Wellampitiya residents’ plea:

Garbage mounds reaching for the skies

By Rukshana Rizwie

In the wake of the massive flooding experienced in Colombo last month, many areas across the city are yet to see basic urban services such as, water and sanitation return to normal.

Pic: Mahinda Vithanachchi

In the areas of Meethotamulla, Kotikawatte, Wellampitiya and Sedawatte, normal garbage collection services are yet to resume, with piles of rubbish now lining the streets.

Shahuzeena Fouzi, a mother of one, and a resident of Ranashura Mawatha, Wellampitiya has been waiting for days, hoping the trash collectors would come and take away the mounds of garbage accumulating in front of her house, on a bare land.

“There are 19 houses here and we’ve all been collectively asking the local authority to remove the garbage,” she said in despair.

“We decided, if they didn’t turn up today, we would sort the garbage ourselves, dry, and burn them to cinders as we have no other choice,”she said.

Shahuzeena, together with many other residents who gathered at the site of the bare land lamented that the authorities had turned a blind eye to their concerns.

“We privately raised Rs 4,000 to remove the trash dumped in front of our homes, when the canal nearby overflowed,” said one resident. “The authorities also promised to compensate us for the damages and losses, but they only gave forms to be filled by the Grama Sevaka. We’ve heard nothing since then, and have no hopes of receiving any handouts either,” they said.

Danger to public health

“There are children in nearly every other house, so we decided to dispose of the garbage ourselves, as it was posing a health risk,” added Shahuzeena, pointing to her feet which had become swollen with a fungal infection.

S.A. Chamara, a garbage collector at the garbage collection depot, Kotikawatte, said he couldn’t visualize any swift solutions to the problem.

“This pile of garbage is not going anywhere,” he said pointing to the man-made hills of garbage accumulated behind the Kotikawatte cemetery.

Chamara said, normally they would sort out the garbage and offer electronics, plastics and clinical waste to private companies looking for them, but this time no sorting had taken place.

He said, representatives from a Korean company had been at the landfill a day before and surveyed the area taking in measurements. “They told us they are looking at setting up an incinerator. It is an ambitious project, but we don’t know when it will happen,” he said.

Nalin Manapperuma, Director, Western Province Waste Management Authority estimates that nearly 7,000 metric tons of garbage had been collected from Wellampitiya alone. “Given the sheer magnitude of the amount, it is not practical to clean up every road within a short span of time,” he reasoned. “This is a process that takes time and we ask residents to dispose of garbage more responsibly,”he said.

“We don’t know the exact amount of garbage that has been collected because of its magnitude. We ensure that all garbage disposed from homes are collected, but it will take time,”he said.

Last week, the Ministry of Provincial Councils and Local Government announced that 6,000 tons of garbage was collected within a span of nine days. According to information gathered by the Local Authorities, areas with accumulated garbage were mapped and garbage removed in stages.