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Well done Central Bank Governor Nivaard. I hope that the Government
will agree with him and go ahead with the war on terror and development
by any means.
India refused foreign aid long ago and has now prospered. Well, I
agree that they did not have to fight a war, like Sri Lanka has to do.
But the fact remains that these so called donor countries were never
really interested in a lasting solution to the terrorist problem but an
unstable peace only that drained the country of resources in the last 20
years of negotiating with a partner that cannot be trusted. It cannot go
on forever.
We, the Sri Lankans have to settle the issue. Burma has had a similar
situation in the last 40 years fighting a Karen movement.
International aid was stopped but Burma did not give up.
It is a question of national pride and independence of foreign power
and aid.
GAMINI RANJIT
The Security Forces together with the police have finally been able
to push the Colombo Municipal Council authorities to clean up the City
of Colombo, especially the pavements.
After many long years, the rate payers in the city can now walk on
the pavements without having to give the pavement away to the
unauthorised hawkers and being compelled to use the main road instead to
walk.
The roads and pavements have also suddenly become clean and tidy, a
scene we remember in the late 1960s.
The Galle Road was cleared this week and we hope the authorities will
continue the clearing up operations on R. A. de Mel Mawatha where there
are many kiosks which were supposed to be mobile originally, but now are
minus the wheels and permanently fixed to the ground.
There is however one puzzling question that the authorities have to
answer.
How is it that while 95 per cent of the unauthorised structures which
were not mobile have been removed, there are certain places specially in
Bambalapitiya and Fort areas where some persons have been allowed to
operate even though they too fall into the same category as im-mobile
kiosks.
In the high security zone in Fort near the bo-tree on canal row
opposite the World Trade Center there are nearly half a dozen firmly
fixed shacks where anyone could conceal a bomb.
Another place is near the CTO at the West end of the Chalmers
Grannery on Olcott Mawatha, where again there are a few unauthorised
shops put up with political patronage.
We, the law abiding citizens expect the authorities to enforce the
law irrespective of the person it is said ‘the law is no respector of
persons’.
TILAK FERNANDO -
Colombo 6
It was a very heartrending Buddhist discussion by a Buddhist monk
that I listened to, on a private TV channel that really shook me.
The discussion was mainly about a young exceptionally clever boy, who
unfortunately didn’t have enough Kusala Karma to live and carry on his
work. The monk said that it’s mainly ‘exceptional’ people who are prone
to misfortune, if they have not done enough merit in the last birth.
So, I wish to convey this message to our parents, that we must be
more diligent of our offspring and do good, perform religious rites, and
give merit, so that the young will benefit by it. If this is done, I’m
sure the future of our children would be more secure and eventually our
people too would be more virtuous.
ANANDI KULATILLEKE -
Mt. Lavinia
It continually amazes me to hear politicians say that we have a power
crisis as we are so dependent on oil for power generation.
What was the Mahaweli project all about? I well recall it being
stated that the primary objective of the project was hydro power
generation with agriculture being a co-objective.
How is it after spending all those billions and lining the pockets of
some of the politicians involved, we are still talking of thermal power?
DR. P. THENABADU
I was very pleased to read your two articles about animals, cruelty
against cattle and dogs should stop immediately in Sri Lanka.
I am a Swiss citizen now on holiday here in Sri Lanka and I was very
sad to see all those poor animals on the streets.
The only way to make Sri Lanka more beautiful is to take care of its
animals and nature.
The only long term solution is to sterilise the dogs, not to kill
them and more information should be available, so that all citizens
treat better their animals.
I was shocked to read articles on the inhumane cattle slaughter. I am
so pleased you published this article that so many people understand how
bad is the situation towards those innocent beautiful animals. I am no
Buddhist but I don’t eat meat because I don’t want to be responsible of
this slaughter.
Animals should be respected and loved as they cannot speak, we should
speak for them. I hope through the media we can change the situation for
the better for all animals in Sri Lanka.
PATRIZIA ALVINO –
Switzerland
If ever there was a bus service that should be investigated, it is
route No. 155. The commuters are put through utter torture. Get into a
bus from point X and loaded or empty it will crawl.
This is true in the mornings where it will stop at Wellawatte, near
the Government Flats at Bambalapitiya and Bambalapitiya junction even
though there is not a passenger in sight. Schoolchildren and office
workers could get late but it is not the concern of the bus crew. They
just wait, and wait and wait.
The trip back is no better. The stop at Town Hall, again near St.
Peter’s College, Wellawatte junction is so annoying and they run
according to their whims and fancies. Passengers dare not ask why they
stop so long. You will be told in the most curt manner ‘Take a trishaw
if you are in a hurry’.
The transport authority, and the CTB have only to put a few more
buses to give the private operators a run for their money. At the sight
of a CTB bus, they come to life and even break road rules.
The bosses of the Private Bus Operators ask for increases at the drop
of a hat. Service, issuing of tickets, overcrowding, discourtesy and
indiscipline are the hallmarks of this service.
Please Mr. Minister, give us some relief.
Put a few more CTB buses on this route. There are brand new buses
lying idle in that vehicle park at Bambalapitiya. Can you help?
S. P. ISSIDORE PEREIRA –
Katubadde
In his letters to the editor on the above topic (DN Jan.16) Tuan Riza
Rassool of the U.S.A. has quoted Swami Vivekananda rather out of context
to support his view that the tenets of Hinduism do not prohibit beef
eating with any hard and fast rule.
What Swami Vivekananda had said was that there was time when beef
eating by Brahmins had been in vogue and that this social custom had
long since ceased when the people realised that the slaughter of bulls
would annihilate agriculture.
He had explained that the ancient customs and ceremonies were dead
and gone and would never again come back to life. Modern Hinduism draws
its tenets according to the Swami from the spiritual part of the Vedas,
thanks to Sri Sankara who revived the same.
In this connection, the following piece of writing by Mahatma Gandhi
on cow protection (p120 of Hindu Dharma) may be relevant.
“I do not want to be told as to what Hindus 10,000 years ago did.
I know there are scholars who tell us that cow sacrifice is mentioned
in the Vedas. I remember when I was a high school student we read a
sentence in our Sanskrit text book to the effect that the Brahmins of
old used to eat beef.
That exercised my mind greatly and I used to wonder and ask myself
whether what was written could be after all true. But as I grew up the
conviction slowly forced itself upon me that even if the text on which
these statements were based was actually part of the Vedas the
interpretation put upon it could not be correct.
Go to any Hindu child and he would tell you that cow-protection is
the supreme duty of every Hindu and that any one who does not believe in
it hardly deserves the name of a Hindu”.
C. RUDRA -
Wattala
I congratulate British Prime Minister Gordon Brown on his move to
allow hospitals in the UK to take organs from dead patients without
explicit consent as revealed in the letter titled ‘Organs to be taken
without consent’ by G.A.D. Sirimal in the Daily News (Jan. 25).
Let us respect the faiths as stated by Sirimal who resist post mortem
examinations: but why not persons of the major religious faiths in Sri
Lanka, Buddhism and Hinduism, welcome this suggestion of allowing organs
to be taken without explicit consent after death and urge the Government
of Sri Lanka to legalise it, for those belonging to religious faiths who
do not object to it; After all organ donation is a ‘Gift of Life’.
PROF. M. SIVASURIYA
I cannot think of better words to describe the traffic congestion
which exists at least for two hours in the mornings and evenings which
the unfortunate commuters have to face from Koswatta to Malabe.
All the commuters who travel to/from beyond Koswatta will vouch for
what is stated above. Most of the time, travel time taken to come to
Colombo after passing Koswatta in the morning and up to Koswatta from
Colombo in the evening, takes less time than the time taken to go
through this particular stretch. Therefore, anybody passing this stretch
should have at least an additional 20 minutes as a cushion in their
schedule.
This problem has been there for sometime. But it is not apparently
noticed by the politicians who are supposed to do something for the
silently suffering public merely because when these elite ‘fly’ on our
roads, common people like us have to stop where we are or side step
giving them the way.
The reason for this acute traffic problem on this stretch is that the
vehicular traffic has to go in a single file due to either side of the
road, though there is enough space for an additional two lanes, have not
been tarred.
If the Government has no desire or no money to tar these side lanes,
why not invite businessmen along the road in this stretch to do that and
as a reward allowing them to paint their names etc as an advertisement
on the area where they spent money to laying tar.
JAYANTHA RATHNAYAKE
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