Three-wheeler – the poor man’s mode !

I.P.C. MENDIS

Two popular sayings come to mind – the old Sinhala one – “miti thenen thamai watura yanne (water flows from the lowest end). The other – ” Going with blinkers). Both are very aptly applicable to the goernment’s decision to permit three-wheelers to obtain fuel only from their local registered shed. Considering the possibility, or probability, of any three-wheeler running short of fuel in a long distance run, or even otherwise, way out of his registration point, both the vehicle and the passenger will be completely stranded and be victims of another kind of “chandiya” or hawk. Given the need to introduce systems and methods in this crisis situation, the powers-that-be need to act with circumspect, reasonableness and responsibility without leaving room for people to mock at irresponsible governance, inhumanity and blinkered vision, bringing the administration into more disrepute. The QR system has its merits but not if introduced in the copy-book style, catering more to the blocks with power than to the voiceless majority. It needs to be tailored to suit local conditions.