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CMC commissioner defiant after Governor fires him over garbage disaster
View(s):Colombo Municipal Council (CMC) Commissioner V.K.A. Anura has been permanently removed from his post following the recommendations made in the one-man presidential committee report that probed the collapse of the Meethotamulla garbage dump, Western Province Governor K.C. Logeswaran told the Sunday Times.
Mr. Logeswaran noted that the Governor had the absolute power to appoint and remove a commissioner in terms of the Provincial Councils Act. “I have given instructions to remove him permanently and a new commissioner will be appointed next week.”
More than 30 people were killed when the garbage dump collapsed on their homes on April 14 last year. President Maithripala Sirisena appointed retired Appeals Court Judge Dr Chandradasa Nanayakkara to probe the tragedy. Dr Nanayakkara handed over his report on February 6. CMC Commissioner Anura, however, claims he had not been informed of his removal even as of yesterday and intends to report to work tomorrow as usual. “All I know is what’s been reported in the media. I was out in the field on Friday and it was only when I returned home in the evening that I saw the news on TV,” he told the Sunday Times.
Mr. Anura said no one had summoned or approached him to record a statement over the Meethotamulla tragedy and he was not aware of the accusations against him. He also pointed out that he had been the CMC commissioner only for 18 months. “This garbage issue has been around since 1982. There have been so many mayors, commissioners and engineers working at the CMC during that time. Since this is a national issue, you also need to take into account the number of Presidents, Prime Ministers, Ministers and officials of the Central Environment Authority (CEA) who would have been involved in the issue. I’m not sure how they can heap all the blame on me, given that I’ve only presided over a short period of time,” he stressed.
According to the Presidential Media Division (PMD), the Meethotamulla Committee report had revealed that there was an unusual increase of the expenses paid to outsourced organisations for the waste disposal process of the Kolonnawaa and Meethotamulla areas during the period of 2015-2016. The expenses show a gradual increase of allocations by the CMC and according to the statistics in 2014 the CMC had paid Rs. 64 M and Rs. 182 M and Rs. 232 M respectively in 2015 and 2016.
The report further revealed that the causes of the tragedy included the fact that the CMC from its initial stages had failed to follow a proper waste disposal method.