THE HORRENDOUS ‘DEHIWALA FLYOVER’

Galle road near the flyover in Dehiwala town, has gone under waste water due to obstruction caused to the sewers. Residents of the area said they had been facing inconvenience caused by the overflow of waste water for a long time, without any attention by the Dehiwala Mount Lavinia Municipal Council. They pointed out that the nauseating smell of waste water had resulted in a serious health hazard affecting a large population including pedestrians.

Drivers said they often experienced heavy traffic congestions during peak hours, in their attempt to avoid the stretch of the road under waste water, and the vehicles proceeded in single file.

A customer of a state bank near the flyover, who often called over at the bank for transactions, said that it was with great difficulty that he could find parking space under the flyover. He said, as he was walking to the bank, a splash of waste water spilt from the pool of waste water, as a trishaw sped over it and hit the nearby boutique and several pedestrians.

A trader running a retail boutique near the flyover said he had hung a polythene sheet to prevent the splash of water hitting the boutique. He said that he had to clean the boutique constantly at a heavy expense and that the situation would be worse during heavy rain.

Residents of the area said haphazard construction works of the flyover resulted in this state. They pointed out that sewers had been damaged during excavation, but no action had been taken to restore them.

“Dehiwala town is today a squalid one with leaking sewers and overflowing gullies. This has resulted in inconvenience to the public. However, the Municipal Council has ignored our requests to repair the sewers and drainage lines,” they said.