LAGGALA GREEN TOWN FACES GARBAGE ISSUES

Although the Laggala town had been declared the first green city in the country it is facing a series of environmental issues for want of an efficient garbage management mechanism, sources said. Residents pointed out that the solid waste collected by the Laggala Pradeshiya Sabha was dumped in a pit about a kilometre away from the town creating a massive mosquito breeding ground without least concern about the danger to the public health.they said the Sri Lanka Mahaweli Authority had permitted the Pradeshiya Sabha to use that land as a dumping ground.

Farmers said the wild elephants pulled down the electric fence to enter the dumping ground to feed on garbage and that the villagers were living in constant fear of any possible danger to their life. Meanwhile, the people resettled under the Kaluganga Project expressed concern over the danger to their health by drinking water supplied

He said the garbage could be transported to the garbage recycling complex in Dambulla if vehicles were available

by the Mahaweli Authority from a lake near the pit. Environmentalist of the area said if the pit was filled with storm water during heavy rain experienced at present it would overflow with garbage into the nearby canal linked to the Kalu Ganga.

However, the Chairman of the Laggala Pradeshiya Sabha Buddhika Senaratne admitted that a pit on land provided by the Sri Lanka Mahaweli Authority was being used as a dumping ground but he said that was a temporary measure.

He said the garbage could be transported to the garbage recycling complex in Dambulla if vehicles were available. Meanwhile, Project Director of Moragahakanda- Kaluganga Project said a garbage recycling project was now been planned with the help of the Peradeniya University and that the land would be used temporarily as a dumping ground.