “A minute lost is a whole reputation lost” should be the motto as in the past. I suggest a team of genuine people selected by the ministry to travel incognito to various places in the railway, running sheds yards etc. on a fact finding mission and bare the truth to the minister and the Head of State. On those reports the good of the country irrespective of their party leanings. It will only be then that all political parties in Sri Lanka will know How Bitter Truth Is. D. Ranaweera, Defects in Sri Lanka’s security system and consequences With the bombing and assassination of two mayors, two brigade commanders and a host of high ranking police and army officers and others by strategic terrorist action within six months in Jaffna, it is imperative for the President and Commanding Chief of the security forces immediately to review and revamp the steadily deteriorating security situation. The recent bombing of the Jaffna Municipal hall at Nallur road on the morning of the 11th Instant, where the Mayor, the Brigade Commander, senior police Superintendent and a number of ranking army and police officers and some civilians lost their lives, is certainly a security lapse in a terrorist active area. The terrorist intelligence appears to have known before hand the time of the meeting and those taking part in it, and has leisurely fixed the bomb on the roof of the building and detonated it when the targeted people arrived at the scene. It is obvious that the building had not been under surveillance at night and properly inspected before the meeting. The other lapse is the necessity for a number of high ranking officers to take part in such a meeting. It would have been quite sufficient if an A.S.P. and an army captain attended it with reasonable security cover outside the building. There is a tendency now for a number of officers, both civilian and security, to attend meetings just to provide numbers, only to boost the prestige of the political personage taking part. By this unnecessary waste of personnel resources valuable lives are constantly at risk without any essential contribution by them by their presence. The other serious lapse is the lack of secondary support for the Jayasikuru operation which has taken over a year now, at a heavy cost of life and resources on both sides. In operations of this nature, the plan should include a secondary support offensive as a stand by tactic, and activated at the correct time. Therefore a naval and air supported landing should have been planned preferably from Alampil on the north-eastern coast to trap the terrorists effectively in between. That would save lives on both sides. A naval incursion is not that difficult or costly if a leaf is taken from the terrorist strategy. A fleet of over a 1000 fishing vessels commandeered from the western coast for the operation, operated by the fishermen themselves, with two or three patrolmen with SMGG and grenades on board supplying the fire power, with a few naval craft for back up and heavy gun support, could effectively overcome whatever resistance the terrorists may be able to muster. Such an exercise is essential also to regain the northern and eastern seas from effective terrorist control. Otherwise the political package should include the terrorist held resources in personnel and sea craft as a supplement to the defence system of Sri Lanka. An unitary state, whatever its ethnic complexities, requires full control of its land mass and coastal waters militarily, whatever the cost may be.Over to you Commander-in-Chief! L. O. H. Wanigasekera, With reference to the letter to “The Island” newspaper by G. R. Perera entitled “Consular Officers of Western Embassies and Embassy of Japan,” which appeared in its September 14, 1998 issue, the Embassy of Japan wishes to clarify the following. Mr. Perera cited an incident involving the wife of a former Sri Lankan Ambassador to Japan who, according to Mr. Perera, has been subject to rude treatment by Japanese Embassy officials. In this regard, Mr. Arthur Basnayake himself, the former Sri Lankan Ambassador to Japan from 1970 to 1974 and from 1984 to 1987, whose wife recently obtained her visa here in Colombo and is presently in Japan has vehemently denied this allegation. It has also been confirmed by the Embassy that Mrs. Basnayake has never complained to Mr. Basnayake regarding improper treatment on the part of Japanese Embassy officials. On the contrary Mr. Basnayake has expressed his appreciation of the highest consideration granted to both him and his wife by the Embassy of Japan. Secondly, Mr. Perera made another totally unfounded allegation that Embassy officials guarantee visas to agents in Colombo for a hefty fee. The Embassy of Japan categorically denies such allegations and regrets that perhaps a few disgruntled visa applicants, who have been denied visas, may have formed illgrounded views in this regard. The Japanese Embassy will continue to adhere to the established regulations, while assuring every person who visits our offices that he or she will be treated in a courteous and cordial manner, as has always been customary at our Embassy. Editor’s note: Mr. G. R. Perera states that the person referred to was not Mrs. Basnayake but the wife of another Ambassador who was stationed in Japan. Stepmotherly treatment of scouts in N&E I am an old scoutmaster, now long out of active work. I see scouting has been revived here in Trincomalee and is going ahead strongly. I find there is stepmotherly treatment accorded by national headquarters to the minority community. Be they Sinhalese or be they Tamils or whatever the Brotherhood of Scouting must be demonstrated in practical terms. Mr. Camilus Fernando, the Chief Commissioner, is a gentleman of deep commitment and integrity and he should ensure that the Tamil section is strengthened by committed persons. There are just one or two headquarters Commissioners of the Tamil community to look into the development of scouting among the Tamil speaking Sri Lankans. The whole of the North East Province consists mainly of Tamil speaking Sri Lankans and the scouts in this area should be provided every opportunity to rise up the scouting ladder. The Chief Commissioner should recruit more Tamil speaking Headquarters Commissioners and ensure there is no minority community imbalance or minority complex. On inquiry I find that a number of young scoutmasters are unable to proceed higher because hqrs does not conduct courses and so on in Tamil. This must be remedied. T. Koneswaran, Wake up! Mr. Registrar General Recently I called at the Registrar General’s office to get an English translation of a Birth Certificate at the office situated on the 1st Floor, Cashew Corporation Building, Galle Road. Three officers were at the security desk and having gone upstairs there was much confusion, as to where I could get my work done, the time being about 10.00 a.m. Many officers were not in their seats. I was told to wait and at about 10.45 a.m. an officer came to his seat and directed me to the RG Office at Duplication Road. At the Duplication Road office I was given an Application Form and asked to get stamps to the value of Rs. 30. Stamps were not available at this office and I was directed to the Liftman, a betel chewing man, who sells stamps being an employee himself attached to the Registrar General’s Office, charging 10% commission. The Registrar General’s Office is not a profit making department, but serving the General Public. Why cannot a counter be opened at the Duplication Road office for the sale of stamps for the convenience of the general public, who come from distant places. The public have to go to the Kollupitiya Post Office at great inconvenience to obtain stamps. I also observed a few officers (females) working at the Cashew Corporation Building Office being very rude to the general public, most of who come are poor people and to get anything done quickly “something” has to be given. The Dept. of Public Administration should pay surprise visits to see for themselves. I would like to suggest to the authorities to appoint Public Relations Officers at the reception to guide the general public to get their work attended to and not pushed from pillar to post. The officers attached to this Department should remember that their salaries and fringe benefits are paid from public funds. Over to you Minister of Public Administration for quick action. K. M. Perera, An appeal to the Colombo Mayor It is understood that there is no point in telling others about this matter. I think you are the one and only person who can take necessary action even though this matter looks a minor thing, it is not that so. Dear Sir, as you are aware the Public Library is located in the centre of the Municipal Council area and Water, Electricity, etc. is provided by the Municipal Council. Everybody knows the functions of the library. The library is used by students (in general — who study, whatever the field is.? Dear Sir, the library is used by students who come from various places and use the study room, reference library, special collection, etc from morning till evening. Water is a major source when someone spends so many hours at a place like this. What I cannot understand is why they (either Library Maintenance Dept. or the Municipal Council) cut water during library hours. I strongly believe, by seeing this letter someone (an official of the library) might say that the water is being provided. But I must state that I am talking about the situation with much concern that students face this difficulty. Sometimes, there is no water in the canteen (but water is provided during lunch time). I do not think human beings can limit drinking water only for chosen times. But the Administration must know water is an essential ingredient to the human world. Water must be there, especially in the main libraries in the Colombo city and at any time. Dear Sir, normally, the Public Library is a place used by nearly 300 readers daily. Readers have to keep their bags and baggage in the locker room which is out of the main building. But it has nearly 200 rooms which are inadequate. Accordingly, those who use the study hall and the reference library, face great difficulties as they are not allowed to go into the building with bag and baggage. Even though, a notice is displayed at the locker room stating that locker room is closed at 7 p.m., sometimes it is closed before 7 p.m.. This is terrible situation students have to face. If it is stated that it would be closed at 7 p.m., then it must be closed at the time mentioned in the notice. Hope you would ask your officers to do the needful. Nikitha Perera, |
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