Salaawa residents not satisfied with govt valuation, lament:

Everything up in flames

by Chathuri Dissanayake

The bicycle repair shop right in-front of Saalawa Armory was reduced to a pile of rubble during the fire in the armory that had mortars flying in all directions. Its owner, G. V. Siripala barely managed to save his life during the fire. Siripala and his wife lived in a house behind the shop, which was brought to the ground by the fire. His savings, and possessions collected over 70 years of his life, went up in smoke in one night. Now he is still struggling to piece together his life, unfortunately, with little assistance from the government authorities assigned to help them get back on their feet.

The government valuers who assessed his shop and house, valued it at Rs. 1.3 million. According to Siripala's grandson Sanjeewa Pradeep who is assisting his grandfather, the money will not cover even half the costs.

"My grandfather had built his house behind the shop, extending to the back, so it was quite big," says Pradeep.

Since the valuation was not acceptable they have submitted an appeal to the Divisional Secretariat's office. There are many similar complaints from the residents of Saalawa, who deem that the valuations given for their houses and commercial buildings are not sufficient.

Poornima Senarathne ran a saloon at the Salawa junction in one of the two shop spaces built into her house. The building with the two shops spaces, and the two bedroomed house with kitchen and bathroom was valued at Rs. 2.6 million The saloon also had housed all her equipment when it caught fire.

"I had seventeen columns in the structure and will never be able to build it the way it was. I have to start from the foundation as the building has been condemned after the fire," lamented Senarathne. Following demands by residents and shop owners, the government authorities tried accelerating the damage assessment process during last month, but many residents now claim the valuation given is too low. Owners of large commercial establishments were also unhappy with the government valuation. The two storeyed hardware store owned by Hematha Priyankara Rodrigo was valued at Rs 8.2 million. But he claims the value is much higher.

"About 30% of the valuations given are questionable, while there were a lot of assessments that reflected the true value. That is why we protested on Friday," Rodrigo explained.

The residents claim they are in the dark about the method of assessment used by the 76 government valuers involved in valuation work in Salawa. Further, the valuation given by the officials is not on an official document. Instead, the Grama Niladari writes down the block No and amount on a piece of paper and hands it to the owner of the building.

The document sent to the Divisional Secretariat's office by the Valuation Department is a long schedule with details of all the residents and valuations of all assessed buildings. No individual letters or forms have been given to owners, which has thus led to the confusion.

"We are not given an official document. The Grama Niladhari keeps the document, and gives us a small piece of paper with the amount. So we have not been able to verify," Rodrigo claims.

Added to this, there is no proper mechanism yet in place to value the damages caused on the goods that were in the houses, M. Jayasuriya, a participant in Friday's protest said.

"There is utter confusion, we still don't know how the assessment for our damaged household goods would be done. Some people are not happy with the assessments given and others don't know when they would receive it," he said. He also highlighted, of the 1,200 eligible recipients only 360 have received the Rs. 50,000 monthly allowance promised by the government.

According to residents, the Divisional Secretary of Seethawaka, has informed them that the office has not received the money allocated to give the residents. The delay is in receiving the money, they have been told, not in distributing cheques drawn out to those eligible. Divisional Secretary of Seethawaka, K.Bandara Mapa, said, the money is not a form of compensation or insurance claim, but assistance to help rebuild.

"Some people think they can get large sums to rebuild when the damage is partial. They also compare with others, even though the damage may not be the same," he said, as reasons to the factors that had led to the chaos in Salawa. Bandara Mapa also explained that the money is sent by the authorities in provisional amounts.

"We receive money for each 100 cases that have been completed. There is a lot to be done, the process is complicated and takes time to complete each case," he explained. The money allocated for 100 more cases have been sent to the Divisional Secretariat, following the protest, Sunday Observer learnt.

However, much remains unsolved for the Salawa residents, the lack of a proper mechanism to give assistance and compensation for the destruction by a man-made disaster , is further victimizing the victims of Salawa.

Protest at Salaawa

by S. Padmaperuma

Over 2,000 residents whose properties were damaged or destroyed due to the explosion at the Avissawella Sri Lanka Army Camp, held a protest campaign by blocking the Colombo - Ratnapura main road.

The demonstrators demanded early relief complaining that no proper steps have been taken to remedy their grievances.

"All that we had earned and enjoyed have now been reduced to debris, they said. According to them, Rs. 50,000 had been paid only in respect of 360 householders out of a total of 1,200."

Local businessman Athula Parana Yapa said, his advertising firm and other properties worth over millions of rupees were completely destroyed in the armoury explosion. Over 250 workers have consequently lost their jobs.

"I have paid millions of rupees as income tax and insurance, but no compensation has been paid so far", he lamented.

Protests continued for over two hours while the traffic were diverted through alternative routes to Colombo.

Later on, the demonstrators dispersed peacefully but they plan to return if their grievances are not addressed promptly.