The Island Editorial

Another red herring

03 October 2016

 

We have recently pointed out, in these columns, that, in action flicks ,heroes and villains, in flight, kick garbage bins etc on their way to distract and obstruct their pursuers in a bid to make good their escape. Education Minister Akila Viraj Kariyawasam went out of his way to ban dress codes some schools had imposed on visiting parents. He used that ruse to distract the public from the burning issues in the education sector and the possibility of the GMOA resorting to trade union action over his alleged refusal to admit the children of its members on transfer to the state-run schools of their choice. Minister of Provincial Councils and Local Government Faiszer Musthapha has apparently taken a leaf from Kariyawasam’s book.

Minister Musthapha has warned that unless ratepayers sort garbage themselves municipal councils won’t collect it. His much-publicized warning, if not threat, gives the impression that the government has sought to lay the blame for the garbage problem at the doorstep of Citizen Perera. Drawing heavy flak for postponing local government elections for political reasons Musthapha is apparently trying to have the public think he is doing something.

Sri Lankans have the bad habit of dumping refuse of all sorts into garbage bags or cans. They should be encouraged to separate refuse prior to disposal. However, the question is whether the municipal authorities have cared to provide the public with separate bags and bins for that purpose. There was such a system in place a long time ago, but it was left to wither on the vine. This newspaper has received several complaints from its readers that a waste material collection centre at Piliyandala, where people used to hand over used bottles, plastic etc., separately has been closed down. What action will Minister Musthapha take against those who closed down that centre?

Will Minister Musthapha tell the public what the local government bodies are going to do with the garbage separated by ratepayers? Do they have recycling facilities to handle glass, plastic, paper, leftover food etc? Or, are they planning to dump those waste materials separately in the outskirts of the towns and cities? The Colombo Municipal Council (CMC), which used to transport all its waste to Meethotamulla, is now without a garbage dump: the Meethotamulla people, on the warpath, have moved the courts against the mountain of garbage in thier neighbourhood and the residents of Ja-Ela, led by religious dignitaries, are protesting against a CMC move to set up a refuse dump in their area. How will the sorting of garbage at the domestic level help the CMC?

People get arrested for leaving their garbage in public places. But, the local government institutions, especially the CMC, dump their waste in suburbs, causing environmental pollution, with impunity! It also costs the public dear to have mosquito breeding places in and around their houses or business places, but the city stepfathers and their bureaucratic lackeys who allow mosquitoes to breed in wayside gutters and various other places get away with that offence and dengue continues to snuff out ratepayers’ lives.

Meanwhile, though the government has pathetically failed to handle municipal waste, it has demonstrated its adeptness at recycling political garbage. President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe have used the National List for this purpose very effectively. People relegated quite a few candidates to the political dustbin at the last general election, but those rejects were taken out of the refuse dump, sanitised with the ‘yahapalana’ detergent, as it were, and sent to Parliament. What the champions of good governance have done may be likened to serving discarded food retrieved from a refuse bin.

The need for a concerted national effort to solve the garbage problem cannot be overemphasised. But, ad hoc remedies are bound to fail. Instead of scratching the surface of the issue, let Minister Musthapha be urged to hold the much-delayed local government elections fast without trying to draw red herrings.