Features | Sundayobserver.lk

This park which was originally a 100 acre land expanded on either side of Green Path or Sir Marcus Fernando Mawatha, has now been confined to a 45 acre land with the allocation of land for many buildings like the Museum, ‘Aesthetic University’, Mahaweli Centre, Tennis Court and various other buildings during British rule and also during the post independent era.

Viharamahadevi Park the icon of Colombo city located just opposite the colonial edifice of Town Hall building has become an enchanting scenery for many citizens living in concrete jungles in Colombo.

This park which was originally known as the Victoria Park was renamed in the 1950s after gaining independence to give it a Sri Lankan identity as a mark of respect to the mother of the great king Dutugemunu.

This park which was originally a 100 acre land expanded on either side of the Green Path or Sir Marcus Fernando Mawatha, has now been confined to a 45 acre land with the allocation of land for many buildings like Museum, ‘Aesthetic University’, Mahaweli Centre, Tennis Court and various other buildings during the British rule and during the post independent era.

This land which has been set apart through a special gazette notification during British rule for the relaxation of citizens in Maradana and Slave Island and other thickly populated areas of the Colombo city during that era and has become an attraction for many youth and children to relax during their visits to the Colombo city. Moreover, it has become a meeting place for many young couples.

Colombo Municipal Council has been the sole authority to maintaining this park as a place of relaxation not only for the Colombo citizens but also for all citizens visiting the Colombo city and also for foreign tourists.

It has gone through many ups and downs in the past as many changes and improvements have been made to make it a more attractive place for the public.

Explaining the changes that had taken place during the past decades the Special Commissioner of the Colombo Municipal Council, Omar Kamil said that the CMC has been expending large amounts of funds to maintain this park in the past years and assured that the CMC will also continue to do so in the future.

“Things have been regularly upgraded in the park during major festivals and summits hosted in the Colombo city such as IIFA and SAARC,” he added.

It was in the period of the early 1990s when one section of the park was used to construct the Open Air theatre which was made available for social gatherings and also for political meetings.

“In the year 1999 the Open Air Theatre was once again renovated and upgraded and today it has become a major attraction for political meetings and for the hosting of functions of other organisations at a very reasonable cost,” he added.

Further explaining the situation the Colombo Municipal Council had to face to keep it under its purview, Omar Kamil said in the year 2000 the then Minister of Urban Development, Mangala Samaraweera had vested the park with the Urban Development Authority.

“It was a great blow for the Colombo Municipal Council and for the residents of the Colombo city as they were going to be deprived of a place of convenience,” he added. The CMC filed action in this regard as the Ministry has taken over the park contravening the 13th Amendment which stipulates that all those services and assets of Local bodies cannot be taken over. They can be improved and expanded but cannot be taken over by the Ministries.

“Based on that we went to Courts and on January 1, 2002 UDA divested it back to the Council and today we continue to develop it with additional features such as jogging tracks and other features. Private companies have also been extended to assist in improving the park as a social responsibility,” he added.

Refuting speculation that the Viharamahadevi Park has been taken over by the Ministry of Defence Kamil said the park is still under the purview of the Colombo Municipal Council and Sri Lanka Navy is assisting the CMC to maintain it.

Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa under his programme to make the Colombo city a more beautiful city has asked the Sri Lanka Navy to assist the CMC to maintain the park.

“The Sri Lanka Navy is assisting us in this endeavour and the CMC is allocating funds for these improvements,” he added.

According to Director (Engineering) Land and Environment Development Lalith Wickramaratne a lot of work has been done to improve the Viharamahadevi Park during the past few months.

“We installed lighting systems for the fountains which were not functioning earlier and also planted some new plants to beautify it further,” he added.

However, the park remained dark due to the large number of overgrown trees and also due to the park being covered by trees.

“It had exceeded the number of trees required for a park since it is an urban park and the people should be able to relax and children be able to play.

When you go to a park you must also be able to see the other corners of the park unlike in a jungle,” he added.

“We decided to trim all the trees and also cut down some unnecessary and overgrown trees like andara and banyan trees. We removed all those trees but not the valuable ones.

“Then the gloominess inside the park was gone and there is more light in the park,” he added.

“But the CMC had a very serious problem with regard to the man- power for the maintenance of the park. We earlier had 75 men for this purpose and the number has been reduced to 48 at present.

Even among them many are elderly and not in a position to attend to the required work on the park,” he added.

“Recently the Ministry of Defence directed the Sri Lanka Navy to assist us in maintaining the park to overcome this problem and asked the Navy to provide necessary manpower for the maintenance of the park and also to provide their knowledge and expertise”.

“Now some Navy personnel are working there and they are helping us to level the land to grow some new grass and renovate the ponds around the park. Those things are going on. That helps us a lot with regard to manpower,” Wickremarathne added.

“Sri Lanka Navy is providing only the necessary manpower, All the expenses are borne by the CMC,” he added.

He also said that the temporary structures and buildings inside the park have been removed to make it more visible to the public.

“At the moment the park is more colourful and people are more free and secured within the park. Earlier you couldn’t see a distance of 200 meters due to obstruction from as some tree branches. We have trimmed most of them. Some more have to be done and we are continuing our work with the assistance of the Sri Lanka Navy,” he added.

The Restaurant inside the park which had been in existence for years had not been properly maintained and a new party has taken over the place.

“They are going to develop the restaurant and open it very soon for the convenience of the public visiting the park,” he added.

He said more improvements will also be made to the Sathutu Uyana entertainment and amusement park inside the Viharamahadevi Park maintained and run by the CMC and seeking the help of the Railway Department to repair and renovate the baby train.

Omar Kamil said that the CMC is also soliciting the assistance of the private sector for the improvement of the park to make it a more beautiful park.

“Elephant House assisted us to improve the children’s play area and we are expecting the assistance of other private sector companies to improve the park as they too are benefiting from the city,” he added.

Relocating flower and plant exhibitors

With regard to the removal of flower and plant exhibitors from the Viharamahadevi Park Special Commissioner Omar Kamil said that the decision to remove their stalls from the park was to make the Viharamahadevi Park free of commercial activities. “We want this park to remain a park for the relaxation of the public without any commercial activities,” he added.

He said it was in the late 1980’s, that the flower association had been looking for an area to exhibit their ornamental plants and the CMC responded to allocate a section of the Viharamahadevi Park.

“Initially they used to construct temporary shelters for their exhibitions and later the CMC decided to provide them permanent stalls and they were made available for them until recently. It has now been decided to let the park remain as a park without any commercial activities and they were asked to vacate the park,” he added.

“Since a set of people have been affected by this decision we are making an endeavour to relocate them closer to the Viharamahadevi Park so that they will be able to continue their livelihood,” he added.

“The CMC is obliged to provide them with their livelihood as there are around 70 to 100 flower exhibitors and sellers and around 400 to 500 people depending on this. We are considering the Muttiah Park close to Gangarama for the relocation of them and I am discussing the matter with the Chief prelate of the Gangaramaya,” he added.

The Vihara Maha Devi Floral Exhibition Organisers Consortium which has a membership of 400 has said the flower exhibitors at Viharamahadevi Park pay Rs. 108,330 to the Colombo Municipality for the area allocated to them at the park during three days of the week.

He said it would also be an immense loss to a large number of people countrywide who visited the flower exhibitions at the Park each year. They said the authorities had permitted the flower exhibitors to carry out their exhibitions at Sathutu Uyana for two months but said they needed a permanent place suitable for exhibitions.

Kamil said the CMC is making its full endeavour to provide a better place for these exhibitors very soon.

Paradise in the City