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Photo focus: A city sans rules or regulations
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A section of the road illegally reserved by a ‘Duwanagiri’/Mobile Boutique and shoe sales outlet blocking sections of the main road in the heart of Pettah
Shopkeepers, vehicle repair centres and owners of mobile boutiques have arbitrarily taken control of city sidewalks, parking areas and at times even sections of the main road itself in Colombo and its suburbs. There seems to be no authority responsible for regulating parking areas or sales outlets causing inconvenience to both motorists and pedestrians alike.
In many places one is confronted withbarriers made of of tyres, barrels and even chairs which demarcate spaces reserved by these individuals for their commercial activities. Space which could otherwise be used as sidewalks or for parking of vehicles.
Unfortunately city authorities seem unwilling to correct the situation.
A senior official of the Colombo Municipal Council (CMC) said the individuals running these businesses have no authority to reserve public parking spaces for themselves, unless they have specifically made a payment to the CMC and reserved it.
However, in most cases these people forcibly reserve the space claiming they have a right to the same and obstruct motorists attempting to park vehicles.
As a result of these arbitrary actions, pedestrians are often forced off the pavements as sections of the sidewalk too are occupied by vendors, forcing them to step onto the main road.
An enterprising female entrepreneur uses the main road to dry out her clothes while running her small business from her pavement shop
Someone’s marked out a private parking area!
With this section of a parking area being ‘barreled’ off limits to the public motorists are forced to park vehicles on the main road