News
Belated festivities or public nuisance
View(s):
Story and pics by S.Siriwardana.
Despite a week having passed since the dawning of the national new year and vesak being almost upon us, avurudhu festivities have still not come to an end especially in urban areas..
Urban dwellers who left for rural areas during the holiday season, were seen organising ‘avurudhu festivities’ in the Colombo city and the suburbs during the past week causing much inconvenience to road users and motorists alike.
‘Marathons’ and ‘cycle races’ are a feature of New Year celebrations said K. Samarakoon a motorist from Wattala, who was one among many motorists struggling to get to Colombo to report for work in time.
A police official attached to Wattala police said that there had been more than one new year festival in the Wattala area yesterday (25).
“Police officers were deployed in the area to minimize traffic congestion. But then there were several marathons with residents from the area taking part”, he said.
 This batch of cyclists do not seem to be in any sort of hurry as they hold up traffic |  Look no hands… this rider is really a danger to both participants and road users alike. |
 Vehicles accompanying participants tend to think they own the roads blocking traffic on either side of participants | |