Ceylon Today Editorial

Garbage Politics

19 April 2017

Deaths due to the 'Aluth Avurudu' tragedy caused by the collapse of the man-made 'Meethotamulla garbage mountain' as at Monday stood at 30, while 11 were listed as missing. (See this newspaper's yesterday's edition)
Reports as at yesterday said that the death toll had risen to 31.

The 'Meethotamulla garbage mountain's construction work' had its origins during the iron fist regime of Mahinda Rajapaksa, when his all powerful brother Gotabaya Rajapaksa (Gota) 'took upon himself' the additional portfolio of Urban Development Ministry Secretary, while continuing to hold the Defence Ministry Secretary portfolio 'gifted' to him, no sooner brother Mahinda was elected to power in November 2005.

In addition to being Defence Minister, brother Mahinda was also the Minister of Urban Development, Ports and Highways. It was all in the family!
Colombo garbage which was previously dumped at Bloemendhal Road, under the aegis of Gota's Urban Development Authority (UDA) and brother Mahinda's Ministry, was then shifted to Meethotamulla, dumping some 800-850 metric tonnes (mts) of garbage generated from Colombo, to this suburb, Meethotamulla, since 2009.

In fairness to Gota and Mahinda, previously, there was no 'systematic method' to dispose of Colombo's garbage. It was a common site to see piles of garbage collected in various parts of the city. But after Gota also took over the Urban Development Ministry Secretaryship, the 'Brothers Grimm', set about the cleansing of Colombo, of its garbage, in style. As a result, one now doesn't find any garbage dumps in Colombo, a plus point for, cleanliness, health and tourism promotion. Meanwhile, Gota even before he was appointed Urban Development Ministry Secretary in 2011, was, anyway Colombo's de facto 'garbage supervisor' during brother Mahinda's regime.

For instance, in a report filed by 'adaderana.lk' on 9 August, 2010; when Gota was holding the post of only Defence Ministry Secretary, that news report said, 'The Secretary to the Ministry of Defence, Gotabaya Rajapaksa has warned the contractors responsible for cleaning the Colombo City, following complaints received that they are not performing their jobs adequately, Govt. Information Dept said...

...He made it clear to them that it was they who have undertaken the contracts from the Colombo Municipal Council (CMC), and it is up to them to provide the necessary facilities, as they are not doing the job for free. He has also pointed out that he executed the war in the North and the East with all sorts of shortcomings, but finally won it. He has also made it clear that if the contractors do not perform their services as expected, their services will be terminated. The Defence Secretary has also warned CMC engineers for failing to clean a particular canal...'

Nonetheless, the tragedy is that at least Colombo has no scientific method of disposing of its garbage or municipal waste. This problem may not be limited only to Colombo. This horrendous shortcoming also engulfs the area coming under the Dehiwela-Mt. Lavinia Municipality. Garbage from this area is dumped in the Attidiya marshes as a disposal mechanism, in as much as garbage from Colombo, prior to the Meethotamulla tragedy, was dumped in that area.
There is no science behind garbage disposal in Sri Lanka. Only ad hoc solutions leading to tragedies, not just 'Meethotamulla', but, probably the recurrence of dengue epidemics as well, which have been plaguing the island since the late 1990s.
During the latter part of the UNP regime of December 1988 to August 1994, steps, in a scientific way, was adopted to dispose of Colombo's garbage with World Bank aid.

A landfill was identified in the Ja-Ela-Wattala area to dispose of this garbage, at that time estimated at 700 mts. That period coincided with the election years of that era, beginning with the 1993 Provincial Council elections and culminating with the parliamentary elections of August 1994.

The then opposition was the SLFP-led PA coalition of Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga. The PA is the predecessor of the present UPFA coalition. Their protests against this scientific landfill led by the likes of the then Gampaha District SLFP MP, firebrand Jeyaraj Fernandopulle, proved successful. The Ja-Ela-Wattala area comes under Gampaha.

The UNP crumpled under this 'scientific' political onslaught, by abandoning its construction, thereby paving the way for the creation of State sanctioned unscientific garbage disposal methodologies such as 'Bloemendhal', 'Meethotamulla' and the 'Attidiya Marshes', and, probably the beginning of the recurrence of epidemics such as dengue, and now, other manmade disasters such as 'Meethotamulla', which, at one swipe, has taken the lives of at least 31 people.

Who cares, it's the poor who suffer and die. This is Sri Lanka's tragedy for the past 59 years, beginning with S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike's 'Sinhala-Only' policy of 1956 and most recently, the Meethotamulla Aluth Avurudu tragedy.
Unless, bold, but politically unpalatable decisions are taken by governments, these vicious cycles of tragedies, of one form or another, snuffing poor, innocent lives, will be the norm and not the exception, perhaps paving the way for more bloody revolutions and upheavals, with Sri Lanka ending up probably as another 'Sudan' or 'Somalia'.