CMC under fire over floods

City Fathers rapped for poor maintenance of drainage system:

Dharma Siri Abeyratne and Shirley Wijesinghe

COLOMBO: A consensus is emerging among the public that the inaction of the Colombo Municipal Council (CMC) was the cause for the massive floods the City experienced on Thursday and Friday.

The City Fathers should take the blame for Colombo’s flood woes, residents and town planning experts told the Daily News.

“The CMC does not take proper action for cleaning drainage lines or removing waste. We have informed them many times about the blockage of drainage lines. But they failed to inquire into the matter,” said a woman resident from Duplication Road.

Colombo shopkeeper H.C.S. Perera said the city’s gully and drain network was not capable of handling the heavy intake of storm water. The limited number of gullies and the lack of cleaning caused the unexpected floods.

“The CMC should study the reasons carefully and think about new measures to overcome the problem,” he said.

A. Chandrasiri, a Government servant working in Colombo expressed dissatisfaction with the CMC’s administration and the wastage of public funds on unnecessary matters while neglecting vital maintenance work.

But City officials contacted by the Daily News said they should not be totally blamed for the deaths and destruction caused by the floods.

They said some of the deaths could have been prevented if the victims exercised more caution. Referring to the death of a woman who fell into an open drain on Thursday, CMC Commissioner Dr. Jayantha Liyanage said the public should use pavements to avoid such tragic incidents.

“Open drainage are not closed in any country. The victim had stepped into the open drainage accidentally without using the pavement”.

However, several readers who spoke to the Daily News pointed out almost all pavements are encroached by pavements hawkers in the Municipality area and no action has been taken by the CMC to remove these unauthorised trading outlets and constructions.

Moreover pedestrians can hardly notice the pavement or drain when the roads are inundated.

A country and town planner confirmed that there are open drainage systems in most countries, but they usually are at a lower elevation than the pavement. Then passersby could easily identify either pavement or open drain.

The CMC has commenced clearing waste water outlets and drainage in the Municipality area aiming to minimise the flood threat which caused by heavy rains, Dr. Jayantha Liyanage said.

He said that there are five main canals covering municipality area which convey rainwater to the sea.

Arrangements are under way to clean these canals to let the rain water flow into the sea. It has been estimated that the floods could be minimised approximately by 75 per cent when the canals are cleaned.

Asked why a continuous flood situation prevails at Bloemendhal road, he admitted there is a problem with the underground drainage system in the area since it has been constructed 80 years ago. The drainage system has to be renovated, he pointed out.

In addition, the CMC has estimated Rs. six million for filling and covering the huge crater caused by heavy rains in Wellawatte. “President Mahinda Rajapaksa advised us to act immediately regarding this aiming to reduce traffic congestion.”

A retired Engineering Services Director of the Road Development Authority pointed out that the main cause of the flooding is indiscriminate garbage disposal by residents.

“Some residents dump garbage directly into drainage lines. But the public blame the respective local government authorities. It is the responsibility of the public to cultivate general discipline. Otherwise there will not be an end of these problems.”