CMC creates rotten days and nights for pre-school and homes
Apublic school, a pre-school adjoining it, dozens of homes in the residential area around Campbell Park in Colombo are suffocating from the stench of Colombo Municipal Council garbage trucks that come to refill at a fuelling station, while leaving a trail of rotting garbage and runoff spilling on to the streets day and night.
The Lady Ridgeway Hospital is about 500 metres away.
A danger to public heath has been created by the CMC and is being ignored. The new Mayor Rosie Senanayake has been petitioned by fearful, irate residents, who have also informed the presidential office.
But the CMC acting commissioner L. R. L. Wickramaratne is defiant, insisting that garbage trucks need to refill and have to be parked somewhere.
For the owner of a nearby Montessori, Mithra Gunathilake, the day begins when she is overcome by the overwhelming odour and the pollution.
Ms Gunathilake, 84, who spent 42 years of her life in Borella, Park Avenue, said what is worse is garbage truck drivers parking along the road bordering their backyard.
“I am concerned about the little children. I don’t want them getting sick. Every morning they are forced to come to our lane passing the long line of garbage trucks,” she said.
Rodents, flies and mosquitoes, are also thriving, she said.
Teachers at the preschool are appalled and fearful of health risks from the trucks.
Chathurika Ranawaka, a resident of Rajagiriya, who regularly travels to teach at the pre-school said that every morning she has to suffer the foul odour.
“The trucks are oozing with maggots and decaying garbage. I am concerned about the children,” she said.
“It’s my responsibility keep the little ones safe. We keep the doors and windows closed when the children are hav- ing their meals. We need the authorities to stop the garbage trucks form parking near the pre-school backyard.’’
Students of Ratnawali Balika Vidyalaya are also experiencing discomfort from the public health danger that the CMC has created.
A spokesperson for the school said the situation is comparably better now, because there was a time when garbage trucks parked beside the school boundary wall and even next to the gate.
She said that the principal had asked the head of the nearby Colombo Municipality sub office to move the trucks.
“Despite the request, CMC officials have only ordered the trucks to park on the opposite side of the road causing difficulties to the residents,” she said.
She said that the environment becomes even more unbearable when it rains.
Meanwhile, groups of parents signed a petition to the President.
The Presidential Secretariat has
The trucks are oozing with maggots and decaying garbage. I am concerned about the children."
ordered the Colombo Municipal Commissioner to take necessary action. Yet, the residents say that the CMC has not resolved the issue.
Dr Navindra Jayathilake, 58, a resident, said that the CMC office and fuelling station was built over 20 years ago, but garbage trucks rarely caused a nuisance.
“Today there are over 20 trucks forming lines and some of them are loaded with the garbage collected dur- ing the previous day. This is disgusting that every day we wake to this awful stench,” he said.
He also notes that Lady Ridgeway Hospital too is nearby and patients are in danger.
He keeps the windows and doors shut in his home.
“We complained to the authorities, and submitted petitions, but nothing worked,” he said.
K. V. Sithara, a mother who accompanies her four-and-a-half-year-old daughter to and from the pre-school said that the stench has been unbearable.
“I am worried about the health of my daughter,” she said.
Ms Sithara explains that she selected the pre-school because it is close to her workplace, the Lady Ridgeway Hospital.
Yet another petition has been sent to the new mayor Rosie Senanayake.
The acting municipal commissioner, L. R. L. Wickramaratne said that the CMC has replied to the President’s Secretary.
He said garbage trucks are parked on roads because CMC lands and buildings are under renovation.
“People need to dispose of their garbage and trucks need to collect trash, and the CMC needs to have a fuel station,’’ he said.
But, residents are not convinced and insist that the CMC must relocate the fuel station.