Open letter to Wildlife Minister Staying in a hellhole in the wilds Booking a Wildlife park bungalow is no easy task, as any wildlife enthusiast will tell you. It is only a serious enthusiast who will undergo the hassle, – the standing in queues, drawing of lots and the half-day, spent in the effort. One [...]

The Sunday Times Sri Lanka

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Open letter to Wildlife Minister

Staying in a hellhole in the wilds

Booking a Wildlife park bungalow is no easy task, as any wildlife enthusiast will tell you. It is only a serious enthusiast who will undergo the hassle, – the standing in queues, drawing of lots and the half-day, spent in the effort.

One has to wait patiently for the first Monday of the preceding month, to dawn, to rush to the Department of Wildlife to secure a bungalow in the following month.

Myself and a few other friends cleared all hurdles and were finally allotted a booking in one of the Wilpattu bungalows. This is not a cheap exercise, so the least we expect is a reasonable measure of cleanliness and comfort.

I have been a regular visitor to the National Parks of Sri Lanka for over five decades. My most recent visit and stay at Wilpattu, has left me deeply disillusioned and disgusted at the absolute squalour and disrepair we had to put up with, during our four-day stay.

These bungalows, are regularly repaired and refurbished, with new sanitary ware, new furniture, new mattresses etc, but no one seems to bother about the quality of the materials, or the workmanship, for within a short time, the pipes break, the sanitary ware cracks and the flushes cease to function.

Right now there are new mosquito nets for all the beds, but they are so narrow that the nets touched our faces, when tucked in, so the mosquitoes had a field day.

There has been a steady deterioration of standards in – cleanliness and lack of proper amenities. Bad cooking and a totally disinterested staff, added to our miseries.

While we were deeply grateful for two reasonably clean, (and unusually, functional), toilet seats, (because they were new), only one bathroom had an apology for a shower, which faced across the bathroom and was not directed inside what should have been a shower cubicle.

The pipes embedded in the wall for this lone shower had been dug out of the wall, probably for an unfinished repair. The only towel rail was also coming free of the wall, while the door lock had been removed and the hole where it had been fixed, stuffed with paper, to afford some privacy.

The kitchen was riddled with swarms of flies and half a dozen tree frogs. The preparation of food, and overall hygiene will not pass even the most basic sanitary test.

More often than not it is the temporary hand, fresh from the village with no training whatsoever, who acts as Assistant to the Bungalow Keeper who does the cooking.

These young men have little or no knowledge of cooking or anything remotely resembling bungalow maintenance.

Let me hasten to add that the bungalow keeper is not the sole cause of this sorry state. All the bungalow keepers are helpless to maintain any level of cleanliness, because, for starters they do not seem to have had any basic training in maintenance, or even simple hygiene.

Nor are they given the basic equipment, supplies, guidance or support from the Dept. of Wildlife to carry out their duties. There seems to be a total lack of supervision and/or interest from the Dept.

There do not seem to be any rules or guidelines, either for staff or visitors. In any case, bungalow keepers are too scared to enforce any rules, having become victims of powerful politicians who, should the staff try to enforce any regulations, find themselves on punishment transfer, or jobless.

The staff only want to keep their jobs at all costs. They do the minimum and mind their own business, except when it comes to collecting their tips.

Sadly, more often than not visitors who occupy these bungalows have no interest in wildlife. These new “enthusiasts” use Nature’s pristine surroundings to consume alcohol, “Dada Mas”(game meat) being the added bonus.

The proof of this is in the stack of empty liquor bottles, lying hidden out of sight, behind the bungalows. On one occasion, I myself collected over 50 empty bottles from a campsite in Yala and took them back to the Park Office.

While we wildlife enthusiasts go through much hardship, standing in queues on the first Monday of the month to draw lots for a bungalow booking, we have quite often witnessed 15 to 20 young employees obviously from the same business or factory, standing in the queue to draw a number for some powerful businessman, who is not necessarily a wild life enthusiast. More numbers, more chances for a booking!

While I have focused on the shortcomings of the bungalows, serious note must be made of the facilities NOT provided for tourists, who are charged a considerable entrance fee.

The mind boggles at the condition of the public toilets, at the Park gates, and at the permitted rest areas.

We were embarrassed witnesses to a few foreign tourists attempting to use the public lavatories at Nelum Villu, only to be turned off by the stench and filth therein.

Who inspects these anyway? Who is responsible for their cleanliness and water supplies? More often than not, there is no water in the toilets or taps.

We promote our Parks as being among our country’s foremost attractions. Are we seriously asking foreign visitors to experience the incompetence of our Park administration?

There is also a large bank of wild life enthusiasts, who would gladly give of their time, knowledge and even funds, to help out, if they know their efforts are going to truly benefit this rich, wild heritage that is uniquely ours.

Charmaine Mendis
Via email


Open letter to the President

Colossal waste of money on house and vehicle

You started your campaign by declaring that you will reside in Polonnaruwa. You promised an end to nepotism. You promised there would not be waste or corruption.

You were against cutouts and posters. You even declared that we would not get a daily dose of your face on TV channels.

Soon after you were elected President, the newspapers reported that your son and your nephew received appointments at the Ministry of Defence and the Presidential Secretariat respectively and your daughter was pictured working for the Tourism Ministry.

Of course let’s not forget your brother’s appointment to one of the most important institutions in the country–Sri Lanka Telecom.

Yet we lulled ourselves into a false sense of security by the comforting thought that nepotism was to a lesser extent than in the past.

Although we appreciate that you did not reserve an entire aircraft for yourself when travelling abroad, the trend of your son accompanying you on various trips abroad, the recent being to the UN, where he sat as a part of the official delegation, taking the place of a government official in the delegation, is troubling.

We did not approve of the former President resorting to such conduct of permitting his sons to accompany him on official visits abroad, so what makes you think that this is now acceptable? We are mindful, that unlike your son, the former President’s son was at least a Member of Parliament.

We were also shocked to see various posters and cutouts with your face to celebrate your return to the island with what some people claim was a victory for the country.

Forgive us if we are wrong, but whatever you did at the UN, was it not part of your official duties as the President of this country?

Then there is the recent newspaper report that there is a budget allocation of Rs.180 million for refurbishment of your official residence at Paget House and a further Rs.84 million for construction of outer houses.

What happened to your pledges and declarations of residing in Polonnaruwa away from the capital? Furthermore, there are two official residences for the head of state – the President’s House and Temple Trees.

Why can’t you reside in one of those two houses and save the country this colossal expense? Those two residences surely are comfortable enough with adequate security for the simple man from Polonnaruwa that you claim to be? We presume you are residing at Paget Road by personal choice.

Another Rs.70,600,000 for a presidential limousine and BMW bikes for your security division? What is wrong with the present transport you are using? We see you speeding along quite comfortably in the same manner as the former President, so why the dire need for a new limousine?

Dear Mr. President, are we to expect in the near future, a declaration that you will be running for a second term, contrary to the pledge you gave at Independence Square in front of millions of people that you are a one-term man? Otherwise why should you want a refurbishment of Rs.180 million and another 70 million for outer houses at Paget Road? Then yet, another 70 million rupees for a vehicle?

Mr. President, the former President served two terms. No one faults him for his conduct during the first term. It is after he secured peace in the country that he mistook the gratitude of the people, as a licence to do as he pleased and permit the waste of public funds, which led to his eventual downfall. You have been in office for less than a year!

As taxpayers of this country we are indeed entitled to a rational explanation for this colossal expense for your house and vehicle. It is not too late to change your mind and move into a state residence reserved for the Head of State thus saving the country millions of rupees.

Concerned tax payer and disillusioned voter
Via email

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