Archbishop protests dumping of garbage in Muthurajawela

Colombo Archbishop Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith while lodging a strong protest against the dumping of garbage in the Muthurajawela area yesterday.

He appealed to the government to find a long term solution to the issue without causing destruction to human life and the environment.

He urged the government to stop haphazard dumping of garbage and find a viable solution without causing destruction to human life and environment.

The Colombo Archbishop in a statement added that the Colombo Municipal Council and some of the Government Agencies responsible in the clearing of garbage in the city have commenced dumping garbage without any concern for environmental damage in the Muthurajawela area again.

“As a result of this action the vast Muthurajawela marsh which has been gazetteted under the Environmental Protection and Conservation Act will be exposed to great danger and destruction,” he said.

He stressed that the present attitude of dumping garbage at various places without a proper study of its ill effects cannot be accepted.

The full statement: “I have been made to understand that the Colombo Municipal Council and some of the Government Agencies responsible in the clearing of garbage collected in the city have started to dump the garbage without any concern for the environmental damage in the Muturajawela area once again.

“What is more serious is the fact that even human body parts that are discarded from hospitals and mortuaries have been taken and dumped in Muturajawela at a palace where there is water.

“Thus, the water ways have started to experience severe pollution and it will seep into the Negombo Lagoon causing immense harm to human life in the Negombo, Ja-Ela, Dandugama and Katunayaka areas. It will also destroy the fishing resources in the Negombo Lagoon.

Besides many have observed that this is being done haphazardly without any study of the suitability of the location for such dumping.

“As a result of this action the vast Muturajawela marsh which has been gazetted under the Environmental Protection and Conservation Act will be exposed to great danger and destruction. Hence, we wish to lodge our strongest protest against this action. We believe that there should be a more eco-friendly and long standing solutions to the problem of garbage collected in the city of Colombo. We cannot accept the present attitude of taking the garbage and dumping it in all kinds of places without a proper study of its ill effects and the threat to human life it would bring.

“And so I wish to appeal to the Government, Colombo Municipal Council and the responsible officials to stop this haphazard dumping of garbage and to find a long term solution to this problem in a way that it does not cause destruction to human life and to the environment”.