Sequel to Daily News probe:

Colombo Municipal Council to clean up Anderson Flats

Chamikara WEERASINGHE

Colombo Municipal Commissioner (CMC) Indrani Jayawardena yesterday said she will direct the Council's health , engineering and solid waste departments to attend to the much needed waste and sewerage clearance problems at the Anderson Flats in Narahenpita, Colombo.

She said this following an inquiry made by the Daily News into the Council's waste management activities at Narahenpita in keeping with the CMC's mandatory role to keep the city clean. The inquiry was made on the basis of various complaints by the residents at the Anderson flats.

Admitting that there were problems of waste disposal and drainage in the area, the Municipal Commissioner said,

the Council has been compelled to restrict its functions of litter disposing to weekends. The situation is mainly due to the lack of sufficient staff to attend to each and every individual problem in the city.

The Council is unable to look into these problems on a regular basis due to various problems and funding is one, she said.

The Anderson Flats Association claims that the CMC has vested its task of waste disposal with a private contractor who does not perform the task of waste clearance properly.

Commissioner Jayawardena said that the private contractor has been assigned with the task of waste clearance in the area and that she would investigate the matter in due course.

She said, the Council' s "Keep the City Clean" program is in tact, and its operations have been diversified with a special focus for combating the spread of dengue in Colombo.

"The program has been expanded with special attention to clean those areas where dengue patients have been found," she explained.

"Since we are faced with a lack of funds we have started cleaning those dengue- prone areas with public participation as Shramadaana campaigns under Keep The City Clean, " she explained.

The public at Anderson Flats complain that a fleet of lorries with garbage have been dumping lorry loads of garbage in and around the Anderson flats, but the CMC has not taken any action about this. Contacted by the Daily News the head of the CMC Solid Waste Disposal Department Sangameil said, since it was difficult for them to keep tabs on these lorries dumping garbage at the Anderson Flats, they would be much obliged to take steps against those 'dumpers' with the help of the public.

"I earnestly appeal to the public to note down the numbers of these lorries and hand over them over to us or lodge a complaint with the police," he said.

Asked if they had any problems in litter disposal, Sangameil said , it was with difficulty they carry out the task of clearing the city of garbage with a fleet of 12 compact powered trucks which are on the brink of being condemned.

And we have four districts in the city of Colombo to deal with, he added. "However, we plan to deal with litter disposal in Narahenpita," he said and added ," we will take steps to add new Compact Powered trucks to our existing fleet to effectively and efficiently address the problems of solid waste in the city."

Meanwhile, the head of CMC Engineering Department Visaka Dias said, they would step up action to address the causes that contributes to inundation of roads in and around the Anderson Flats.

Asked to comment on the situation of the probability of finding dengue patients from the Anderson Flats due to the blockades in the sewerage system the head of the CMC Public Health Department, Dr.Pradeep Kariyawasam said, it was unlikely because action would be taken in due course to address the situation.