Traffic congestion at Messenger Street

This is to bring to the notice of the authorities concerned that Messenger Street, though is considered a Commercial area, has only a handful of establishments, but mostly residents who have been living for generations, and several new families are also residing there.

this road has become a parking area for people who are working and other businessmen in Old Moor Street, Barber Street, Aluthkade and Pettah areas, who park their vehicles in pavements of both sides, leaving little or no room for incoming and outgoing vehicles, thus causing severe hardships for pedestrians including schoolchildren and the elderly people.

They come late in the night after completing their work and take the vehicles away.

Even if there is a funeral in a house, the inmates find it difficult to trace the owners of these vehicles and this causes the carriers of the coffin great hardships in taking the coffin out to the road.

Hence I earnestly appeal to the authorities concerned and the Police to make this road a No parking area to enable the public to move freely in the pavements.

S. L. M. OOWISE - Colombo 12

Over to you Minister of Highways, Mayor Colombo MC

The sad condition of Thalakotuwa Gardens, Colombo 5.

This road leads to three schools - Elizabeth Moyer, Asian International School and Illma International School. The condition of the road is in such a sad state.

The road is full of pot-holes and pools of water. Now, I notice water seeping out of a house, which is probably waste water which flows on to the road. Thousands of children use this road and conditions like this which pose a health hazard should be attended to immediately.

Please take the children into consideration and repair the road immediately.

B. SOMASUNDARAM - Colombo 8

Over to you Chairman, Telecom, CEB, Boralesgamuwa UC

At least 700 residents who live along 1st Lane, Egodawatte, Boralesgamuwa (within the Boralesgamuwa U.C. limits) are made to suffer the problem of a road bottleneck daily.

The irony of this problem is that it has been created by the lack of foresight by two Government owned Corporations. Viz. Ceylon Electricity Board and the Sri Lanka Telecom.

These two corporations have planted an electricity post and a telephone post, one facing the other on either side of a 10 feet lane at a bend just opposite premises No. 207.

Most of the residents of the lane are vehicle owners and no two vehicles can cross the bend at the same time and bigger vehicles have to do a bypass to arrive at houses beyond the bend.

The ludicrous thing is that the two posts had been brought by vehicles by the two corporations, to this very site.

The Minister of Sports Gamini Lokuge too had to do a bypass to avoid this bottleneck as his vehicle could not negotiate it sometime back.

All the residents along this 1st Lane will thank you, in their hearts (and probably me too) if you could intervene and get at least one of the respective corporations to shift their posts to a place which will allow convenient passage of vehicles through this narrow bend as all our appeals for redress to the authorities have fallen on deaf ears.

H. G. DAYANANDA - Boralesgamuwa

Over to you Chairman RDA

There is an imminent danger of a pedestrian getting crushed to death at the Delkanda bridge on High Level Road as the four lane bridge leaves no room for pedestrians to cross safely.

In the past there had been several near tragic misses with buses speeding away within inches of the pedestrians.

The road was widened several years ago, but the old narrow bridge remains. If the RDA has no funds to widen the bridge, it should take immediate steps to construct a temporary pedestrian bridge over the canal with two or three concrete posts laid over the canal with a safety hand rail on one side.

Under normal circumstances this would take a day, the most.

However, if the RDA is incapable of doing this too for want of funds or any other reason, then they must take action immediately to place four concrete slabs (two on either side of the curb), close to the railing to prevent vehicles travelling too close to the bridge railing.

The concrete slabs should be at least 6 inches high to prevent vehicles travelling over them.

As a further help to the RDA, I have located four such concrete slabs, ideally suited for this job, of size 6” H x 12” x 36” W which are lying idle opposite the National Film Corporation on Bauddhaloka Mawatha. I am positive these belong to the RDA.

The RDA only has to send a tractor and transport these and place them on the curb side of the Delkanda bridge to prevent loss of an innocent life.

Your immediate attention in this regard will be very much appreciated by the hundreds of pedestrians who risk their lives morning and evening crossing the Delkanda bridge.

MILINDA OBEYSEKERA - Nugegoda