• State and private universities

• Tsunami aid - foreign and local

• Whom is UNP trying to fool?

• That 100 metre band

• Pension arrears

• Harvesting rainwater

• Stop sale of municipal quarters

State and private universities

At the present time state university undergraduates are protesting against formation of private universities and awarding of academic qualifications. This state of affairs is due to the insecure mentality and hollow bighead of state (university) intergrades stimulated by many reasons.

The local aggressive employment market would be further competitive if more academics enter and inferiority complex in state-intergrades' minds loses the race before the start. This inferiority complex is no mirage, but a reality and this is understood by the protesting intergrades. It is pathetic to say despite high theoretical knowledge the typical state-undergrad is 'unemployable'; meaning they do not possess fundamental soft-skills to be employed over their counterparts. The energy exerted for protesting-campaigns should be diverted to develop skills and thereby create a demand for themselves rather than howling and tarnishing state university reputation as a whole.

Today, typically a student decides his or her career path for A' level exam and probably for the rest of his or her life. This should not be the case. A person should be able to change career even after A' levels, if state universities are not in a position to accommodate this at least private entities should.

The Sri Lankan Government being very generous rightfully expenses on primary, secondary and tertiary education focusing the less affluent. But there should be a limit to this generosity. The state-graduates should not take the government's generosity for granted; they should look for employment or create their own employment rather than howling beside roads and hindering day-to-day lives of the general public and burden the government.

The government has done enough by trying to make this segment employable free of charge.

No argument, the state-intergrades have successfully hurdled A' Levels; the most competitive examination in Sri Lanka and should not be stripped from that prestige, nor should they behave to deter the unmatched repute. The state-intergrades and graduates should understand the power of their un-substitutable achievement, which other institutes cannot reproduce and should realize private academic qualifications would not diminish the value of a state-university qualification. Once again as in A' levels, state-university intergrades should welcome competition and show what they are capable of.

Dinesh Ranasinghe -
University of Colombo

Tsunami aid - foreign and local

Donor countries from all parts of the world wasted no time in offering aid to all those who were devastated by the tsunami disaster that hit Sri Lanka on Boxing Day last year. Ill-fated thousands ended up in watery graves, while nearly 200,000 lost their homes and belongings. Our government with the assistance received from donor countries and local donors, organised the re-building process to bring the country back to normalcy in the quickest possible time. Unfortunately, much suspicion has been aroused regarding the authentic handling of the aid received.

All these ugly accusations could have been averted, had the authorities decided at the outset to hand over to each donor country a project or two that would commensurate with the aid that particular country could afford and grant duty free import of all items required for the purpose, while the State provided the necessary infrastructure. In this way abuse, if any, of both local and foreign aid could have been minimised or even prevented. Donations in cash, local or foreign, should as a rule, not be encouraged. In the event of such a gift, a fool proof system of accounting and acknowledgement should be a vital necessity.

No loopholes should be left for miscreants to line their pockets and for politicians and their henchmen to make hay while the sun shines and spread party propaganda to achieve their own ends at the expense of local and foreign benefactors. The need of the hour is for all political parties to join hands in a sincere effort to redeem the unfortunate victims of their sufferings caused by an unforseen and unexpected show of nature and not for cementing their political platforms. This is not the time to march over the dead bodies of the voters in the quest for political power or personal gain.

G. D. Perera -
Dehiwala

Whom is UNP trying to fool?

Almost all the UNP Parliamentarians appear to be suffering from some discease since the tsunami; they go on barking at anything and everything the Government does and anything and everything UPFA Members utter.

At a recent late night talk show, the UNP politician very proudly said that he was informed of the latest earth quake by 10.05 p.m. and that within 20 more minutes he was assured by his experts that there will not be tsunami waves.

However, according to international agencies the quake took place at 10.09 p.m. That politician apparently had a premonition of the impending disaster.

If he had the country and its people at heart he should have forthwith passed that information to the authorities here who apparently were informed of the quake much later and prevented evacuation of thousands of helpless people.

Whom is he trying to fool? It is time the UNP leader told his loud mouthed acolytes to talk sense with a view to winning over the 15 to 20 per cent floating voter population which has always been the deciding factor at the elections instead of uttering sheer nonsense for the cheap popularity among card carrying party members who are prepared to gulp down any rubbish.

Please do not insult us.

D. PEIRIS -
Pita Kotte

That 100 metre band

Reconstruction of the housing and infrastructure damage leaving a 100 metre band buffer zone will bring agony and social unrest to the oustees, now confined to tents in refugee makeshifts. Vide Coast Conservation Act No. 57 of 1981, amended by Act 64 of 1988, it is mandatory to file an Environmental Impact Assessment- E I A- prior to reconstruction. Such EIA will give weightage to the resettlement of oustees both animal and human and given due credence, will not receive approval for implementation.

To sour the issue, is the exemption granted to tourist hotels. This will create a new class conflict between the rich and the fishing community, which is the worst affected and already coaxed by some to stay put in their once original habitats. If legislation is passed under such circumstances, it will only add to the rules and regulations that cannot be enforced viz., Road reservations, Railway reservations, canal reservations or even the roadside pavements.

No build zones were enshrined in formulating the Coastal Zone Management Plan in the Coast Conservation Act. If it could not be enforced then, it is a fantasy to hope now, specially having a traumatized community at the receiving end. Pragmatic way dictates the need to non structural measures as Early Warning Systems for coastal areas as people are not prone to abandon their life modes from natural calamities. With the advances in technology, hazard areas can be identified by modelling as in inundation mapping for flood prone areas according to return periods of floods.

People facing tidal waves or tsunamies address their lives to live with it.

In Hawai, they allow the inundation in the ground floor and move to safety upstairs. This happened at Eden Hotel, Beruwala on the Boxing day inundation last year. For those at ground level, the only solution is to be aware of the danger from an effective early warning system, which is imperative and achievable with institutions as University of Peradeniya and Lanka Hydraulic Institute, who can pioneer such study.

S.H.C. DE SILVA- Former member,
Coast Conservation Advisory Council

Pension arrears

I am a pensioner paid by the Pension Branch, Dam Street, Colombo. I had to undergo 'prostrate gland' operation at the Jayawardenapura Hospital and was referred to a doctor in the Asiri Hospital for further treatment. The doctor prescribed me to take two doses of the pill 'Flutaplex' daily for two years. This costs over Rs. 2,700 a month. As a result of my illness I was in great financial difficulties.

A friend of mine during the last week of January met the Accountant, Pension Branch, Dam Street on my behalf. My friend made an appeal to him to pay the pension arrears due to me according to the Circular No. 6/2004 of February 23, 2004. The Accountant had readily agreed to revise the pension and pay the arrears due by February or March without fail. To my astonishment, I received my pension arrears along with my pension for February as agreed to by the Accountant. I am immensely thankful to Mr. Seneviratne and his staff for instantly relieving me of my financial burden.

I too have paid in similar fashion to thousands of teachers their fees due in connection with exam supervision and marking on composite vouchers when I was the staff assistant (Finance) during the time of Bogoda Premaratne who was the Commissioner of Examinations. We, in fact made payments, the following day for work done in the confidential section, the previous day to some of the well-known executives in the Educational and Administrative Services of Sri Lanka.

The W & O.P. pensioners too are entitled to a revised pension award and arrears as from January 1, 2004 according to a new circular issued on March 4, 2005 by the Commissioner of Pensions. These pensioners are very much older and pushing in their 70s and 80s. In the earlier case, the pensioners had to wait over a year to receive their arrears and some of them had not yet been paid. Some of my friends in Kotte are still not being paid their arrears. How long will the W & O.P. pensioners have to wait to receive their arrears? Are they not destined to live happily and enjoy the benefits of a decent pension at least during the last stages of their lives.

These pensioners no doubt will grudge a few hundred rupees if deducted from their pay sheet in order to be paid to those who handle the payments quickly and expeditiously as possible on a piece rate basis rather than on overtime which take weeks and months to finalise. Will the Commissioner of Pensions and Heads of Divisional Secretariats please devise some method to make arrangements to overcome the blatant redtape and delay in the payment of W & O.P. pensioners?

PREMATILLEKE SAMARAWEERA -
Kotte

Harvesting rainwater

I am so happy to read that the authorities have formulated a Water Policy that included Rain Water Harvesting for houses to be constructed in future. Hopefully, this will be extended to all buildings as well. This indeed is the simplest solution to our water problem and the government should insist on all post tsunami houses being constructed be provided with a simple system for harvesting rain water. This will be a boon to residents in the dry zones of Hambantota, the East Coast and the entire Northern part of Sri Lanka.

As it will be necessary to pump the water from the storage tank undergound to an overhead tank, I would strongly recommend a manual pump to save on electrical power. An adult in each household can pump enough water manually to feed faucets installed in each house.

TISSA ATAPATTU -
U.S.A.

Stop sale of municipal quarters

Public officers in Government and Local Authorities belong to a transferable service. This is the State rule even for Judiciary staff and the Provincial Governors.

Kandy Municipal Council has provided official quarters for the Municipal Commissioner, engineer, medical officers and the general staff and on their transfer to other Departments or Local Authorities or after they retire, they have to vacate the official quarters enabling the successor to occupy same. The Kandy Municipal Council has built ten houses at Aruppola on a loan obtained from the banks and these ten houses are occupied by the Municipal Secretary, chief clerks and other officers who are serving in the Council. These officers are transferable, after their period of service. The Municipal Council has been misguided and misdirected by the same officers and the Council has been pressurised to vary the State and Local Government manual of procedure and attempts are being made to sell the official quarters to the transferable officers violating the procedure and depriving their successors to accommodate themselves in official quarters.

Kandy Municipal Council is the only institution in this country making preparations to sell the official quarters, misguided by the officers occupying Aruppola Municipal quarters to the detriment of all transferable officers and it is for the Mayor and Council to stop the sale in keeping with the Government and Local Government manual and administrative procedure.

A E -
Kandy