| by Rajasingham Jayadevan
( February 7, 2013, London, Sri Lanka Guardian) The much boasted development of A9 road to the north has earned the reputation for the government for accomplishing the project efficiently and achieving the much wanted engineering standard in its post war rebuilding work programme.
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"The ugliest of all was the disgusting facial expression of the uniformed police officer when he overtook the bus driver after taking the bribe to proceed forward. The police uniform failed to cover his nudity so overtly."
The once A9 pothole carriageway is withstanding the pressures of the rainy weather and heavy goods traffic but is facing relentless pressures of the unscrupulous and corrupt police officers who are hell bent on soliciting bribes from the motorists.
What the visiting NGO’s and the diplomatic officials will not see is the pathetic and failing civil administration of the road that has brought the well intended effort of the government to a naught due to inefficiency in the road management and the very blatant bribe taking by the guardians of the law.
Time saving on the reconstructed A9 stretch of 234 miles from Colombo to Jaffna has not seen any real saving of time for the motorists due to the menacing bribe taking police officers.
Within the past twelve months during my visit to Sri Lanka, I have travelled on the A9 road back and forth six times. On the average, it takes about 8 to 9 hours for a each journey that is about a daunting 30 miles per hour drive at any time.
The road too suffers from lack of sign posting on speed limits and the hearsay knowledge of speeding dictate the motorists to set their own limits.
Whilst there are genuine police officers checking the speeding motorists and to verify the legal status of the vehicles and drivers, on majority of the occasions it is the menacing uniformed officers who rule the A9 road.
When a coach is stopped and the driver dashes off to the back of the vehicle, it means the police will be enticed to overcome the charge of motoring offence.
Even the genuine offenders get away with the prevalent bribe management system in practice.
When I was travelling in the night on the A9 road in December 2012, on each journey the luxury coaches were stopped at least dozens of times by the police. On the average one to two hours is added to the journey as a result. This is in addition to half an hour stoppage at the Omanthai military check point.
A disgusting incident was experienced when I travelled in a private bus a week ago. The driver took due care when he was proceeding through to the north when he was suddenly stopped by the police appearing on a motorcycle. The police officer spoke in Sinhala to the driver through the side window and his grinning face said it all that he is after the much wanted pargar (bribe).
The driver too went behind the bus and succumbed to the unwanted pressures. On returning to the wheel, the driver said he had to part with Rs500 to overcome the threat of the police officer. The accusation levelled was that the driver was irresponsibly overtaking a motorbike, an accusation that will not fit for such responsible driver.
The ugliest of all was the disgusting facial expression of the uniformed police officer when he overtook the bus driver after taking the bribe to proceed forward. The police uniform failed to cover his nudity so overtly.
During LTTE regime, it was accused of kappang taking at checkpoints. Kappang taking was only restricted to its checkpoints and reception houses. But the administration under government at present is so menacing that the very intent of A9 being projected as the gateway to economic prosperity is jettisoned to the fact that it is the black economy of the police officers that is fattening purses of the rogue officers.
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