PROTEST HIGHLIGHTS deplorable Habanhena Road

Residents i n Homagama, Habanhena Road recently took to the streets demanding that local government authorities repair the road as travelling had become a nightmare for many.

Residents said the Habanhena Road had not been repaired for the last 20 years and had been constantly used by heavy vehicles carrying rocks or other heavy machinery used at quarries.

Pradeshiya Sabha Chairman A. D Kumarasiri said the road should be made by the local business community even though the road came under the Pradeshiya Sabha.

Residents said they were caught between the devil and the deep blue sea as neither the local government authorities nor the businessmen at the quarry would make the road. “We asked the businessmen who have used the road for 20 years to make the road and they refused to do so as it would be broken again by the heavy vehicles. When we asked the Pradeshiya Sabha we were told to ask the businessmen as they did not have funds to repeatedly make the road,” they said.

Many expressed their disappointment and said the local government authorities should intervene as it was they who gave permission for the quarry. Residents said the road was filled with potholes that could cause severe injuries to school children on a rainy day and was avoided by

threethree- wheeler driversdrivers. “Even if they agree to travel down the road they ask for an extra amount as they will soon have to replace their motor vehicle parts,” theysaid.

Homagama Pradeshiya Sabha Chairman A. D Kumarasiri said that the road came under the purview of t he Pradeshiya SabhaSabha. “But it is no use wasting money and repairing the road because the heavy vehicles travelling to the quarry would bring the road back to a dilapidated condition,” he said.

Kumarasiri insisted that it was the quarry businessmen that had to make the road and asked residents to push them to do so.