Sri Lanka It's Happening

April 24, 2006

So the fools of sri lanka have decided that the clock should be turned back by half an hour. Rather the president elected by these foolish (many of them still living in tsunami refugee camps), decided to turn the clock back for them.

So now is it GMT -6:30 or is it GMT -5:30? wait a second I think it's GMT -4:30 no one seems to be sure. Other than the confusion it has caused which is intangible, there is one tangible result as well, The Ceylon Electricity Board says it's costing an extra Rs 1.5 million rupees a day for electricity.

The CEB is one of the five most corrupt organizations in Sri Lanka. It's one of the most inefficient too. The news report didn't say if the 1.5 million extra expenditure was the additional loss the CEB is making or whether it's the total extra cost. I suspect that the CEB is making an additional loss. That would mean the total additional cost of electricity would be 4-5 million ruppees per day.

Now poeple are complaining that it's dark when the return home after work. It would be no suprise if the number of incidences of rape increases. The police have no interest in catching them. To make matters worse Sri Lanka's #1 expert on DNA testing died earlier this month.

So the government's solution is to change the office hours for government offices. It will be moved forward by half an hour. That would make it closer to the school opening hours, which means more traffic in the morning. That would prompt the education ministry to change the school opening hours as well. So it will be pretty dark when kids leave home for school.

The simplest solution would be to keep the office opening hours fixed and close them half and hour earlier. At government offices people pack their bags at 4:30 and start watching the clock and make a mad rush to the gate at 5:00. So why not make it easier on everyone and close at 4:30?

Posted by raditha at April 24, 2006 1:55 AM