Traffic snarl at High Level Road: New plans a must

I have to thank the Traffic Police for their efficient service to control traffic but new plans and initiatives are necessary. From the flyover to Seibel Avenue on the High Level Road, traffic moves at snail’s pace and right side crossing the road obstructs the flow of traffic. There are too many pedestrian crossings between Nugegoda flyover and Seibel Avenue. The right side crossing should be allowed only under the Nugegoda flyover to enter bylanes. All road users should cooperate to make the flow of traffic easy.

Crossing the road to the right from 6.30 a.m. to 9.30 a.m. and 4 p.m. to 7.30 p.m. should not be allowed unless at the appropriate place for right turn.

Similarly vehicles from Nugegoda to Kirulapone should take their right turn near the Bo tree passing the Kirulapone bridge or any other convenient road/roundabout directed by the Police to enter by roads.

A right turn at Railway Avenue should be completely banned and traffic should take their left turn to Railway Avenue only.

Crossing left to right and right to left at the entry and exit of the Flyover at Nugegoda should not be allowed. Drivers in the habit of cutting the double line at both ends of the flyover too should be stopped and offenders brought to book. Several accidents have occurred at these points when cut- ting the double line.

Buses should be parked away from the Nugegoda flyover to give way for traffic moving towards Maharagama. A CCTV should be installed at the both ends of the flyover. Karalasingam Sivalingam Via email

Needless to say people are not very happy about Yahapalanaya, but neither would they like the earlier regime back. The main reason why Yahapalanaya is no more is because the President, in spite of being a sincere, trustworthy person is struggling between two contradictory roles.

While being the President of all the citizens of Sri Lanka he is also trying to fulfil his role as the leader of the SLFP. Obviously this is going to cause conflicts. While sincerely trying to be true to all his promises he made as a presidential candidate, he is also trying to keep the strings of one political party within his grasp. This is what made him bring in all the unwanted elements into the government, not punishing the culprits of the previous regime and allowing all what he abhorred to continue in his own regime, undoing all the good he could have achieved.

A President, once elected is the president of all the citizens, irrespec- tive of party affiliations and irrespective of who voted for him. In fact every politician must realize this is the attitude they should take. This used to be the case long ago but then party politics overtook democracy and politicians publicly refused to serve those who did not vote for them.

A President is even more duty bound to serve all the people, since there is only one President for the whole country.

Unless and until our president recognizes what these conflicting roles are doing to him, there can never be yahapalanaya.

He has to choose whether history will remember him as the best President of Sri Lanka ever, which he is capable of being, or one who struggled to keep the SLFP alive and failed in both roles.

One can only wear one hat at at ime. Dehiwela