Substandard carriages imported from India

I refer to the recent article in your newspaper regarding the complaint made by the Railway trade union alliance on the above subject.

This article brings back memories to me of a Credit Line offered by India way back in 1968 where they offered a Credit Line to Sri Lanka for the purchase OF several items, including Electrical and Telecommunication items. I was a part of the delegation which was headed by J. V. Fonseka  (if I remember right) that went to India on this occasion. I made a list of Electrical items of Indian manufacture that were internationally recognized such as Usha electric fans, etc.The Telecommunication Department delegate also made a list required by his Department. The Indian delegates refused to agree to supply any of the items that were in my list and offered alternative items that were not of international standard according to my knowledge. I refused to accept any of the electrical items offered by them.

The Telecommunication delegate accepted many of the items in his list that were  offered. The decision to accept some of these items were unfortunate as some of the them failed in service within a short time after installation. This is in short the story behind most of the Credit lines offered by many countries to get rid of goods they find difficult to sell even in their own countries as well as internationally.

 Much later between 1995 and 2000, I was Vice Chairman of the C.E.B. and Chairman of the  C.E.B. Tender Board. During this period the Tender Board headed by me had to reject several items offered, particularly by India and China,  as they did not comply with our specifications.

To provide an example: there was a tender for the supply of 10,000 Electricity Meters. According to our Specification the Tenderers had to show proof that they had sold this item to at least two other countries and should also supply a sample Meter along with their tender to test its accuracy which should be below plus or minus 2 1/2 %. The tenders from China and India were rejected as they had not complied with both these requirement.

A few days after the decision had been made on this tender I attended the Indian National Day celebrations at the Indian Embassy. on invitation.

The Indian High Commissioner was a keen cricket fan and I happened to be the Hony. Secretary of the Sri Lanka Cricket Board at the time and he was invite4d as  a guest for all International Cricket matches played in this country, This resulted in my Invitation for the Indian National day celebrations. Soon after he greeted me, referring to the recent tender for electricity meters he inquired why our tender board had rejected  the Indian tender although it was the lowest. As our tender board handles several tenders at a single sitting, I told him that I could not remember but if he could send someone to my office I could indicate the reasons. The very next day he sent one of his officers and I had to show him the reasons why the Indian tender had been rejected. This story I have related to  show how even the High Commissioners follow up on these matters and also how low quality goods are dumped in countries such as ours. I can vouch for the fact that many electrical items that are in the market in  our country are of very low quality and requires replacement very often. I am sure this applies to other categories of goods as well.

The above incidents show how poor countries such as ours become the dumping ground of inferior goods from other countries.

Eng. Neil Perera

(Former Vice Chairman  and former Additional General Manager C.E.B)