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Stuck in garbage, Mayor walks out
By Chris Kamalendran
Colombo city’s garbage crisis took a sensational turn yesterday when the Mayor Prasanna Gunawardena temporarily vacated his post in what was seen as a de facto resignation following a bitter dispute over the payment of Rs. 12 million to a private garbage disposal company.

After he was prevented from making the payment to the Burns Company Mr. Gunawardena sent a letter to Deputy Mayor Azath Sally and Municipal Commissioner Jayantha Liyanage saying he would not come to office and requesting them to carry on with the work.

The Sunday Times learns that UNP member S.H.M. Kamil had objected to the payment during the Finance Committee meeting after the Commissioner refused to approve the payment citing the failure of the company to perform according to the agreement.

Dr. Liyanage told The Sunday Times that that the Burns Company had violated the agreement by failing to dispose the garbage.“This is public money. Therefore I cannot approve the payment of money when the contract is breached. If the Auditor General or the Attorney General directs me I will act accordingly,” he said.

The Commissioner said he had recommended to the Council to hand over the garbage disposal to another company as the existing company had allegedly failed to perform, but the Council had not agreed to the proposal.
Mr. Sally told The Sunday Times that the Council member who objected to the payment was being influenced by another member in the party in a bid to disrupt activities of the council.

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