Are we ready? No…..No.

Living in a town adjacent to Colombo is just like living in it. On that fateful Wednesday morning, it started thundering at about 5 a.m., and by eight o' clock the entire Colombo area was inundated as the heavy down pour began to lash the capital of this tiny island nation.

We had experienced thunder showers lashing down in Colombo previously, and at the same time we are also more than aware of the notorious spots that go under water when there is substantial rain. However after a three minute drive when I entered the city of Colombo something was a miss or should I call it very obvious! I was very curious….. every turn I took, every road that I entered was packed with vehicles. Generally the route that I take is not inundated with vehicles even at peak traffic hours. But, this day it was different; the vehicles were just too stubborn to move. Then the radio in my vehicle was blaring that all entry points to Colombo barring the Dehiwela end were underwater and were impassable, but oh! God now I was in the heart of Colombo, and still the traffic was at a stand still. Then inching our way forward finally I found myself glaring at the beautiful white building of the Colombo Municipality where our city fathers are expected to run the affairs without putting the people into much inconvenience. Through the one hour and ten minutes that I spent passing that stately building I just kept on thinking to build up a traffic of this nature, the City fathers would be still deep in slumber may be at their very work stations. However it took me a good two and a half hours to drive from Nawala to Hunupitiya Cross road, in Colombo two.

Once in office I got through to perennial contact at the Colombo Municipality who now is almost an institution through years of experience. He was just straight. "Do you want me to give answers where you can quote me or do you want to know the truth? I opted for the latter. "For the past year or more the work patterns at the CMC is changing. Now the administrative top at this institution gives very little attention to services. They are only interested in activities where a buck could be passed on to their own pockets. Now for a long time we have not done any meaningful maintenance activities and the direct result of it was the submerging of the city.

"Still after this exposure they are still not taking any meaningful steps to remedy the situation and the only happening at the top is the pointing of the fingers at each other and to pass the blame. They are good at making excuses, but, what the people want is not excuses, but, answers provided to their immediate problems. I know that we are not ready to combat a situation of this nature at this very moment or in the near future and if there is another rain of this nature in the near future We will face the same situation all over again. It's high time that they started to look at the people, and only themselves" He concluded.