Over to you Minister of Highways and Road Development,Chairman RDA and Kelaniya PS

The people of Makola and the surrounding areas, who are travelling via Makola Road to Kiribathgoda and beyond, are experiencing a critical problem, during heavy rains. A stretch of about 100 meters along Makola Road near Kiribathgoda Police Station, goes under water and becomes a river of sorts.

This is happening for about five years, mainly due to the soil filling of the then existed paddy fields, on both sides of the road. The total soil filled area is about 30 to 40 acres.

Those days rain water filled the paddy fields, and thus didn’t flow over the road, but now this volume of water has to occupy somewhere, and so, fills above this soil filled areas and then flows over Makola Road, causing floods, and giving hardship to road users.

In addition to the above situation, the culvert in front of Udeshi City shopping complex is under construction for more than three months (to increase the water flow through).

Due to the lethargic construction work, the flow of water through the culvert is curtailed, and in addition to that, a portion of the road is blocked, and has become a safety hazard, especially when the road is under water.

The culvert is under construction from one side of the road and the construction area is barricaded, and due to this, the road is narrow at that point. The other side of the culvert has no safety rail erected. When the area is submerged, and vehicles continuously passing by, the pedestrians walking through water is at high risk of falling to the culvert.

Eventhough the Police has placed a movable barrier temporarily, the risk of a pedestrian falling to the deep water always remains.

What we need is to expedite the construction of the culvert, and erect railings on both sides. And as a long term solution I suggest to fill the road stretch by about two to three feet, from the present level, so that the road would not go under water again, as we cannot go to the paddy field era again to reduce the water level.

Lalith Wijeratne
Kiribathgoda

Over to you Mayor Colombo and Municipal Commissioner

The Viharamaha Devi Park (formerly Victoria Park) is undoubtedly one of Colombo city’s most prized possessions. Located in the heart of the fashionable residential area, this popular public leisure park is a favourite of those of all ages.

The British tried to make a replica of their cherished Kew Gardens (London). They maintained this Park beautifully and laboriously creating charming flower beds, rare plants, creepers and trees.

In recent times due to the CMC’s lethargy and indifference, this lovely park is deteriorating gradually.

Although a large cadre of workers are in the CMC’s payroll specifically in work connected with the Park one sees bits and pieces of dirty paper, plastic bags, rancid food strewn all over. Even the mote around the Buddha Stupa is full of dirt, plastic/paper bags etc.

There is hardly any supervisory staff walking around or to be seen to help a proper administration of the Park. Neither have sufficient number of dust-bins strategically placed with clear messages written in them for the disposal of garbage.

Many of the schoolchildren and rural folk who visit the Park almost daily will place their throw-always in these bins if they are properly directed so in the local languages.

The so-called cash rich CMC, can surely afford to employ, even on the basis of a few visits per month, a Botanist to beautify the place with flowers, new plants etc.

The many representations made to the Mayor and the Municipal Commissioner in this regard by concerned citizens have fallen on deaf ears so far. Not surprising as someone remarked “getting officials today to do something - even those public matters for which they are paid for - are doomed to fail unless there is some vested interest in it for them. As for the Mayor - the least said the better.

He hardly knows if he is coming or going and no one understands what he’s trying to say when he comes on TV.

The only notable thing he has done - not necessarily good or useful - is to have the grills around the Park painted in blue whereas it was in green, and then in response to a public outcry, back to green. What more can you expect of someone untutored in all three languages?

I hope your column will be successful in creating a culture where this extremely precious piece of the people’s heritage can be maintained aesthetically and kept clean in a sustained fashion by a committed set of public officials and workers. Something along the lines of ‘Lassana Lanka’ you are trying to create.

A. Kandappah
Colombo 3

Over to you Moratuwa UC

At Moratuwa along the Galle Road from the Rawathawatta junction towards the direction of Colombo on a distance of about 400 yards, along the seaside of the road, almost every manhole leading to the underground storm water drainage system do not have lids.

Therefore during heavy rain, when the roads get covered with storm water, the pedestrians are vulnerable to fall through the open manholes into the drains.

Wide publicity was given through your newspaper regarding a tragic death of a young girl falling into an uncovered drain at Wijerama Mawatha, Colombo during the recent storms on May 3 and 4. Despite such tragic incidents being widely reported, the authorities responsible to cover the open manholes at Moratuwa have not been driven into action.

S. A. P. Fernando
Moratuwa