Remembering the common man in celebrations

The entire country is agog with second swearing-in fever. SMS alerts are arriving each hour on proposed plans and mega development projects are being completed ahead of schedule – at times years in advance to emphasise its importance in history.

Lost in this melee are average people who are seeing a massive waste of resources but unable to stop the wastage.

Patriotism comes in many hues and attitudes. Those who prefer actions over words also require that those steps be defined by moderation and pragmatism. Towering trees on roadsides are being cut down to give a “clear view” of swearing-in ceremonies. The clear view here is that public money is being wasted on a massive scale for banners, billboards, launches, tamashas and inaugurations.

Just yesterday the boiler firing ceremony was held at the Norochcholai power plant. While it cannot be denied that this is a significant occasion with the first-ever coal power plant readying for electricity generation and the chance for people to obtain power at just Rs. 8.04, the expense used for the ceremony could have been averted.

Ministers are well known for being unable to stop blowing their own trumpets, but they are taking their support of the President up a notch these days to tell the people time and again what has been achieved during the past five years. The people are not deaf and dumb – they know more than the ministers and most of what they refuse to speak of as well. Eighty-four families were removed from the Norochcholai site and were relocated to houses that started falling apart just months after they had moved in.

Overall the people of the area were unconvinced of the development benefits the US$ 455 project would bring to the small fishing community, which depends largely on a healthy sea – a fact that is now endangered by the hot water produced from the power plant being released to the lagoon. Another point that worries them is the high sulphur content and heat emanating from the plant. These farmers are no fools and understand that both are not good for their health – issues that all three Power and Energy Ministers past and present who attended the ceremony forgot to mention in their lengthy and loud speeches.

The red glow of the boiler along with the functions of the plant can be monitored from a central control room that also saw the presence of the Ministers before the formal speech-giving part of the ceremony commenced. A tree-planting ceremony, religious activities and cultural dances were all part of the proceedings. The roadways inside the plant were edged with banners and Sri Lankan and Chinese flags as well as the Buddhist standard waving merrily in the stiff breeze. It was clear that most of the preparations were hastily done, with many sections of the plant still in construction stage. Plants – of the leafy variety this time – were wedged into hastily-made flower beds and only a handful of the trees that were prepared for planting were actually planted during the ceremony despite all the hullabaloo.

The event, which was only planned for 300 people, grew to twice that number with members of the provincial councils and pradeshiya sabhas making a last minute entrance, resulting in the food running out. The youth in the dancing group, for example, had to make do with no lunch despite travelling a long distance to perform. There was also speculation that Government officials were doing the rounds in village houses and collecting money saying that it was for the ceremony, which was completely funded by ministerial cash. Minor as these abuses are, it certainly does not promote the wellbeing of the citizens – a fact that the organisers seem to have forgotten completely.