Beauty lost among barrels and barricades

In the face of the beast of war, the city's heart, Fort, is fast losing its beauty and grandeur with the barrels and barricades all over.

Security indeed need to be tight in the wake of recent attacks by suicide bombers but city officials also need to keep the area nice and clean.

On most round- abouts in the city we see barrels instead of flowers. Many wonder for how long this will continue. Municipal Engineer Vas Goonewardena told The Sunday Times the Municipality has not stopped plans to beautify the city despite the tough security measures.

"We need to be practical in such a crisis, yet we are determined to carry out the plans", he added.

The engineer said there had been some problems over garbage - collection vehicles entering security zones but those had been sorted out after talks with the defence Ministry.

Stale 'kiribath' for vendors at Maradana bridge

By Chamintha Thilakarathna

Avurudhu and Haj this year were not so rosy for the vendors on the Maradana over-head bridge as they gape at the ruins, waiting for the authorities to expedite the renovation work.

The vendors charged that there was a lack of interest on the part of government officials and each minute of delay was costing them a lot.

"With no repairs undertaken, the public fear to come to our shops. Some do not come even near the bridge.

We have not been able to get back to business yet," said Mohammed Rushdie, whose little shop which he named Sajitha Fancy House, was one of the badly damaged shops in the Maradana blast on March 5.

"The State Engineering Corporation has begun repair work but the work is progressing at snails pace, preventing us from getting back to business as early as possible," he said.

K.H.S. Gunatillake, a senior official of the State Engineering Corporation says repairs on the shops will take some time because such work is difficult in a crowded and traffic-congested area like Maradana.

The vendors said they used to earn a minimum of Rs. 1500 a day before the blast but now they do not even earn Rs.300 a day.

The vendors were promised compensation but the promise still remains words on a paper.

A. M. Jaufer, another vendor, said the Rehabilitation Ministry got them to fill documents for compensation but the compensation has not reached them yet.

Rehabilitation Ministry officials told The Sunday Times the paper work was still being done and compensation would be paid once it is over.

Even the Colombo Municipal Council, which maintains the bridge is taking little interest, the vendors charged.

The CMC is yet to remove the wreckage or do other repairs, H. A. Ratnasiri who runs a tailor shop said.

KMC's unkindest cut

The Kandy Municipal Council got tough with about 100 rate payers yesterday for non-payment of water bills and cut off supplies but residents said some private establishments and sports club were given time to pay up their arrears.

They said water supplies to those who owed the KMC between Rs. 2000 and Rs. 3000 have been cut off, depriving them of a basic necessity during the festive season.

The residents said a reputed sports club owing the KMC more than Rs. 100,000 in arrears had been given a grace period to pay up the bill.

Another top UNPer faces charges

While the dispute over the expulsion of Wijeyapala Mendis is still in the balance, another senior UNPer is facing a motion of no confidence.

The Central Province Chief Minister W.P.M.B. Dissanayake, who has been in politics for some 40 years is facing a motion of no-confidence in the provincial council on charges of abuse or misuse of power and disruption of the work of his political opponents.

The motion is to be taken up in the UNP-controlled provincial council on April 23.

German surgeons will come again

A team of dedicated German plastic surgeons who successfully concluded their mission in Sri Lanka say another team will come by the end of this year during the winter holidays in Germany.

Interplast Germany, has so far undertaken eleven mercy missions to Sri Lanka since 1993 and treated 1,186 patients.

The recent mission in the island lasted 10 days and the team headed by Prof. Dr. med. Wolfgang Stock comprised three surgeons, two anaesthetists and two nurses assisted by Dr Ulrich Huchne, the director of the Help Foundation of Sri Lanka.

The team was originally scheduled to conduct the operations at the Ratnapura hospital but due to an abrupt change of programme, the team based itself at the Badulla Hospital. Some 103 patients received treatment at the Badulla hospital despite the short notice and the change of venue.

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