Garbage piled up in Chilaw affects area residents

Colombo (News 1st): The failure to collect garbage in the Chilaw town for a number of weeks now has adversely affected the residents of the area. The area residents blame the Chilaw local government body for neglecting their duties. Area residents protested yesterday (December 27) against the local government body by piling up the garbage in the Wella area along the Chilaw - Wella main road and burning it. Residents of the area allege that the local government body had been improperly dumping garbage at a plot of land in the area for about 4 years. According to our correspondent dumping of garbage on this plot of land that borders the Chilaw Lagoon has caused irreversible damage to the environment. Area residents point out that this garbage pollutes the lagoon during the rainy season. They request the relevant authorities to provide solutions to this issue as soon as possible. When News 1st inquired on this matter from the Secretary of the Chilaw local government body K.P. Chandana Kumara he noted that there is an issue regarding waste management as they do not have a plot of land to dump the garbage. He added that they got a plot of land from Mahagama and the details have been sent to the valuation department to purchase that plot of land. He said they are not going to simply dump garbage there, but will construct a solid waste management facility. He went onto note that they hope to get state sponsorship to do it. He assured us that a permanent solution will be provided.