Duty-free vehicle permits for MPs

The Island recently carried a photo of how people were travelling to work in an overcrowded train after celebrating the New Year. People travel in trains clinging on to doors and windows, standing in between carriages and sitting on the roofs of congested trains.

Then on the same page there was a report about MPs being impatient because of the delay in issuing duty-free vehicle permits to them. The MPs have asked for a duty-free vehicle worth Rs 20 million each and said that it is not possible for them to carry out their duties without new vehicles. However, it is an open secret that most of the vehicles of Ministers and MPs are used by their families.

Time was when we had parliamentarians who used public transport and loved mingling with the people, understood their problems and were unassuming. The late Minister Dahanayake travelled by bus from Galle to Colombo. After getting defeated as Prime Minister, he returned home in a bus. Now, defeated politicians leave Temple Trees by helicopter!

Minister Wanninayake travelled from Kurunegala to Colombo by train and Minister M. D. Banda travelled from Polgahawela to Colombo daily by train. There were also others who used public transport and today in some countries like Sweden politicians use public transport or ride bicycles. When Tony Blair was PM, his wife travelled to work by bus or train. But our MPs ride bicycles only to gain media attention when fuel prices increase.

Dr. P. A. Samaraweera