Hidden or Extra Costs

Arien Vikash Kumar, Nadi

I guess everyone by now knows that one has to pay to use public conveniences in certain towns and cities. Different councils levy different amounts to the public to use its services each time one wishes or needs to use the service.

On a day some visit the public convenience once, some visit more than once and some never visit at all. For some, the number depends on nature’s call and for some the costs per visit.

This is fine for those who can afford it but what about those who can’t?

My concern here is for those who cannot afford to pay the cost. Believe me it’s not the matter of 20cents or 50cents. It’s the matter of the costs which one might have to pay later if they cannot afford to pay the council a few cents during the need of urgency to use the public convenience.

Has anyone thought the cost which one may have to pay later if they don’t pay there and then? Has anyone thought how costly it can become holding nature’s call for long just because you cannot afford to pay the council?

Isn’t that one putting his or her health at risk which can be more costly in future? Can the councils relook at this from another perspective please.

Rebuttal to analysis

Peter Waqavonovono, Suva

I glimpsed an analysis written by this paper’s Editor Nemani Delaibatiki. Mr Delaibatiki was relaying his personal views of Mr Sitiveni Rabuka and in it he said that the coup of 1987 was the worst in Fiji’s history.

All coups are criminal and illegal, they are also all equally the worst event that can happen to a democracy.

These coups showed Fijians that 1987 was the bench mark to political interference but that coups would only get violent from there onwards.

So can I offer this correction to Mr Delaibatiki, let us also acknowledge that a coup is a coup and that all coups build on their precedents and if we do not take precaution, the worst is yet to come.

Clarification on Plastic Bag

 Neelz Singh, Lami

Not all businesses can charge the plastic bag levy. The confusion is that every type of business small or medium from bean cart to small canteen, restaurant and such organisations are charging the plastic levy.

The Fiji Revenue and Customs Service released a public notice to clarify what businesses can charge a levy which in this initial roll out is restricted to those businesses that have cash registers otherwise known as a Point of Sale system to electronically capture and reconcile the plastic bag levy.

According to the Fiji Revenue and Customs Service Chief Executive Visvanath Dass, businesses that do not have a Point of Sale system are not part of the phase one roll out. That means if you are only using cash registers alone.

Any customer being charged with the plastic bag levy by a business without a Point of Sale system must immediately report his receipt details to the authority through its hotline: 1323 or if a receipt wasn’t given ask for a receipt and report the offence to the FRCS.

Mr Dass says the levy is paid by the customer based on their choice but collected by the business who will then remit it to the Fiji Revenue and Customs Service.

All businesses under the new law must display a notice informing customers of ECAL charged on plastic bags, this must be clearly legible and displayed in a visible place.

Potential health hazard in new clothing

Satish Nakched, Suva

It is very common when shopping around in the major clothing stores that most of the potential customers insist that they go into the changing rooms to try out whether the fitting is of the correct size.

Sometimes the customers take in a few garments of different sizes and physically put it on to determine the fitting sizes and the store assistants and the owners are happy to oblige with the request.

There are chances that nothing will be bought and this trend continues in other shops until customer satisfaction is achieved.

The worrying factor in this whole exercise is that the rejected worn garments which weren’t bought then go back to the display rack for the next customer to buy without any fumigation or quarantine implemented to ensure that the biological hazards are eliminated.

We live in a tropical and very humid environment and human perspiration is certain together with the body odour and traces of this threat are absorbed by the clothes that were tried out.

Though it may sound minor as some might say that all new clothes must be washed before they are worn. Sometimes this is not practised.

Used clothes harbour micro-organisms and can lead to skin infections. Germs on clothes can come from our body particularly in people with skin problems or wounds.

It is about time that a control is put in place for the retailers to ensure that the clothes that are sold are in a hygienic condition though it may incur a cost and this must be included in the Public Health Act.

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