Tuesday's anarchy could have been avoided | Daily News

Tuesday's anarchy could have been avoided

 

Tuesday's massive pile up on the Kandy and Negombo roads and by roads could certainly have been avoided had the authorities acted with more circumspection. It is a well known fact that the area where the demolition of unauthorized structures took place is a volatile locality tenanted by the city's underworld. It needed only a spark to ignite the kind of situation that we witnessed on Monday and this spark was provided by the UDA.

Anarchy reigned, with all the termites coming out of the woodwork to occupy the road section spanning the Japanese Friendship bridge. Nearly one million people were affected by the near 24 hour siege by the riffraff, blocking traffic for miles on. It was one of the worst traffic snarls in recent memory and a motorist's nightmare. Vehicles stood still for hours in one huge mass. No one will know how many patients transported in ambulances for emergency treatment or those attending important assignments were among those in the stuck automobiles. Nor the hearses taking the dead to the funeral parlours, or homes of the deceased, or those on their way to weddings, parties etc. No one will know how many wedding cars were stuck in the chaos holding back "just married" couples heading for hotels for the wedding receptions, or those heading for the BIA to catch their flights.

Knowing what lay in store, why pray did the authorities not chose a weekend or a Poya day when there would have been only miniscule traffic on this road instead of choosing a weekday, knowing the chaos that would ensue? True, the law cannot stand still while an offense is being committed. But in this situation the warnings to residence to evacuate had been issued several months ago. So why the mighty hurry to execute the eviction order on a weekday in the surrounds of perhaps the busiest highway stretch in the country? It would be interesting to know the economic cost to the country by way of burning fuel and in terms of man hours lost by the near 24 hour blockade. It is time that the UDA took stock of the situation and act with more circumspection in the future when demolishing unauthorized structures. It should ensure that the ordinary public is in no way inconvenienced or forced to undergo hardship by such ill advised acts. It is reported that the illegal occupation by the squatters had the blessings of a powerful Minister. If so, this amounts to aiding and abetting by the powers that be and by extension should be held culpable for Tuesday's anarchy.

Be that as it may, the Furgeson road episode where the UDA demolished unauthorized structures and evicted squatters on state land should be looked at with deep insight by the authorities concerned in order to obtain a clear understanding of the dynamic at work. Minister Champika Ranawaka claimed that the residents were asked to vacate their dwelling illegally built on state land some months ago since all squatters had been provided with alternate housing in nearby schemes. According to the Minister the residents instead had continued to reside in their former dwellings and rented out the new homes. What is more, others too had encroached by filling marshy land.

It goes without saying that Colombo city's slum life has its own unique distinction and dynamic. These slum dwellers are reluctant to budge from their dwellings or surroundings for the simple reason that there is a thriving underground economy in these slums connected to sleaze and vice. This is true of the Ferguson road slums as well and the reason for the former inhabitants to return back, even though presently installed in comfortable dwellings. It is been reported that there are 68,000 families currently living in unauthorized dwellings in Colombo and the state had relocated only 5,000. By and large slum dwellers prefer to remain in their accustomed environment for the aforesaid reasons and the authorities will not find it easy to change their mindset overnight.

This was seen even in the past when slum dwellers who were relocated to more congenial sites staged demonstrations asking to be returned to their old habitats. Hence the Government should conduct a comprehensive programme to educate these segments, who are creatures of habit, on the need to change their outlook and above all find them alternative occupations to wean them from the sleazy life they live in the city's underbelly. These segments have no expectations of a future and live by the day. Their children have little or no schooling and invariably get absorbed into the routine slum life posing social problems as well. Hence what is needed is not merely new housing for these slum dwellers in the Colombo city but also proper guidance and counselling to keep them from returning to slum life once again. Religious leaders, civic organizations and NGOs should play a leading role in the exercise of rehabilitating and refashioning the lives of this segment of our society who have been condemned to their way of life by force of circumstances. 


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