Opposition responsible for floods - Gammanpila

by P. Krishnaswamy

The main opposition is pointing a finger at the Government for the recent floods in Colombo and the suburbs forgetting the fact that they are mainly responsible for the problem, JHU frontliner Udaya Gammanpila who is Minister of Environmental Affairs of the Western Provincial Council told the Sunday Observer.

It is a world record that 1.1 million trees were planted within eleven minutes before President Mahinda Rajapaksa assumed office as Head of the State for his second term last month. This was done thinking not about the next election but about the next generation and a healthy environment to them.

It is a unique way of celebrating birth day of the Head of the State or other leaders since it instils in the mindset of the people the habit of planting trees, he said. It was a great achievement that all political parties, political groups, and all families joined the tree planting campaign, irrespective of their political differences, Gammanpila said adding that it was a good political message to everyone.

He said that while global warming, the biggest problem now faced by mankind, is the cause for the unprecedented scales of rain in the country, all flash floods which inundate buildings, houses and highways in the city and its suburbs are due to filling of wetlands, including marshy lands and paddy fields in the Western Province which was done and encouraged by the previous UNP governments, he said. Marshy lands, wetlands, paddy fields, ponds, tanks and water reservoirs are good water management agencies during heavy rains while all concrete buildings played the opposite role but the UNP leaders, due to their ignorance of the environmental aspects of it, encouraged the latter and also encouraged the people do it. The country is now reaping the adverse results of it, Gammanpila said.

Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa who is in-charge of the Urban Development Authority (UDA) has strictly implemented the rule of law in imposing the ban against filling of low-lying lands in the Western Province without any political favouritism, Gammanpila said.