Unhygienic conditions in Colombo cause grave health risks

Colombo's deplorable plight is not something of a making overnight. Decades of mismanagement have contributed to what ails Colombo and its residents today. Sunday Observer staffer Afreeha Jawad reflects on what has gone wrong where and the possibilities though remote of a better tomorrow.

Overflowing sewers, uncleared garbage, unauthorised structures, smelly markets, salvinia overgrown canals and a stinking Beira are Colombo's newly found acquisitions - a distant wail from the garden city it once was several decades back. Should you think this hell hole of Colombo is a transformation overnight - indeed its a mistaken notion.

The build up in fact was a slow and sure process - a steady decline as it were over the years culminating in an explosion that never was - so very painful, shocking and thought provoking - the entry of that much hated and vigorously talked about 'Chickun Gunya'. Fast becoming a fad word - the name itself comes off sick poultry that painfully carry their weighted bodies in staccato style dragging their drooping wings during which course, they sit, stand, fall flat and repeat same for their grave inability to be consistent in one position.

Print restrictions do not permit this writer into detailed description of polluted localities. Hence the exposure of at least a few.

Polluted localities

For instance N. M. Perera Mawatha popularly called Cotta Road in Borella has to its residents' disadvantage a hospital adjoining the Lido cinema that disposes waste water right along the main road. The man hole is in a constant state of disrepair. Another fowl odour joint borders the Elvitigala flats at Narahenpita where both sewers and garbage combine to a state of beyond redemption.

Should you enter Darley Road, still better to have a mask at hand. Along Macculum Road - one time the much favoured choice of those into their routine constitutional - the stench is intermittent.

To top it all is the St. John's fish market where pile upon pile of fish off cuts coupled with the daily garbage would suffice to be infected with any dreaded disease - chicken gunya apart. Traders in the vicinity complain of inconsistency in garbage removal.

In Colombo 77,612 families live in 1,614 low income settlements. Seventy three percent of the population in Colombo North and Central live in ghettoes, slums and tenements. Only 23 percent families in Colombo city have ownership rights and the rest are illegally occupied. This proves the fast growth of a population outside state control, living in conditions half outside the law.

In Colombo district (1, 2A, 2B) where a large number of low income settlements are located, a sewerage network connection was available only for 51 percent families. Remaining 30 percent without sewerage connection used septic tanks and soak pits while some families directly discharge sewers into canals. (Source- www.moju.lk/2000/11/01). Colombo's sewered area is 80 percent.

While Colombo's permanent residents number 640,000 it has a floating population of 500,000 ( www.iges.or.jp ).

Being home to myself and all my forebears I never missed out on Colombo's travails - needless to say Colombo rooted families being few and far between. Besides the permanent residents it carries, the majority of whom are migrants into the city, it also has a floating population running into five lakhs, not to forget the increasing numbers of vehicles finding its way into the metropolis.

Significantly the question arises over arrangements made to accommodate such inflow and the maintenance of hygiene within the city. Roads and by lanes incidentally have become bladder relieving outlets while public toilets aren't let alone within reach, not even within sight.

Loss of accountability

What then has brought Colombo into such degrading and deplorable plight. The absence of accountability in service providing state institutions is appalling. The lackadaisical manner of employees, their disregard for duty and the indifference to the taxpayer who ironically is the source of their monthly remuneration all contribute to a service shortfall. On the other hand it could be argued how low salaries have brought on a 'no accountability' state. Bribery and corruption widely prevalent in government service are in fact attributed to ineffectiveness, and accountability loss. The system breakdown is so vehement that even a conditional clean up of sewers, garbage removal and even fire extinguishing has come into existence. Blocked sewers are attended to not in the order of complaints but on who is prepared to give how much-officers and minor staff seemingly share the cake.

Unauthorised structures are widely believed to be the outcome of bribing relevant state authorities where the accepted requirements for building construction have been overlooked.

Thus the compulsory rule of keeping a few feet of empty physical space in house frontage is no more. These cluttered buildings and ill kept surroundings contribute in no small measure to the ever increasing mosquito menace.

Incidentally wonder where it all ended up - I mean the Cuban assistance for Sri Lanka's mosquito eradication. For fear of a lid on the mosquito coil market it is widely believed that the entire exercise ended up in smoke after careful manipulation.

In tenements and ghettoes there's no single person who isn't a victim of chicken gunya. Appalling hygienic conditions in slum gripped Sedawatta, Wanathamulla, Mattakkuliya among other slum deposits have contributed to its widespread. Soak pits and cooking areas stand cheek by jowl. Filthy drains overflow which water one confronts upon entering the dwelling. Where are the sanitary inspectors? I wonder.

Least paid field worker

In this unjust systemic layout the field worker is the least paid. As one bus conductor told this writer, 'Api Weda Keruwata Padi Labanney Ihala Niladariyo'. Magey Moolika Vetupa 3,100 (Though we are the ones that work we are the least paid. People at the top get big fat salaries. What could I do with the pittance I get?"

Now the question is where do we go from here. Do we accept the existing status quo of bribery and corruption that accompany low wages or prefer the police state system where forced work is operative regardless of meagre pay and bribery unheard of or thirdly and more significantly the socio/eco conditions in social democracies where taxation of elite into social development prevails much to the comfort of the deprived while not denying social security for the elites themselves.

Over to you Mr. Policy Maker!!

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