CMC Deputy Mayor adjourns session amidst uproar

   
The Colombo Municipal Council (CMC) went into an uproar yesterday forcing the Deputy Mayor S. Rajendran to adjourn the session for 15 minutes after SLMC, WPF and UPFA Councillor Vasudeva Nanayakkara staged a walk out opposing the manhandling of two SLMC Councillors Arshard Nizamdeen and M.A. Sharrifdeen allegedly by police when they brought the stay order which was issued by the Supreme Court  stopping the demolition of houses in Glennie Street.
SLMC Councillor Arshard Nizamdeen charged during the sessions that he was manhandled when he brought the court order. He blamed the Mayor and the Deputy Mayor for neglecting the people of Slave Island and charged that none of them visited the area that day. He alleged he was manhandled by the police and that some government servants who were present there threw the court order away and got on with the demolition.

The SLMC MPs staged a walk-out after making this statement while the Opposition Leader Vasudeva Nanayakkara also joined them stating that he is also walking out in protest of what took place at Slave Island.

In addition four WPF Councillors also staged a walk out.

UPFA Councillor Ariyaratne Wedage said a similar event took place when the Maligawatte flats were being constructed by a previous UNP government. He alleged that alternative houses were only given to party supporters then.

Criticising Opposition Leader Nanayakkara, Mr. Wedage said he had made a complaint to the President about him but the President had ignored it. “He said that I was destroying the SLFP,” Mr. Wedage alleged.

However Mr. Wedage condemned the attack on the Councillors and the media at Slave Island during the demolition of the houses.

The sessions ran into chaos when some UPFA Councillors tried to block the JVP Councillors from making a statement. The Deputy Mayor S. Rajendran who was in the Chair suspended the sitting for a while.

When the sittings resumed after about 15 minutes, JVP Councillor Hemantha Kumara said that giving houses to those who were living in unauthorized structures was a good thing but the government should have done this good deed in an acceptable manner. He said evicting these people in a hurry because of the SAARC was unacceptable. “One cannot do wrong things giving SAARC as an excuse,” he said. The JVP also condemned the attack on media and the councillors during the demolition.

Meanwhile it also transpired that the Mayor had given a letter permitting a banning of parking vehicles in R.A. de. Mel Mawatha without referring it to the Standing Committee on Traffic in the CMC as per the procedure. This was revealed by UPFA Councillor Milton Liyanage.

However Council Member Ajantha Liyanage said this was a temporary measure taken for the SAARC summit.