Garbage removal by car - letter

The garbage where I live is collected only for three or four days maximum for a month. For this purpose we take the garbage in our car in the night and put it in the garbage trucks and tractors parked along the Dehiwela Mount Lavinia Municipal Council (DMMC) road. Many people come in the vehicles and some come by motor cycles and put the garbage into the lorries there. But often tractors aren’t there or the garbage trucks are closed inconveniencing residents.

The DMMC should be thankful that there are civic minded residents who spend valuable time and money (petrol expenses) to specially come upto the Council road and dump their garbage because the MC does not collect the garbage on a regular basis.
There are other bad people who throw their garbage out of their vehicles or three wheelers all over by-roads and bends.

Other residents who are either stingy, lazy or have a don't care attitude and do not bother, keep their garbage rotting for days and wait till the garbage lorry comes. As the garbage is not collected, the stink in such houses is unbearable when the lorry comes and they bring their bins. Flies breed abundantly and spread deceases to other houses also. Garbage bags which are kept accumulating for days collect water and becomes a breeding ground for mosquitoes spreading filaria and dengue.

I wonder what the "Public Health Officers" are doing? May be they are sleeping or they are engaged in doing private businesses of their own (after reporting to work and signing in the morning) while drawing the salary from the MC.

I wrote two letters (under registered post) to the Mayor Sunethra Ranasinghe informing her all the dates that the garbage lorry comes to collect garbage from our houses. The first letter had no response and the second letter she replied saying that my letter was passed to the "relevant officer concerned" for action. Thus Mrs. Ranasinghe simply got rid of the letter by passing it to somebody and washing her hands off the matter. As the Mayor, she simply has no idea of "follow-up action and review".

Why should we pay additionally when we pay taxes to the Municipality, which they have so far collected and not given a proper service ? It would be better to privatise this garbage collection and pay half the assessment tax to the private firm for garbage collection and the other half to the municipality for the maintenance of roads and street lights.

Thushara de Silva
Kalubowila.