The loss of habitat and heritage
Last Sunday morning I went for my usual walk to Galle Face Green.
It is a habit I have cultivated over the years – an early morning walk before the sun gets too hot, when I can inhale the fresh ozone-laden air coming in from the Indian Ocean and invigorate my physical body while refreshing my mind. My custom used to be to start where the Galle Face Hotel stands, walk out towards Galle Buck and the old light house or even as far as the Port Maritime Museum and then walk back, which would take me about an hour. In recent times, I have changed my route from time to time – turning round at the roundabout opposite the old Parliament (now the Presidential Secreta-riat) and walking along the road that passes behind the Shangri-La, the ITC Ratnadipa and the Taj Samudra hotels back to my starting point. As I return along this road I can see on my left across the Beira Lake the Cinnamon City of Dreams hotel.
This road – it used to be called Baladaksha Mawatha, along which the Boy Scout headquarters and the buildings associated with Army headquarters stood – still brings back pleasant memories because it skirts the old Military Hospital. This heritage building, established by the British in the early 1900s and functioning as our premier Army hospital until 2014 when the modern state of the art military hospital in Narahenpita was opened, is where I used to work when I was an Army doctor in the 1980s. Adjacent to the hospital was the Army Medical Corps Officers’ Mess, a pink building called Millbank which had two old cannon in its garden – and next to the Medical Corps Mess was the Officers Mess of the 2nd Volunteer Battalion of the Ceylon Light Infantry (CLI), the precursor to the Sri Lanka Light Infantry and one of the oldest military regiments in the country.
In front of the two messes and the hospital was the Army sports grounds, sandwiched between Baladaksha Mawatha and the Galle Road – where I have not only witnessed Clifford Cup rugby matches but also played in a few inter-school games myself.
Sadly, the Medical Corps Officers Mess has been demolished and the CLI Mess is a shadow of its grand old self. The Military Hospital still stands – I was told it is a heritage building and cannot be demolished – but it could do with some refurbishment, as it now looks an empty shell in need of a decent coat of paint. If only Gotabhaya Rajapaksa had been left to do his task of beautifying and cleaning up Colombo (which he did quite well) instead of having thrust upon him the Presidency (which he had absolutely no idea how to deal with and handled disastrously), what could not have been done with this once beautiful building?! Gotabhaya was a classic example of the Peter Principle – being promoted well beyond his level of competence.
What saddened me as I did my walk last Sunday morning was to see the spectre of “development” apparently taking over even the land to the south of the hospital building. In the past this housed the physiotherapy section, the medical stores and the operating theatre of the hospital, as well as further to the south the headquarters of the Ceylon National Guard, a volunteer regiment that was absorbed into the volunteer Armoured Corps and the Artillery in 1979/80.
Those buildings had been razed to the ground and nature allowed to take over the empty space – resulting in grasses, shrubs and trees flourishing, providing a welcome spot of greenery that was a habitat for birds and other fauna in the midst of this concrete jungle of high-rises.
When the prime land on which the old Army headquarters and all the associated military buildings used to stand were sold to ‘developers’ during the time of the Rajapaksas (one can only speculate how much was earned as commissions and kickbacks on these sales and who made the money) most of this land was bought by foreign companies to construct expensive hotels that offend one’s aesthetic sensibilities every time one looks at them.
What I noticed last Sunday was that the oasis of green was starting to be cleared, with the shrubbery all gone and only a few trees left standing. My first wishful thought was that the owners had decided to create a landscaped garden around the existing trees. But rumour has it that the natural vegetation and trees are being cleared preparatory to building anew on this site.
How sad! An oasis of natural habitat cleared to make way for another glass and concrete monstrosity to attract the tourist roubles and renmimbi. We are sacrificing the natural environment to create a stiflingly oppressive built environment.
I only hope the military hospital and the land around it has also not been sold to “developers” who will, Philistine-like, destroy this iconic building and valuable link with our nation’s past.
Searching for an ideal partner? Find your soul mate on Hitad.lk, Sri Lanka's favourite marriage proposals page. With Hitad.lk matrimonial advertisements you have access to thousands of ads from potential suitors who are looking for someone just like you.