Letters

Thousands of luxury fuel guzzling vehicles on road

The rate and frequency at which fuel prices are increased makes one think how realistic such increases could be. There are instances when world market prices fell, but the local prices increased for unacceptable reasons.

Going back to the '70s, the price of a gallon of diesel was only Rs. 5.30 making the cost per litre Rs. 1.17. This when compared to the present price per litre of Rs 46.00 works out to an increase of 3931.6%. Working backwards the price of a barrel of crude in the '70s should then have been (at $50 ) to US cents 1.27, which is also unbelievable.

Let us now compare how diesel prices increased locally from 1978 to 1983, from Rs. 5.30 to Rs 35.00 per gallon in 1983, the increase works out to 60%. No one spoke of subsidies then. The word subsidy was a recent political invention to put petrol car owners against the diesel car owners and vice versa, so that while the fights go on, the real culprit remains hidden.

Let us put the blame for this on the Arabs, and let us examine how the road tax which has no connection with world market prices rose during the same period.

For a certain category of car known to me the licence fee of Rs 187.50 (1978), saw an increase in successive years to Rs. 750.00 to Rs. 1,500.00 to Rs.6000.00 in1983, giving the percentage increase as 3,200 per cent. This has nothing to do with world market prices. So it is obvious that the motorists were compelled to pay through their noses for something happening between the Arabs in the ME or our own local Arabs.

Accepting the present crisis situation, even now it is possible to give some relief to genuine car owners by imposing Rs.1.00 per litre as road tax and abolish the annual licence fee to partly reduce the burden, and close down a section of the CMTs corrupt organisation. This too cannot be done because our brilliant economists want persons who travel less to pay more and those who do unlimited travel to pay less. Don't we really have brilliant "economists"? So it is not the economist who runs our treasury but the burdened motorist which is why there is such a high demand for free travel in government vehicles, again paid for by the poor people and causing severe traffic congestion on our roads.

The only major project we can think of funded locally was the construction of the new parliament at Kotte. And it was during this same period that prices of petrol, diesel, arrack, cigarettes went up and up uncontrollably. Has anyone thanked the motorists for this great gift?

Serious doubts emanate from these facts that some other game is going on for which we are made to pay dearly. No government can make up for budgetary gaps or other losses due to high living, corruption and waste by raising fuel prices. The way out is to commence intelligently planned development projects which will attract investments, increase productivity, create jobs, reduce brain drain and improve the quality of life of our people.

The people will bear any hardship for the sake of our country but not otherwise. At a time when prices are soaring and the cost of living affecting the poor people we can see thousands of luxury, fuel guzzling vehicles unsuitable for our roads (some having V6 and V8 engines), coming into our country and the massive fuel bills the government is made to incur to maintain the government's free travel facility to thousands, all paid for  by the poor people. It is also worth saying that rarely mentioned are the rising prices of oil and lubricants which also go the same way as fuel prices.

Can an honest / competent gentleman from CPC challenge these figures with his own arithmetic? Please do so for the sake of our country before a major calamity occurs.

Cheated Motorist
Battarmulla

A quick-fix needed to prevent bus accidents

It will take a very long time for the powers that be to formulate and put in place a plan to prevent accidents, due to the negligence of bus drivers. Till such time, a quick-fix is necessary to rein in drivers, who care not a cent, for the lives of the passengers in the bus.

I suggest that the mindset of the driver (and conductor) and the commuter be changed, so that the latter assumes the status of the 'owner', of the bus. This idea must be built into the psyche of both parties; that the passenger is in command and that the driver is his employee.

It should be made mandatory with immediate effect, that all buses, private and public carry a large board prominently displayed inside the vehicle, in all three languages; "Commuters have the right to restrain the driver if he drives in a negligent manner." This will mean that any passenger will feel comfortable to speak to the driver, kindly, firmly or forcefully, if he feels that the bus is being driven in a manner dangerous to the commuters.

Some drivers are not in their proper senses, due to overwork, taking liquor or medicine. Most, with the connivance of the conductor are hell bent to make as much money as possible. These reasons lead to the fact that bus driver handles his vehicle with the safety and care of his passengers not uppermost in his mind.

In the absence of 'authority' in his bus, the driver feels he is the master of the situation. If he is made to understand that he owes obedience to the reasonable request/order of the passenger, he could be made to drive with care.

Upon the driver and the conductor having to read this board, on a daily basis, several times a day, due to its prominent placing, their mindset will be moulded subconsciously, to treat the commuter as their master. This will compel them to automatically heed the advice of their passengers. At the moment, the commuter feels inferior to the driver and conductor. He thinks he is being done a favour, by being given transport. But in reality, it is a symbiotic relationship, each needing the other, equally. Therefore, neither party is second to the other, but equal partners in this project of transportation.

In this scenario, the commuter has the right to object to overpacking of the bus, and to the negligent manner in which the bus is driven which results invariably in horrendous accidents. The commuter should feel comfortable to order the driver to handle the bus with care, for the safety of the passengers. He should also be able to object to the bus being overloaded beyond the limit of comfort of the commuter. Overcrowding leads to the invasion of privacy, to unwanted attention, theft and even to the danger of the vehicle toppling over at bends.

This board announcing the right of a passenger, hung inside every bus, will notify everybody, who is the boss during a journey. It will build up very quickly, a mentality, that the bus is manned by the employees of those who are its passengers.

All employees understand that they have to obey a reasonable request of the employer. Employers know that if their employee is negligent, he has to be spoken to firmly, sometimes using force on him, to avert a huge disaster to all concerned. This will lead to safe and pleasant commuting by bus.

I am sure bus owners (private and public) will welcome this simple, cheap and quick method to prevent accidents, that give unnecessary heartache and expense to themselves too.

Amara  A. Navarathne
Colombo 15

Tragedy at the crossing: time to act now

The tragedy at the rail crossing which caused the death of over 35 passengers and caused injury to nearly 50 others could have been prevented had the Private Bus Owners Association, the national Transport Commission, Ministry of Transport and above all, the Police Department done their duty.

I say "above all, the Police Department" with good reason. Daily you find private bus drivers going against the red light, overtaking byzpassing the double white lines and driving in the most reckless manner. But are they nabbed? No. But if you and I go through even an amber light there will be a ticket given to you. This attitude towards the private bus drivers by the police cannot be understood. The IGP must look into this.

The head of the Private Bus Owners Association has said that "there is a surplus of buses on most routes" I don't think he has travelled by bus recently or else he could not have made this statement considering the way buses are jam packed. Is he aware that there are buses with three hand rails for standing passengers? If what he said is true, how can he account for this particular bus carrying nearly 100 passengers?

He has blamed the government and the provincial authorities for failing to impose standards. Will he now, solemnly and sincerely, promise that he will ensure that his unruly bus drivers and conductors will not strike once the standards are imposed?

The Prime Minister, after announcing that Rs. 25,000 would be given for the funeral expenses of each dead person, has said that a fly-over is what is required but failed to mention about any deterrent action that should be taken against suicidal drivers. Of course, a fly-over will cost only a few hundred million - which is nothing to a country like ours, but, the benefit to the few lucky ones can only be imagined.

Some questions from the Ministry of Transport. Is it not a condition that all buses carrying paying passengers should be insured? If not, why? Should it not be a condition, before the route licence is given, that all buses must be insured against any injury or even death of its passengers? If not, will he make it a condition now? What is the liability of the owner of this bus towards the unfortunate passengers?

As for the National Transport Commission, is it not time that you thought of the passengers, who get a rawer deal that cattle - overloading of cattle is an offence but not the overloading of human beings? Why has not any action been taken about the number of standing passengers? If there is any law why isn't the police insisting on enforcing such rule? Are you also insensitive to the torture that bus travellers undergo daily?

Let this accident - I cannot call it an accident but an action of a maniac - be an eye opener to all concerned in the road passenger service. Nothing much can be expected of the politicians who travel in luxury cars, in armed convoys and make promises before elections but let the others who can do something to prevent this type of accident act now. Tomorrow will be too late.

W. R. de Silva
Dehiwala

Flashback to JR's rule and his horrendous constitution

How many, I wonder, remember the tumultuous politics of the late '60s. The older generation has probably forgotten and the younger set are conceivably unaware.

Dudley was then the Prime Minister and chose his "loyalist" JR as the all powerful minister of state. Soon, however, the trusting, placid and affable Dudley was made aware of his 'loyalist's' grass cutting tactics. He was naturally incensed by this and was hell-bent on sacking JR. This led to the law courts.

Not to be outdone, JR sought SLFP membership, which Mrs. B. wisely rejected.

Had JR succeeded in joining the SLFP, its fate would have been predictable.

Had JR succeeded in his application, what then of the country! It would surely have been saved from :

(1) His post '77 unbridled free market economic policy which was heralded by his infamous invitation, "Let the robber barons come."

(2) This policy which led to a massive closure of local industry and its attendant unemployment.

(3) This policy which also resulted in the total abdication to the whims and fancies of the World Bank and the IMF that enmeshed the country in a 'debt-trap' even as of today, which has made the poor, poorer.

(4) The promulgation of the horrendous constitution that was designed primarily to prevent UNP debacles as in '56 and ' 71, by doing away with the 'first past the post system'. Indeed, even in '94 when the UNP managed to get a sizeable presence in parliament due to proportional representation, it yet managed only to win Mahiyangana which produced the well-crafted and pithy slogan, "Veddah nathtan reddath ne"

(5) His anti-India and anti-Indira foreign policy which saw that country for the first time in its history establish a southern military command.

(6) The holocaust in 1983 which was a direct result of the massive triumph of Hector Kobbekaduwa in the north and east at the 1982 presidential election.

(Yes, I am a Cassandra because I remember saying to a Tamil friend of mine that his community was now in for a huge mauling).

(7) Provoking Mrs. Gandhi in her undoubtedly misguided policy of nurturing Tamil militants.

(8) A presidential reprieve to Gonawela Sunil for the "small" offence of abduction and rape in broad daylight at Ward Place. He would perhaps have yet been above albeit languishing in jail.

Such then are the quirks of fate that guide the misfortunes of a country.

Sidat Sri Nandalochana
Colombo

SLBC's 'fowl cage'

Reading comments made by a reader recently about SLBC's holiday bungalow, I wish to make some comments mainly about the Commercial Service (English section) and its pathetic state of affairs.

Most of its programmes are done in a very haphazard manner. There is hardly any professionalism or enthusiasm on the part of the presenter. Instead, it is centred around the presenter, most of the time commenting about himself/herself, or serving themselves with 'self delivered bouquets'. In this regard one cannot help but come to the conclusion that some of these announcers are suffering from some sort of 'cheap-popularity-syndrome', and this is all done at the expense of the taxpayer's money. This is in complete contrast to other radio stations, very particularly those private stations that always put the listener before them and act in a more responsible manner.

Then listen to some of those so called request programmes They are inundated with batches of names supposed to be coming from the listeners, but even a child can guess most of them are bogus ones. Even the songs played are done according to the whims and fancies of the announcer. Some of them are too lazy to compile a good programme and some of them seem to be only interested in collecting a few bucks from the cashier. 

These time servers are taking the listener too much for granted. But little do they know they are only driving away the listener to other radio stations. Also, it is high time they induce some experienced young blood into the announcing staff instead of having grand mamas and papas whose voices are so feeble, unpleasant and repulsive. Listening to some of them, one can easily guess they are well past 80 years, and perhaps even on dentures.

In short, the Commercial Service is a big burden on the taxpayer with hardly any commercials or sponsored programmes. Anyhow they should be greatly thankful to BBC for salvaging it from its utter bankruptcy and near collapse, by entering into a long lease contract, thereby forfeiting a good part of its prime time broadcasting hours. We understand it is with the money derived out of this contract they manage to pay the salaries of its staff and meet other overhead expenses.

Upali Amarasinghe
Colombo 3

Noisy pirith sermons at street corners - a disgrace 

The trend that has taken root to erect Buddha statues and broadcast at full blast, pirith in the mornings and evenings from every junction, nook and corner of towns and suburbs, is unethical and a disgrace to Buddhist traditions.

It is most regrettable that temples and other Buddhist institutions of the respective areas, encourage this practice. The initiative for this disgraceful practice is taken, mostly, by uneducated and unemployed youth, who hang around at junctions, threewheeler drivers, private bus crews and undesirable characters in towns. The general public of the area for obvious reasons, comply with them with cash contributions in muted silence.

As an age-long practice, we have had pirith sermons early morning and in the night, in the tranquil atmosphere in our homes.

Does this noisy broadcasting of pirith serve any useful purpose other than demean our religious principles and ourselves as Buddhists.

True Buddhist 
Pannipitiya

It has been an honour and a privilege for me to have known this remarkable person; in all honesty, Nelum had all that it takes to be the perfect person, whose life could fit into the teaching of all religions on this earth.

Her qualities were kind, loving, unselfish, compassionate, tolerant, content and many more, and it is these that have set Nelum aside from most people that have met in my walk of life. Nelum was the ideal wife that unhesitatingly, unconditionally and not counting the cost, gave all that she had to her husband and daughter

She was able to make the best of any situation that she was placed in and she had a philosophical outlook to life in general. I admired her for these qualities and people like her made the drab fabric of life sparkle with threads of gold. Nelum was way ahead of her time in her outlook on life. She walked through this impermanent world, which is so full of sadness and intolerance, with compassionate love

Nelum was truly a shining light to others, much as a lighthouse would be to a ship's captain on a grey and rough sea. As I sit writing this I can hear her gentle laughter, inquiring after my health, and giving me sisterly counsel. Nelum has touched the hearts and lives of many who came to know her, and she knew the power of love that can destroy all bonds of evil, hate and selfishness.

The more I look into her life the more I see how imperfect most of us are and how we, who are on this earth, can learn to live like her and to this extent I firmly believe that her mission in life was to show us the way. The brave manner with which she faced her illness is another lesson that Nelum has taught me. My heart is filled with sorrow that I was not there physically to say how much we love and admired her, but we were there in sprit.

We all live this life but once, and the clock of life is wound but once, we don't know the time or the hour set aside for each one of us, tomorrow is not promised to anyone, so lets live the life that Nelum has shown us. Leave no regrets and be sure one day all of us shall meet.

Nothing can break the chords of love that bind our hearts to Nelum - we were privileged to have had you in our family.

Our thoughts and prayers are with all the loved ones you have left behind and I am sure friends and relations who have gone before will meet you on the other shore.

Rohan De Silva Jayasundera
Canberra, Australia