Grabbing in sacred city

By Hiranthi Fernando

While the large scale land grab in Kadirana, Ambewala, Mulleriyawa and other places is creating political and social tensions, the grabbing of state owned lands for the construction of unauthorised houses has increased to alarming proportions in Anuradhapura.

Authorities have found that nearly 2000 encroachers are erecting illegal housing units within the city limits alone. Controlling this menace has become a near impossible task for the authorities concerned. It is alleged that political backing is behind the encroachers' blatant disregard for the law.

The Sunday Times came across four such sites in Anuradhapura during a visit there on Wednesday. On Maithripala Senan-ayake Mawatha, a main thoroughfare of the city, about 40 foundations have been laid on land belonging to the Buildings Department. A strip of land between the residential quarters for this department and the boundary wall has been occupied by squatters who have proceeded to construct rubble foundations, in full view of all and sundry using the road.

At Kumbichchankulama Wewa, illegal constructions erected last year were demolished by the Urban Council authorities with the aid of the Police, only to be reconstructed recently. On a railway reservation in the city, a row of permanent brick and rubble structures were being constructed by several gangs of workers. Building materials were piled up on the land. Some houses had almost reached roof level.

Near the Nature Park at Dharmapala Mawatha, encroachers have fenced in plots of land and started on the foundations transporting building materials through the Nature Park. These are but a few instances of the encroachments on state lands taking place in Anuradhapura. It is also seen that the constructions are not the type of shanty dwellings usually built by squatters on government lands but more costly and permanent structures. One wonders what will be left if this land grabbing is left uncontrolled. What would be the outcome if squatters start moving into the sacred city area and encroach on temple lands and archaeological reserves?

Dr. H.L.K. Caldera, the Chairman of the Urban Council, which was elevated to a Municipal Council last week, said the Council intends demolishing the illegal constructions and taking legal action against the offenders. Dr. Caldera said that the constructions at the Buildings Department land have been stopped with the aid of the Police and some offenders arrested.

Land behind the Nature Park, which has been earmarked for a teaching hospital for the Rajarata University, has been encroached upon, Dr. Caldera said. He said the Council had not received any complaints of recent constructions by encroachers on this land. He assured he would inspect the site and take action against the encroachers.

It has also been found that people of the area are often reluctant to complain to the authorities in fear of thuggery on the part of the illegal encroachers. For the Police or Urban Council to take action, a complaint has to be made by the authority owning the land. An officer at the Urban Council said that when a complaint is received, they go to the site with the Police and warn the encroachers and ask them to discontinue the construction work. However, they stop for a while but continue their work during the night and on weekends.

Officials say the problem is aggravated because some politicians of the area condone these acts by their supporters.

'This culture started in the eighties and is still continuing in increased proportions', an officer said. 'Those who put up large illegal homes on state lands are still enjoying the benefits. Although a committee was appointed in 1994 to inquire into it nothing has been achieved and the encroachments continue', he said.

The Superintendent of Police, .W.Mahanayake said the Police have received some complaints and proper action has been taken according to the complaints. He said the public or officers from the government departments concerned should not fear to report these matters to the Police. They should come freely to the Police. We are there to protect them and we will take necessary action , Mr. Mahanayake said.

Mr. H.B. Semasinghe, a Member of Parliament in the area, and Deputy Minister for Tourism and Civil Aviation, said that he has instructed the relevant authorities to take action against encroachers. Recent encroachments have been demolished, he said.

To put up a structure, the Urban Council approval has to be obtained. If a structure is built without this approval, the UC has the authority to demolish the construction at the early stages. After the building has come up however, court action has to be taken. Mr. Semasinghe said that in the case of lands given to various government departments, it is the responsibility of the officials in charge to take care of their lands and report any encroachments.

" The public can at least report such matters to us. We will take action without divulging any names" , Mr. Semasinghe said.

Health is political wealth

By Faraza Farook

Hospital authorities are objecting to politically backed campaigns that are slowly taking away the lands surrounding the hospitals. Three hospitals catering to a specialized field of health care are up in arms against the politically motivated land grabs which might lead to the eventual closure of the institutions.

The Government Medical Officers Association (GMOA) claimed that over the years both governments had taken over land surrounding hospital premises, to be utilized for development purposes..

The most affected are the Mental Hospitals at Angoda and Mulleriyawa and the Fever Hospital at Angoda popularly known as the Infectious Diseases Hospital (IDH).

The 55-acre land of the IDH has now been reduced to a mere 25 acres following the gradual acquisition of land for housing schemes and industrial purposes.

According to hospital employees numerous requests made to develop the hospital have gone unheeded while more hospital lands have been taken over for new projects.

The most recent demand has been to release two acres of land for a shopping complex and a sump. The land earmarked for these projects already has quarters for doctors and minor employees doctors' and the ambulance garage.

Addressing a news conference organised by the GMOA, Dr. G.W.W. Pathirana Medical Officer in Charge (MOIC), IDH Hospital said the hospital authority has not complied with the order to release the land. "What they mean by a shopping complex is a number of small tea boutiques which might be kept open till late, making a lot of noise and creating a nuisance to the doctors. The access road to the quarters will also be blocked as a result," he said.

Though the MOIC has agreed to release a bare land for the sump, the National Water Supply and Drainage Board is reported to be demanding the adjoining land where the ambulance garage and the minor employees' quarters are situated.

In the meantime, work has already begun on an industrial complex on one part of the hospital land. However, the hospital authorities are unaware of the nature of the industry that is going to come up or the dangers that might pose to patients and doctors. A garment factory put up during the previous government is already in operation adjacent to the proposed new industrial complex. At the end of the new road constructed to make way for the industry is the Malpura housing scheme. On another side is a piece of land which has been demarcated and distributed among the employees of the health ministry. The land grabbers have not even spared the burial grounds of the hospital.

Another problem faced by the hospital authority is that the houses have been built on the sewerage pit. In certain instances houses have been put up damaging the pipelines, Dr. Pathirana said.

Last year, 1,500 patients suffering from chickenpox had been admitted to the hospital. At a time when HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and several other infectious diseases are on the increase, the hospital land should be preserved for expansion purposes, GMOA has pointed out.

Despite objection by the Medical Superintendent, Deputy Minister Bennet Cooray, had allegedly distributed hospital land among 300 families in the Kolonnawa electorate. The Deputy Minister has claimed that the land was acquired after obtaining prior approval from President Chandrika Kumaratunga.

Health Ministry Secretary Tilak Ranaviraja confirmed that 12 acres of land were distributed among the people on the instructions of the President. However, GMOA claimed that the land so released was utilized to put up a housing scheme and the additional land had been acquired by the Deputy Minister for distribution among his people.

"The housing complex has come up covering about 5-6 acres and only the remaining land from the 12 acres has been demarcated and distributed among the people," Mr. Ranaviraja said.

Responding to charges of encroachment closer to wards and quarters meant for hospital employees, Mr. Ranaviraja explained that failure by the Health Ministry to demarcate and hand over the land when it was released in 1998 has led to the present situation. Mr. Ranaviraja also dismissed the GMOA allegation that the land between two wards had been acquired. He said the land was allocated on a decision taken a few years ago to build houses in that area. GMOA Angoda branch union president Dr. Tilak Siriwardene explaining the situation at the Angoda Mental Hospital said there was a partial encroachment by the Pradeshiya Sabha to the playground meant for mental patients. However, the Pradeshiya Sabha disclaimed any knowledge of the subject.

Dr. Siriwardene said during the previous regime too, land from the Sunflower Rehabilitation Centre for the disabled (located at the Mulleriyawa hospital), the Mulleriyawa and Angoda hospitals have been taken over to put up garment factories. In addition to these, the doctors' quarters had also been taken over for a police station.

Post haste or post waste

By M.Ismeth

While the Government has plans to convert the Postal Department into a corporation on the basis of heavy losses Postal Unions are alleging the losses are often due to waste and administrative blunders.

In one of the glaring examples of waste the Postal department is paying Rs 520,000 a month as rent for its money order department housed in a privately owned Pettah building.

These and other instances of waste including the hiring of private vehicles at extra cost instead of buying vehicles from allocated money, have been pointed out by postal unions.

For its postal management training institute in Wellawatte the department pays Rs 130,000 a month as rent again to a private owner since 1998.

The union says this expenditure could have been avoided if the department had gone ahead with the Kalutara project which was abandoned in 1995.

Originally there were plans to build a training institute at Nagoda in Kalutara with lecture rooms, quarters for instructors, assembly hall and other facilities but the project was shelved.

Two acres of land had been given to the department for this purpose and the project was to be funded by Japan and Finland but the Kalutara GA took the land back after little or nothing was done after many years.

According to union officials another piece of land of 95 perches in Mt. Lavinia was given to a private company on lease at Rs 30,000 a year.

This land had been earmarked to build a housing complex for postal employees.

The private company had sub-leased it to nine people who have built their own houses.

The Government Agent has told the postal department that if it wants the land back it would have to take action to oust the nine tenants.

That was the end of the land.

Union officials have also alleged a wasteful exercise over postcards.

They say a blunder in printing- whereby the price was marked Rs. 2.00 in one place and 5.00 in another-has forced the Department to keep tens of thousands of post cards on the shelf.

With the century old General Post Office the only one which was open 24 hours of the day being closed down due to security reasons,. The Chief Accountants Office and the Philatelic Bureau are being housed at the MICH building in the Fort- again paying lakhs as rent.

Since 1994 the Treasury has allocated millions for the Postal Department to buy vehicles.

But for some reason the department opted to hire private vehicles and return the money to the treasury, union officials allege. Two vouchers reproduced on this page show that Rs 73,630 and Rs 252,730 had been paid for private vehicles.

PARLIAMENT

When a House was on fire

By Dilrukshi Handunnetti, Our Lobby Correspondent

One could hardly miss the many similarities (as much as there are dissimilarities) between the late President J.R. Jayewardene and incumbent Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga, in their art of governance, more specifically the daring, and the finesse with which they play power politics.

When Mr. Jayewardene foisted a constitution on the people (which he periodically amended at will), he may have envisaged the UNP being in the seat of power eternally with an enviable and comfortable majority in the House. What he perhaps never envisaged was that the UNP could actually hit the doldrums and there could be a true heir to his style of governance- a daring female at the helm playing it even better.

Two decades later, JR's constitution is at the throes of being amended - its much critiqued supremacy challenged by President Kumaratunga; in the process taking the biggest political gamble in her life. Exactly five years since presenting the original draft, Ms. Kumaratunga herself was there on Thursday morning in Parliament, defiant and confident and ready to take the flack- possibly armed with our new constitution.

Swathed in a beige- gold Kandyan saree, she entered Parliament for the second time this year with a call for power sharing. And despite the lack of numbers to muster a 2/3 majority, she was the epitome of confidence.

A chorus of "Jathi Drohiyo" reverberated in the House as the President took her seat, warmly greeting Ronnie de Mel who recently crossed over to the PA and occupied the late Dharmasiri Senanayake's front row seat, despite not yet being sworn a Cabinet minister.

It seemed a tryst with destiny that S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike's daughter should bring in proposals for power sharing to the House- amidst raging controversy and rebellious protests from all sides.

Presenting the controversial instrument " the Constitution of the Republic of Sri Lanka Bill" , she made a speech - charged with emotion, little facts and a passionate plea to the Maha Sangha not to be misled and the UNP to endorse the instrument. However, in the process, Prof. G.L. Peiris the godfather of the original draft seemed a forgotten man.

The hiccups were plenty. Her very entry generated much heat- as angry backbenchers heaped accusations on the head of state who smilingly weathered the opposition. And there stood Mahinda Samarasinghe, raising the issue whether it was justifiable to call for the second reading of a bill when the subject matter for discussion was not known and they were not in possession of the copies.

Perhaps fearing more queries about government business being arbitrarily fixed sans consulting other parties ( including fixing of dates for the new constitution's three readings) Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayake sprang to his feet assuring that the debate would begin only on Monday.

The President's opening remarks were inaudible amidst the din. Amused, she allowed a few interjections before unleashing a barrage of accusations. Angry over the UNP's shouting match, she promptly made what is usually suitable for a political platform- a speech full of fire with only passing reference to the contents of the bill.

Firing cannons, she accused the UNP of fuelling fires after having created the ethnic conflict with the 1983 Black July carnage, a culture she thundered the UNP fostered where killing, maiming , destroying properties of Tamils became part of governance.

" It is your burden that we are shouldering at great risk to life and limb" she charged, and the hoots immediately rose to a crescendo.

Riding her hobby horse of UNP bashing, the President waxed eloquent over the next one and a half hours in a House gone wild.

Listing the UNP's unpardonable sins, Ms. Kumaratunga sniped: " With all the suffering the UNP caused us, Vijeya and I remained supportive of the 13th Amendment, flawed as it may be. We assumed office pledging to re-establish democracy and a new lease of life to our people. This is the foundation," she declared.

The slogan shouting now at peak level soon mingled with hurling of paper balls and vicious tearing of order papers and draft constitution copies, resembling the Lipton Circus during lunch hour. Braving the pandemonium, Ms. Kumaratunga urged the UNP to support her effort, as it was not only her people who were being affected, but Ranil Wickremesnghe's people as well- our people, she said with great emphasis.

Holding sway despite wild screams and cat calls, she reiterated that the PA fought the enemy tooth and nail unlike those who held secret talks with LTTE leaders at five star venues, entered into unholy electoral pacts, funded and armed them.

In a delivery tinged with emotion and appeals directed to the Maha Sangha and the main opposition, she briefly illustrated the efforts of her government to resolve a conflict of the UNP's making- beginning from her letter exchanging days with the LTTE. Yet her efforts were drowned by the pint- sized Renuka Herath who led a shouting game with others zealously thumping on desks and calling : 'Me akka, rata wikka", 'Air Lanka horen kewa', 'Gamini Dissanayake meruwe kauda"! And all the while, the leader of the Opposition Ranil Wickremesinghe sat slouched on his seat, despite the din around him.

Sounding hopeful and fixing the opposition with a stare, Ms. Kumaratunga opined that for 52 years, the Sinhala- majority governments had not addressed the grievances of the minorities. This drove them to sympathize with the LTTE which in turn created a wedge between the Sinhalese and Tamils. If this constitution which guarantees minority rights, is properly implemented, the Tamils would give Prabhakaran and his followers the 'broom stick treatment", she exulted.

And not forgetting to bring in the Bandaranaike factor too- she remarked that the Bandaranaikes never conceded defeat, or shirked responsibilities but fought to the end.

"My father's efforts to introduce the Bandaranaike- Chelvanayakam Pact were drowned in a sea of racial feelings, allegedly the reason for his assassination. My husband Vijeya also believed in power sharing and paid with his life for supporting Jayewardene's efforts," she declared emotionally.

As Ranil Wickremesinghe stood up to leave the chambers , she sniped that as usual 'nayakathuma was running away', specially when it was the UNP's bounden duty to rise to the occasion and work for the welfare of this nation.

Explaining her laborious efforts to conduct a dialogue with parties of all hues, Ms. Kumaratunge heatedly declared that she was stunned by the UNP's irresponsibility. "Those who claim this has been introduced in an indecent hurry are raving mad. This 'urgency' took five long years and a discussion with the UNP for 18 long months" she said during a delivery sans a break.

"My call is for responsible, non confrontational politics. We have spent over 100 hours with the UNP which adopted delaying tactics from the very outset. We even kept part of the Constitution unprinted as the UNP fixed and refixed dates to hold final discussions on transitional provisions," the President remarked, sounding disappointed with the UNP's regular change of stance.

Giving the Maha Sangha the necessary assurance, she declared that the foremost protection would be given to Buddhism- pleading for understanding when a 'campaign to vilify her was gaining credence.

"We have a legacy of sharing good things. We have always shared power. Even our kings devolved their powers to the provincial chieftains. The centre clinging on to all the powers has not solved the problem, of human bombs and the bloody carnage," she declared supporting her claim by referring to Canada, Switzerland, USA and Germany among other countries.

Pausing, she said they were aware of the risks they would be taking. Minorities could not be 'flogged' or treated differently. A vast majority of peace- loving minorities would finally have an opportunity to live peacefully-free of possible LTTE reprisals and enjoying their rights.

"We recently lost a loving colleague to a human bomb- and it is difficult to believe that others are safe. I too escaped death, but they grabbed my eye but now that we have come so far, we shall not stop" the President declared with feeling.

With the customary zeal and arrogance, she pointed an accusatory finger at the UNP and thundered that, for a government which has received public support at nine consecutive times, 2/3 majority was not even a requirement though the PA indulged in prolonged talks with the UNP in a spirit of democracy.

" Remember, a constitution must reflect the aspirations of the people. We have nothing to hide, the contents are known and debated for over five years. I sought a mandate to introduce a people's constitution, and they have endorsed my wish. They never implied we should talk to the UNP or accept amendments. We were entrusted with the task of introducing a people-friendly constitution," she breathed- and her fire and zeal were acknowledged with thunderous applause from government ranks and jeering by the opposition by now clearly having gone berserk.

She glowed- exhausted after an emotional speech and received a standing ovation of sorts by the entire government group. And this included UNP dissident Ariyaratne Walpitagama and Susil Moonesinghe, an arch critic of power sharing. All hell broke loose with draft constitution bills flying about, PA manifestos and Order Papers being viciously torn into pieces and strewn about while one draft landed at the feet of the head of state. Both parties traded insults, while D.M. Bandaranayake set fire to a draft constitution, aided by others who piled more copies on a desk in total disregard to the physical destruction of public property.

Soon, all was quiet- only the torn papers remained at the end of a shouting match as legislators filed out. With the next few days being politically significant- come Wednesday, we might see a fresh constitution being approved by the House- on the eve of elections..

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