The 15th SAARC summit being held in Colombo under the theme, ‘SAARC partnership for people’ appears to be driving the public further away from it, with security concerns and attempts to build a clean city image causing inconvenience to the public.
Most people opted to stay away from the city during the past few days with traffic into the city dropping from last Monday, while those who came into the city experienced long traffic blocks and sudden diversions.
A representative from Overseas Realty (Ceylon) PLC, Managing Agent for the World Trade Center, Colombo said, although employees of WTC were not required to obtain special passes, the staff and their posessions were subject to thorough checks. “Tenants were inconvenienced due to access restrictions and road closures. Some offices were operating from their head offices and off site locations,” she said, adding that Food and Beverage operators were also closed due to difficulties in stocking food items for a week.
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| Buses halted at Bambalapitiya railway station for commuters to use |
An official of a leading travel agency in Fort said that although the company operated as usual last week, attendance was at the employees’ discretion.
He added that most employees did not turn up for work anticipating difficulties in travelling. Only a few vehicle passes were issued and employees had to walk from Regal cinema, where they were allowed to proceed only after thorough security checks.
Train services were also suspended between Bambalapitiya and Fort Railway stations and would remain so tomorrow as well.
Maradana Railway station superintendent Wijeya Samarasinghe said that a shuttle service was in operation between these railway stations from August 1 to 4.
“Commuters who have purchased season tickets or a ticket to a particular destination and are travelling via Fort and Bambalapitiya could use the shuttle service,” he said, adding that they would be checked at both locations.
M. K. Jayaratne who operates a guesthouse in Ambalangoda and travels to Colombo regularly said he found it difficult to travel to Colombo this week.
“On other days around six of us travel together from Ambalangoda to Colombo. But this week, only two of us came,” Jayaratne said, adding that the others opted to stay back due to security concerns and uncertainties.
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| Commuters who alighted from trains at Fort Railway Station being directed to use the shuttle bus service from within the
station. Pix by Sanka Vidanagama, Saman Kariyawasam and Berty Mendis |
He added that such measures have also affected the tourism industry which is already suffering, as both local and foreign tourists would face difficulties in travelling to various parts of the country.
Street vendors, lottery ticket sellers and three-wheeler drivers are among the most hard hit, with many of them complaining of reduced sales and hires and been asked to move away.
R. Kumar who sells lottery tickets on a bicycle said that sales have gone down by more than 50% this week. “On a normal weekday I would sell around 400 lottery tickets. But this week I barely managed to sell 200. The past two days have been the worst. I couldn’t even sell 100 tickets,” he said.
“We were told to move from the railway station by the police, due to security reasons and also to keep the city clean. But since I sell lottery tickets on a bicycle, I was allowed to stay, as I could move when necessary,” he said, adding that usually there would be around 10 lottery vendors at the Fort Railway Station. On Thursday evening it was just Kumar.
N. N. Siddhi, a three-wheeler driver said that with less people, they had less hires during the week and on Thursday he had none. “I couldn’t even earn Rs. 400 a day. The weekend is going to be even worse and this would be the same even next week, due to security concerns,” he said.
A street vendor in Fort, E. M. Wimal Ediriarachchi a father of two, said that if a similar situation continued next week, they would probably have to close their shop. “It’s been like this for the past month now. We were allowed to stay on here, but at this rate, with no business, we will have to close down the shops. There is no point keeping this open. There’s been a 70% reduction in sales,” he said, adding that where he would normally earn upto around Rs. 8000 a day, this week he could not even earn Rs. 2000.
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| Prisoners giving last minute touches near parliament during the week |
“We need to feed our families. We also need to pay our debts. But if things continue like this, it will be difficult. There would be no point working on Saturday and Sunday too,” he said.
Cinemas located in High Security Zones (HSZs) such as Liberty and Regal experienced low audience turnout. Although the cinemas were located in the HSZs, the roads leading upto them were outside, but they too were closed intermittently.
Regal cinema manager Sarath Fernando said they were open this week but visitor turnout had gone down by 75%. He said less than 10 people turned up for the 10.30 a.m. show on Friday, whereas on other Fridays, there would be around 50 people.
Liberty cinema manger R. G. Prasanna said that with roads being closed regularly there was no possibility for people to come to the cinema. However, he added that the Liberty would be open today.
Late for work, jumps from train and loses foot
The SAARC traffic arrangement, that affected routine train stoppages and the concern of getting late to office, prompted a man to jump off a moving train, sustaining serious injuries resulting in the loss of his left foot.
An employee of a private firm at Union Place, 25 year-old M.G. de Silva, routinely got off at the Slave Island station. However, with most trains running according to SAARC security measures the Sagarika express train from Matara to Colombo did not stop at the Slave Island Station but was heading directly to the Fort Railway Station. On Thursday as the express approached the Slave Island station Mr. de Silva jumped off the train missing the platform and falling on the track. His leg had then slipped under the moving train and it had gone over his foot.
Roads closed today |
From 9 a.m. to 10.30 a.m. the stretch of road from Old Parliament roundabout to Kollupitiya junction, from there to BMICH and from BMICH to the Parliament complex will be closed for traffic.
From 1 p.m. to 3.30 p.m. and from 4.15 p.m. to 5.30 p.m. the stretch of road from Old Parliament roundabout to Kollupitiya Junction, from Kollupitiya Junction to BMICH will be closed for traffic.
From 11 a.m. to 11.45 a.m. the landside lane from the Kollupitiya junction to the Mount Lavinia junction will be closed for security reasons.
From 3 p.m. to 3.45 p.m. the seaside lane from the Mount Lavinia junction to the Kollupitiya junction will be closed for security reasons.
The Negombo road will also be closed for about half an hour from 8.30 p.m. to 9.30 p.m. during VIP movements, DIG Nimal Mediwaka said. |
Although railway regulations stipulate that any injured person be dispatched to hospital as soon as possible by stopping at the next station or even midway in this case the train had bypassed two stations.
General Manager Sri Lanka Railways Dr. Lalithasiri Gunaruwan said when such an incident occurs, the train staff should dispatch the injured to a hospital as soon as possible. “They are permitted not only to stop at the closest station but even midway even if there is no station and there is a hospital close by,” he said.
Commenting on this accident, Mr. Gunaruwan said he was not aware of it. He said the train staff could have got advice from an officer at the Train’s Control Office in Maradana.
Meanwhile the Slave Island Station Master B.M.A. Gunawardena said the Sagarika express train had reached the station around 8.25 a.m. and he got to know of the accident only after the train had left the station.
“Although the train was stopped for nearly 5 minutes, during which time the injured man must have been put back on the train the guard did not inform me of the accident,” he said.
Fort Station Master Sarath Pathirana said after the train reached its final destination around 8.55 a.m. they called for an ambulance and the victim was dispatched to the National Hospital within 10 minutes. He said if he had been informed of the accident beforehand he would have had the ambulance ready and waiting.
Commenting on eye witnesses observations that it would have been quicker to have summoned an ambulance from the Slave Island station as it was closer to the National Hospital Mr. Gunawardena said the train staff may not have wanted to stop for a long time at the station as it had been declared a high security zone for the SAARC. Meanwhile Mr. Silva is in the ICU in a critical condition after undergoing an amputation to his left foot.
A Food Bank for SAARC countries
By Himal Kotelawala
SAARC member states have reached consensus on setting up a ‘SAARC Food Bank’, to be used in times of crisis including global food scarcity and natural disasters in the region which could lead to food shortages.
Agriculture Minister Hemakumara Nanayakkara said following last week’s agreement to jointly combat terrorism in the region, the decision to face the challenge of a possible food shortfall was probably the most important outcome of the SAARC summit.
“The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) cautioned the world about an impending global food crisis only in 2008 but President Mahinda Rajapaksa cautioned us about it as far back as February 2007 and instructed us to go on an accelerated food production programme,” he added.
Explaining the concept of a food bank he said it would mainly be a method of managing food reserves. For instance, excess paddy, tea, etc. that is grown and manufactured in the countries of the region would be stored in each country for later use or export.According to Minister Nanayakkara during the last Maha season, eight million metric tonnes of rice was produced in Sri Lanka, with no shortfall other than 40,000 MTs being sold as poultry feed by certain traders and mill owners last year. This rice was fit for human consumption, he said.
“We produce enough rice for our own consumption. If we go on a cultivation spree we would be able to export to other countries,” he said.
The per capita rice consumption of the country stands at 135kg per person.This is a significant increase from the per capita consumption of 90kg of less than one and a half years ago, he said.
Explaining the workings of the proposed food bank, Minister Nanayakkara said that it would centre around each country being prepared to exchange whatever food they specialsied in. For instance, Sri Lanka specialises in tea as India did wheat.
When asked whether already established companies like Prima would oppose such moves, Minister Nanayakkara said the government had a right to invite competition.
“I’m not for a moment asking Prima to be pushed aside, like other political parties have done, but they cannot ask us not to invite competition. Healthy competition is ultimately beneficial to the consumer,” he said.
Heartbreak over heartless security
By Isuri Kaviratne
A woman died after suffering a heart attack last Sunday due to inaccessibility to emergency treatment, as a result of the SAARC rehearsal traffic arrangements, the victim’s family claims.
Sixty-four year-old Mary Pearl Jayatillaka, from Alwiswatta Wattala had suffered heart problems around 3.30 p.m. and family members including her daughter Nirmala Silva had tried to rush her to the closest hospital, Ragama Hospital when they got caught to the closure of the Negombo-Katunayake Road. They had been compelled to stop at three different road blocks in Wattala and all attempts at pleading with the police to allow them to cross the Negombo road had failed
“My mother never cried. This was the only day we saw her cry,” Niramala said, going on to explain the tragedy that unfolded right before her eyes. She said they had attempted to cross the road at three points, Bunt Road, Hendala Road junction and Alwis town junction, but could not do so because of security barriers.
“We didn’t want to go along the Negombo Road. We just wanted to cross to the other side to so that we could get to the hospital through various short cuts,” Nirmala said, adding that neither pleading nor arguing with the Police worked to just cross about 15-20 meters of the road to get to the other side.
“It would have taken a maximum of two minutes to cross the road in the vehicle and thereafter there are several shortcut routes to reach Ragama hospital,” he said.
“My mother was pleading with us to take her to a doctor but we couldn’t do that,” a tearful Nirmala said. She said they didn’t have the option of even channeling a doctor in the area as the doctors came to channeling centres only after 5 p.m. She said, eventually after going through the most desperate 45 minutes of their lives, they found a doctor. However at the Kelawarapitiya Junction. As soon as she was taken there, Nirmala’s mother had been given treatment but it had been too late. “My mother fell at my feet unconscious, after suffering for nearly an hour,” Nirmala said. On the doctor’s instructions, she was rushed to Ragama hospital, by which time the roads had been opened, but it was too late.
“I have a sister who is a nurse. We know most of the doctors in Ragama hospital. But still we couldn’t take my mother there on time. The doctors there said if we had brought her even 10 minutes earlier there would have been a good chance of saving her,” Nirmala said. She charged that the policemen at the checkpoints didn’t even bother to check how serious her mother’s condition was before disallowing them to cross the road. She said that the government while providing security to foreign delegates had not taken any measures to serve the public in emergencies. “No child would want their mother to die like the way she did,” Nirmala said. “She was a kind and healthy woman and she died in vain because she was an ordinary citizen in this country and not a VIP or the mother of a VIP,” she said. Worst still she said they were so helpless and couldn’t do anything that Sunday. She added that in an attempt to protect someone else’s life, her mother’s life was ultimately sacrificed.
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