Queen of Soul

Amenatave Yaconisau, Delainavesi

I Iament the untimely passing away of the “Queen of Soul” Aretha Franklin.

Many people, including US Presidents, have been touched.

Everyone passes on, but this one leaves large shoes to fill. May she rest in peace!

Late Former PM

Dewan Chand, Suva

I write to express my deepest condolences to the family of Atal Bihari Bajpai and the people of India.

Atal Bihari was a towering and charismatic political character who became Prime Minister of India three times.

His political career stretched more than 60 years, in which he struggled to emerge as a popular national leader.

His poetry, oratory and excellent command of Hindi language enabled him to mesmerise crowds.

Mr Bajpai was the founder of the Bharatiya Janata Party and the political mentor of current Prime Minister Narendra Modi and many of his parliamentary colleagues.

May his soul rest in peace.

Traffic chaos

Wise Muavono, Lautoka

The traffic chaos along the Suva-Nausori corridor will soon be encountered between Nadi and Lautoka in the not-too-distant future.

I might as well take my sleeping bag to work.

Confiscated Fish

Norman Yee, Nadi

All the fuss about the the confiscated fish!

It is obvious where it went.

When Police confiscate drugs they burn them.

I read when overseas authorities seized tons of ivory they burn them!

Here there is deadly silence from the authorities.

If the fish has gone into someone’s stomach may I suggest that the minister take action by either charging the culprits with theft as the Police do when drugs in their charge goes missing or alternatively they pay an equivalent amount to charities such as the Red Cross or face the court.

Better still sell it to the market vendors and the proceeds go to Red Cross.

And we the consumers benefit.

This way the fisherman loses out so he won’t be catching the fish again and the fish won’t be wasted by being burnt or going into someone’ s belly for free.

10 Cents More?

Gay Maxwell, Sigatoka

Would someone please tell me what is so special about The Fiji Times?

They charge 10c more – $1.10c for their paper!!

Complete Eradication

Dharmendra Kumar, Suva  

The notion that we can leave a little bit of sin in a few hidden corners of our lives without it impacting the rest is a deadly lie from Satan.

The only cure for sin is complete eradication of the practices, habits and tools that facilitated it in our lives.

The power of God offers us freedom from sin, but we must leave sin behind completely to live in that freedom.

Like the roots of a weed, any tiny vestige of sin we live in our hearts will sprout new growth.

Service stations

Satish Nakched, Suva  

During the 1970s the service stations with few pumps provided the fuel, lubricants and the other vehicle basic needs and only attracted the motorist.

The business has evolved tremendously and most of the service stations are now constructed using the latest technology and models.

It is a pleasure to visit the outlets now because they are equipped with full air-condition system and have a large and a spacious parking at the pumps.

The service stations have become a convenience store and carries  all the range of the groceries,fast food ,soft drinks and other items for the people on the go.

Some even have a bread shops adjacent to the building.

A few of the service stations have become the corner shops in their location and attract the general public into the stores and operate on a 24-hour basis.

Apart from the motorist driving in the other members of the public actually walk into the premises and the frequency increases after hours and during the weekend when the larger shops and the supermarket closes for business.

The service stations close to schools and tertiary institutes attract students in numbers because of the variety of everyday product availability.

However, when the gradual change was in progress the safety issues of the customers on foot was never considered and I believe that even today such importance is still ignored.

I have not seen any service station in Fiji that has a pedestrian walkway marked that will enable anyone walking in safe entry and egress out of the premise.

Vehicles have the right of way and there are no administration controls in the form of any written notice placed as a warning for the drivers to be cautious.

There have been near misses and I believe it can be a cause of serious injuries if no improvement and the corrective action are implemented in the redesigning of the safety aspects in the place of the business.

I believe that this is the social corporate responsibility of the franchise to ensure that all the franchisees must adhere to and incorporate the safety issues of all the stakeholders when doing business ethically.

I also urge the regulators to consider the basic safety rights of all the customers when issuing or renewing the business licence of the operators.

The oil companies have a very high and a strict standard of their internal process when dealing with the operation phase of the business and the staff. But equally important their procedures has not captured the protection aspects of the other users.

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