Lalith Wickramaratne was appointed Acting Municipal Commissioner of the Colombo Municipal Council (CMC) with immediate effect, yesterday.
Wickramaratne received the letter of appointment as Acting Municipal Commissioner from Western Province Governor K.C. Logeswaran yesterday.
Responding to the Daily News, Eng. Wickramaratne said the CMC will fully support and provide all relevant and available information to authorities who will conduct an inquiry into the Meethotamulla tragedy, following the recommendations provided by the Presidential Commission of Inquiry which investigated the matter.
Engineer Wickramaratne served as the Deputy Municipal Commissioner (Engineering Services) at the CMC before his appointment.
Former Municipal Commissioner V.K.A. Anura was removed from the position of Colombo Municipal Commissioner, last Friday (2). CMC trade unions yesterday protested against his removal. The report of the Presidential Commission appointed to investigate into the collapse of the Meethotamulla garbage dump was handed over to the President on February 6.
President Maithripala Sirisena appointed a one-man Presidential Commission of Inquiry last year to investigate the Meethotamulla dump collapse.
The Commissioner was retired Appeals Court Judge Chandradasa Nanayakkara.
According to an article published on the President’s Media Division Website, the Commission report noted, “Even though the Colombo Municipal Council (CMC) had paid Rs. 64 million to dispose of waste in 2014, that amount had increased to Rs. 183 million in 2015 and in 2016 to Rs. 232 million.”
The report had also noted that “the incompetence of the CMC in waste removal and its refusal to implement solutions offered had exacerbated the garbage problem and led to the collapse of the Meethotamulla dump.”
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