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| Sunday, 24 April 2005 |
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Features |  |
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Cemeteries take lead in garbage trail Light Refractions by Lucien Rajakarunanayake How lucky of the Colombo Municipal Council and its Mayor to have some cemeteries in the city as the last resting place for its accumulated garbage. Apparently the dead at the Jawatte (Liveramentu) cemetery and the General Cemetery, Kanatte, must have been waiting a long time for this fetid invasion of their territory.
"They must be thinking we will enjoy this decomposing garbage as good neighbours because we too are nothing but decomposed or decomposing cadavers" said Maru Mookalaana, a leader of the real underworld of the dead. "Surely, having so often heard how the bodies of Christians are committed to the grave with the words 'ashes to ashes and dust to dust' they could at least have converted the garbage into ashes before burying it right next to us," said Hades Cadaver. "Wonder why Rauff Hakeem and the SLMC do not protest against unequal treatment of our people in the matter of emergency garbage disposal?' asked Janaaza Jawatte. "Why, what do you see as being unequal treatment for Hakeem to protest?" asked Marana Manchaka. "Surely having a person such as Asath Sally as Deputy Mayor of Colombo, why did the Colombo Municipal Council not think of dumping even the Colombo Central garbage at the Maligawatte Cemetery that has so much space, and only use the cemeteries where Christians, Buddhists and Hindus are buried or cremated. We too have a right to have our burial places polluted with municipal garbage. If I am in the world of the living I will certainly take this up as a violation of fundamental rights and petition the Supreme Court against it," said Janaaza Jawatte. "Surely what more can you expect from that Sally who hates dogs so much that he had no compunction about dragging stray dogs to demonstrate their participation in the launch of the damp squib campaign to get SB Dissanayake released from prison," said Hades Cadaver. "I think that in this critical situation the best thing to do is for a joint mechanism to be formed to deal with the problem of garbage disposal, and to carry out the disposal on an ethnic, religious or communal basis," said Maru Mookalana. "Do you think the LTTE or the TNA members will insist on having a separate area for Tamil garbage, having nothing to do with the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Sri Lanka?" asked Marana Manchaka. "I think the LTTE has enough political garbage of its own to bury just now, carried all the way from the UK too. I don't think they will bother so much about local Tamil garbage, even in Wellawatte," said Janaaza Jawatte. Cerberus Tombstone, the one who keeps watch over the goings on in the netherworld of public cemeteries, said it was very nice of Colombo's Mayor to accept the blame on behalf of the CMC he now heads, and even his predecessors, including Mr. Karu (Clean) Jayasuriya for all their faults in handling the issue of city garbage. "Quite true, very few people accept their shortcoming let alone those of their predecessors. However, isn't it better for the Mayor who found this cemetery solution for putrefying garbage, to also think of suitable dumping grounds for so many other matters of the CMC that need immediate disposal and even burial," said Hades Cadaver. "What are the matters you are thinking of?" asked Maru Mookalana. "What about corruption? It stinks to high heaven, even more than the uncleared garbage. Isn't it high time he looked at burial places for that too? In fact if the Mayor had given priority to burying corruption in the CMC before entering into contracts to privatize garbage disposal, he may not have had to face this crisis over uncleared garbage," said Hades Cadaver. "It would be good for the Mayor to find a suitable dumping for all the attitudes that prevail within the CMC with regard to animals, especially dogs. He does not have to look very far to find officers who openly say that there is no place for animal welfare in the CMC Dog Pound. There are key officials who are ever so eager to capture dogs at anyone's complaint, declare them rabid and destroy them," said Marana Manchaka. "And, I learn there's some personal profit in this too" he added. "What about housing? Does the Mayor not know about the corruption in getting approval to build and the corruption in the issue of the final certificate of conformity? "What about drainage? Is he also accepting full responsibility for the lack of proper surface drainage, which makes the streets of the city into overflowing waterways with just ten minutes of heavy rain? "What about the conditions of restaurants and eating houses; some even in so-called five-star locations and others in huge shopping malls? Are the rules of basic public health observed in all these places, and is he personally responsible if they are observed more in the breach? It was a virtual Babel of voices in the netherworld. Never before had there been so much talk in the silent world of the dead! "Now that the Mayor and the CMC has to take a greater interest in public cemeteries, because of the garbage crisis, he could also take some interest the ghoulish behaviour of those who desecrate graves in cemeteries too, soon after a funeral to steal the flowers placed there, and others who even dig down to steal costly coffins for recycling," said Cerberus Tombstone. "We've got to keep watching all this in eternal silence" he added. "Let's hope that the present crisis that has made use of cemeteries for garbage dumping, will not lead to a new municipal culture of making burial sites of garbage dumping grounds," said Maru Mookalana. |
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Down in the nether regions of these cemeteries the discussion of this
latest development was more lively than ghoulish. 
