• Inland Revenue VAT fraud

• False promises

• Rationalize the bus fares

• De Zoysa Maternity Home

• Kollupitiya EPF office

• Transparent democracy

Inland Revenue VAT fraud

The embezzlement of a colossal sum of money of more than Rupees 10 million by a high ranking officer of the Inland Revenue Department is to say the least scandalous. In the early days this is a department where staff posts were filled by graduates who not only had high academic attainments; but also untarnished backgrounds.

They were held in high esteem by the public for their honesty and integrity. Evidently those standards have fallen as in the case in other departments too, exceptions.

Apart from the criminal charges that should be the outcome of the present investigations, it also calls for a departmental enquiry and, more importantly, by a special commission to ensure there is no recurrence of frauds of this nature.

The President hearing of this scam publicly announced at a ceremony to lay the foundation stone for a railway bridge across the Nilwala Ganga, called for stern action against accused persons and corrupt public officers adding that the sum involved in this fraud would cover the entire cost of building the bridge and laying of lines beyond what was planned.

This enormous sum, he added, was collections of VAT from majority of the people who could not afford a square meal a day.

However that may be, it is likely the accused person and others who colluded in this crime will be arrested and prosecuted notwithstanding political pressure and defence by eminent counsel retained by the accused persons and, if convicted should be sentenced to jail.

But there is a procedure of VIP convicted (not fraud) and sentenced to imprisonment serving almost the major part of the sentence in the Merchants Ward suffering from undisclosed illness, much like a guest in a star class hotel seem to be quite well and hearty on his release. It thus appears, there is a way of evading a jail term.

Hence, more than taking steps to cover this loophole that defeats the end of justice, should not such embezzlers be penalised by freezing their assets, and also depriving them of their civic rights?

TISSA AMARASEKERA, Kandy

False promises

Most politicians are traitors. how many politicians are leading this country straight? They start by making false promises, gather around themselves, thugs and drug dealers and opportunist businessmen. they borrow from friends and relatives and promise them what does not belong to them.

Once elected to office, they fortify themselves with their families and friends. They corrupt the public and judicial service by giving selected appointments and promotions, so much so that the ordinary citizens cannot get relief even if they can afford to go to the highest in the land.

Anyone who has taken a written or unwritten oath to serve the country to the best of his ability should abdicate in the event he is unable to carry out his legitimate duties. otherwise, he is a traitor, however small his failing may be.

It is the small failings that gather momentum and eventually become a mountain of disasters that can never be resolved. We are on the verge of division on language and religious lines. the architects of these are the nations' traitors.

WALTER FERNANDO, Ratmalana

Rationalize the bus fares

The private bus operators have once again threatened to increase the bus fares by as much as 20% and, above all, the initial fare by 100%, from the present Rs. 4 to Rs. 8. Is the threatening of the private bus operators fair or reasonable?

During the recent past, we have witnessed increases of bus fares on several occasions at the request of the private bus operators. According to them such increases were necessary to compensate for the increases in cost of fuel, tyres, spares etc.

On all occasions the bus fares were increased by adding a certain percentage to the fares existed before the increase. This has resulted in bus fares that have very little relationship to the distance travelled. This in turn has resulted in an unfair deal for the passenger particularly in respect of initial fare.

When the bus services were nationalised in 1958, the fare charged had a distinct relationship to the distance travelled. In most routes in low country, the fare was 03.3 cts per mile approximately and around 04 cts in the hill country. At the time, the lowest fare was only 05 cts; Children being charged only 03 cts as half fare. A passenger could travel from Bambalapitiya to Kollupitiya for 05 cts.

Today the lowest fare being Rs. 4, a passenger has to pay that fare even for half a Kilometre. The method used to increase the bus fares during the past several years has negated the relationship that existed between the distance travelled and the fare charged. This method has been resorted to since it was easy to calculate the increased fare even though the result was unfair from the point of view of the passenger.

This anomaly could be eliminated only if the bus fares were calculated on a pro-rata basis to the distance covered giving the bus operators a fair chance to recover their costs and a reasonable margin of profits.

The fare could be fixed at, say 70 or 80 cts per Km; having the lowest fare at Rs. 3 with which a passenger could travel around 4 Kms. Thereafter, the fare could be increased by slabs of one rupee, thereby avoiding the use of cents in bus fares altogether.

This will also eliminate the anomalies in fares that exist in various routes. However, this may need re-marking the bus fare stages in bus routes.

It will appear that it is unfair to allow the private bus operators in increase the existing lowest fare under any circumstances since they are already overcharging the passengers in this respect. Does it cost a bus Rs. 4 to carry a passenger 1 Km? The present situation has resulted in encouraging the bus employees to 'kota kota yanna' picking up short distance travellers.

To begin with, the authorities could implement a fair and reasonable structure in the SLCTB bus services without resorting to increase their bus fares as well to fall in line with the unfair bus fares of the private bus operators.

After all, there is a fully functional government authority to regulate the bus services and to ensure the bus traveller will get a fair deal from bus operators. The bus fares should be structured in such a way that the bus operators too could cover their costs with a fair margin of profit.

It is not a bad idea to rationalise the entire structure of bus fares as suggested since the majority of our people are going to use omni buses for their day to day travel for a very long time to come and the authorities must remember there are millions of bus travellers who deserve a fair deal compared to a few hundred bus operators.

I functioned as the Senior Accountant of the then CTB for several years from 1974 whose main function was comparing the cost against the revenue of all 50 odd Bus Depots that existed in the island at the time and advising the management.

K. M. GUNARATNE, MORATUWA

De Zoysa Maternity Home

My daughter had a baby at Ward 16 of the De Zoysa Maternity Home in January. The baby developed some complications, and as a result the mother and baby had to stay in the hospital for more than two weeks.

Every day I have been visiting the hospital at 6.30 a.m., 12.00 noon, and at 5.00 p.m. I was very much impressed by the competence and kindness of the staff, especially the nursing staff including midwives, at this ward.

Most of the mothers who came to deliver their babies here were from ordinary walks of life. The nurses were kind to every one of them.

I would have had nearly fifty visits to this ward during this period and I have not seen a single incident where a nurse was rude, impolite, or curt to a patient or a visitor. On the contrary they were remarkably kind to every one who approached them for help, advice or information.

My wife, who very rarely go to State hospitals, told me that she had never seen such kind, committed and competent nurses in the private sector hospitals. The surprising thing, she said, is that every one of them without exception is so kind and caring. I wholeheartedly endorse her sentiments.

We were wondering whether this quality is a particular feature of this particular ward alone or whether the current nurses training programme is inculcating such good culture into them. Whatever the case may be they deserve to be commended.

I do not mean any disrespect to the Doctors working in this ward. Doctors are usually not seen around in the ward during visiting hours.

T. Seenivasagam, Colombo 5

Kollupitiya EPF office

I refer to reader Ananda Jayasena's letter regarding poor service at the EPF office in Kollupitiya (DN March 18).

I beg to disagree. On March 9, 2006 I visited the Kollupitiya EPF office to hand over my EPF Refund application, I was told that there was a discrepancy in my name stated in the contributions made by one of my former employers (This was no fault of the Labour Department) and I was asked to get a letter from this particular employer.

This I did and handed over my application to the Kollupitiya EPF office on March 13, 2006 (Ref No. K/8/5064/2006/72/A). On March 24, 2006 I received the Decision Letter from the Commissioner of Labour dated March 20, 2006 stating that my application has been referred to the Central Bank of Sri Lanka for necessary action.

Ananda Jayasena should not be disheartened if he has any animosity towards the officers at the EPF Office. Probably there might be some genuine problem with his refund application. Making allowance for the normal lethargy associated with a Government Department, I suppose that the Officers at the EPF Office at Kollupitiya has done an excellent job with regard to my application for a refund.

I must add that I did not use any influence whatsoever to get this treatment. I had to wait in the queue (Rather sit on the chairs provided, courtesy of the Labour Department and do a Musical Chairs) for a good part of two hours to hand over my application.

T. S. de Silva, Mount Lavinia

Transparent democracy

It is reported elsewhere that the EU also stressed the need for implementation aspects on the ground, so vital to local democracy and confidence building. (Mar 22)It would have been useful if the 'local nuances and complexities' were spelt out in the interest of a transparent democracy. Keeping such secrets under the hat can be counter-productive.

So are the reported events on the ground that one wonders whether there will be a Round Two Geneva. That would be catastrophic for all.

SARAVAN, UK