Homes without inhabitants
Railway staff quarters located in Aruwakkalu, Chilaw have been abandoned for over a year, and the public have appealed to the authorities to utilise the building.
According to railway employees, the official quarters are owned by train drivers, station masters, engineers, road maintenance workers and other officials.
These railway quarters are located in the vicinity of Chilaw, Bangadeniya, Mundalama, Puttalam and Palaviya railway stations.
Cracked walls, dilapidated rooms, crumbled roofs, broken doors and windows, broken electric metre boards fixed on walls without cover, rusty taps and stinky pipelines are common features of these quarters.
The buildings have been left at the mercy of the jungle with many insects having taken it over as a safe haven.
There are 255 railway quarters; 229 workers' quarters and 26 officers' quarters.
Rampant developmental activities were undertaken to elevate these quarters earlier, but now the authorities have abandoned them.
The buildings are more than 100 years old, as they were built in the British Colonial period, but after a little renovation the buildings can still be in good condition.
The railway staff residing in these buildings have been requesting the authorities concerned for years, however, the requests have fallen on deaf ears.
Meanwhile valuable doors and windows of the houses, as well as bathroom cabinets and brass hinges attached to doors and windows have been stolen by thieves.
Many railway staff were also illegally sub-letting their quarters to other people.
W S Warnakulasuriya, a senior railway assistant who had acquired a railway quarters, said: “I am a retired employee of the Railways Department. I bought an official residence during my tenure, but once I completed my retirement I was forcibly asked to return the house. Now I have no place to go.”
Residents claim that the Railways Department should take measures to repair the dilapidated quarters. Once the refurbishment is complete, these quarters should be allotted to Railways employees to prevent waste of Government money.