Good morning Colombo - Ajith

Ajith - contemplating the Beira
Introducing Ajith, who I met this morning on my walk.  He comes often from Kompanniya Veediya where he lives to sit on this bench and watch the Beira Lake.  He is very happy that it has been cleaned up.  It was an urban jungle before, he told me.  There were shanties alongside, no room to walk around, and the lake itself was badly polluted.  They are removing the shanties in Kompanniya Veediya too, I asked.  Yes, he said, this area will become the residence of kings. 
Me:where will the people go?  
Ajith: Some are being sent to Avissawella, and some will get houses nearby, in Wanthamulla and other places.  
Me: Isn't Avisawella too far?  
Ajith: Yes of course,  but you see the governing party has not won the Colombo Municipal Council elections, it's always been UNP.  So there is a need to reconfigure the electorate and send some people away. And of course there is the importance of the settling suddhas., white people.  
Me: They may not all be white, some maybe Indian.  
Ajith: (dismissively shrugging his shoulders) Indian, white whatever,

Comments

  1. Russ19 March 2013 at 16:05

    These shanty-dwellers, like their counterparts in cities around the world, form the very important informal sector providing cheap services to the city. Without them the city collapses, and so any govt. - even those focused on superficial beautification projects, need to house the bulk of them in the suburbs(in this case Wanarthaulla). The UNP is the least of the govts. that represented their interests. Like all disenfranchized groups only a single-digit fraction of them go to the polls anyway. They are however used by all political parties to swell the ranks of their rallies with the promise of a free meal. White or Indian, the high-rise apartment project that will be constructed in this area is going to make some politician/s loads of $. And this is what is behind all the beautification projects of the past two decades!

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