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Open secret
The pro-LTTE stance of Hindu Affairs Minister T. Maheswaran is an
open secret. Recently while dining at the MPs cafeteria in Parliament
with a group of JVP legislators, the MP had drawn a map of Sri Lanka
and asked some of the his colleagues to mark out the important towns
in the north and east. After it was done, he had cut off the northern
part declaring, "We already have this part."
" What about the eastern section, " one of the JVP MPs
has queried only to be told "We will soon have that part as
well."
Wires
crossed?
It seems that it's not only the ordinary citizens of this country
who have a difficult and arduous task getting a telephone connection.
Last Friday,
PA Kandy district MP D.M. Jayaratne had a question put in the Order
Book of Parliament, directed at Mass Communication Minister Imtiaz
Bakeer Marker, why a telephone he had applied for in February this
year has not been allocated so far. Mr. Jayaratne was not present
to ask the question which another of his colleagues did. Mr. Jayaratne
has said that in February a letter was sent through Parliament for
the speedy supply of a telephone to his residence in Colombo 5 and
queried when this telephone would be made available. Strangely the
reply was that the telephone had been provided in March this year.
It's difficult to say whether it's the MP or the Minister who got
his wires crossed on this one.
Trick
that didn't work
A former policeman claiming to have worked for a father-son parliamentarian
duo from the Matale district attempted to make his way to Parliament
last week. Fortunately a few vigilant police personnel on duty noticed
he had made an earlier attempt to enter the place only to be told
he cannot be allowed in, as he had been involved in several illegal
activities.
The man was
apprehended and handed over to the Welikada police. It was later
found that he was wanted in Anuradhapura in connection with several
robberies. There is little talk of his alleged connection with the
politicians whom he claimed he once worked for.
Wrong
men punished
There has been a reaction to our story titled " Carrying on
regardless" which appeared in the Sunday Times of September
7 but it wasn't the expected response.
One of the security guards, attached to the institution under question
coming within the purview of the Transport Ministry, has been interdicted
while another has been transferred to Kandy for allegedly leaking
information to the paper. But the official reason given to the man
who was interdicted is that he brought a cellular phone into the
premises, which is prohibited by written order at the said institution.
The other man
had been sent to Kandy as there was a vacancy for such a post there.
Sorry Mr. Chairman, you got the wrong men. The moles are still in
place.
Only
safe up there
The latest casualty in road rage incidents that are on the increase
throughout the country was a pilot attached to the national airline
Sri Lankan. The man was being driven home after work when his vehicle
knocked down a motorcyclist at Seeduwa last Sunday killing the rider.
The frightened
driver had fled the scene leaving the pilot behind. Angry crowds
who gathered at the scene had pulled him out of the vehicle and
beaten him badly. At least there is no such fear of mob violence
up in the skies.
Costly
exercise
Last week the Fire Brigade had been called in to put out
a fire which had broken out in the garbage at the Colombo Port.
Accordingly the vehicles of the Fire Brigade had set off and on
the way the officer in-charge of one of the vehicles had directed
the driver to go carefully as it wasn't a case of real urgency.
But the overzealous
driver who had paid little attention to the advice has driven even
faster causing the vehicle to overturn, incurring a couple of million
rupees worth of damage to the vehicle. Fire Brigade officials might
be wondering whether it would have been better if they had neglected
the call about the fire, as it was a rubbishy matter which eventually
turned out to be a costly exercise.
Horagolla
sans Crown Princess
The President's habits of coming late and making last minute cancellations
seems to have irked her family members as well.The function was
the Bandaranaike commemoration day, which was being held at Horagolla
on Friday. Arrangements had been made for the President's arrival
with the PSD in full force to ensure security only to have a last
minute announcement that she would not be attending as she had another
official appointment.It was obvious to onlookers that the most annoyed
seemed to be the President's sister who was seen gesturing to brother
Anura as if to say," Api danne neha" (We don't know).
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