Tense Situation in Barnes Place Colombo 07 ………news item Again high handed act by authorities ???මර්වින්ගේ සුදු වෑන් කප්පම් හෙලි වේ.. කොළඹ හතේ බිලියන අටක ඉඩමක් කොල්ල කාලා..
Posted on June 11th, 2016
A Neighbour
I write this snippet to clarify a newS item appeared today in Daily Mirror today where it says that Colombo Municipal Council has taken arbitrary action to demolish 25 houses ?
This land in extent of 2 acres does not have a single house today .There were over 30 unauthorized families living in this land for many years and the real owners have sold it to a business man from Kandy with agreement that the squatters should be removed by the new owner .
New owner was negotiating with the squatters and due to the amount of compensation to be paid the agreement was never reached.
කොළඹ 07 බාන්ස් පෙදෙසේ පිහිටි රුපියල් බිලියනයක් පමණ වටිනා අක්කරයක පමණ ඉඩමක් බලහත්කාරයෙන් අල්ලා ගැනීමක් සම්බන්ධයෙන් ගැටුම්කාරී තත්වයක් ඊයේ දිනයේ ඇති විය.එම ඉඩමේ පදිංචිකරුවන් කියා සිටියේ මර්වින් සිල්වා මහතා පැමිණ බලහත්කාරයෙන් ඉඩම් සඳහා අත්සන් ගත් බවයි.
I inquired form squatters as a neighbor and found that once powerful MP of the previous government came to the site and held a meeting and offered each person about 4 million rupees to move out.
Out of 30 odd squatters only 20 participated in the meeting and the MP has warned the people who did not attend ,that they will never get a cent if they do not sign the consent sheet to leave .
On one fine day they were out and bulldozers were deployed and land was cleared ,steel sheet barrier installed with CCTV and a security company was looking after the property .
We wanted access to the land to cut a kottan tree which was a disturbance to the neighbours and the security chap tells us that the Land belongs to a once powerful secretary .
There was a rumour spreading around that the new owner is only proxy owner
When I saw the new item and the Video where CMC legal officer stating that it is acquired by CMC hence they came to take over the land is utter nonsense .
But CMC was trying to acquire that land due to nonpayment of rates but they never acquired it .
I am quite positive that a hidden hand was behind this high handed act by CMC ,because they suspect that the land is now owned by once elite political family.
I wonder why the rule of law cannot be applied by CMC rather than ruining the environ of the area by bulldozing the fences .
We are trying to emulate some African country where jungle law Is applied !!
I am not sure why our Muslim Mayor observing Ramazan allowed his officers to destroy peace in the area ?
June 11th, 2016 at 6:38 pm
All of Colombo was Sinhala land. Now almost all owned, occupied, possessed and njoyed by Indian colonial parasites.
June 11th, 2016 at 9:02 pm
The version I heard from the area residents is not much different from that of the writer. There were some dilapidated single storey structures in this land. They were occupied by the remnants of Sakkili generations perhaps coming down from Governor Barnes times. Barnes residence now owned by a prominent tamil is on the opposite side . There were some muslims too. Many of these so called occupants were drug addicts and criminals who were a nuisance to the residents of the area. The area in front of these structures was vacant and was used as a parking area by the school vans (about 150 of them) that carry students from distant places like Gampaha and Weliveriya to Museous College which is on the adjacent land and doing a yeoman service to Sinhalas. Suddenly this place got hoarded up by a fence of about 7 meter high and the occupants got evicted. I heard each person got laks of rupees. However as a result of this acquisition the school vans lost a place to park and now they park the vehicles blocking the narrow road there by greatly inconveniencing the residents on both Rosemead Place and Barnes place from Town Hall end to Wijerama junctions. It is a nightmare for the residents to come in or go out from their houses on school days from early morning till about 3pm.
Whatever happened has happened. The authorities should give part of this land to the Museous College to build a couple of multi-storey car parks with muli- level access to the school and free up the two roads on either side (that is Barnes Place and Rosemead Place). This will be a big relief to the parents and others who take students to and fro from the school who now languish on the roads cursing the authorities. I myself have seen them doing so.The balance lands should be used for some public purpose and should not be given to foreigners. If the school authorities want I am prepared to give them a design for such a car park free of charge as one of my children also studied there. Currently I am doing several of such car parks in a far away country.
June 11th, 2016 at 9:06 pm
Why wont Mr Neighbour mention who this once powerful secretary and once elite family are? Is he implying it is Gotabaya and the Rajapakse family, as the description fits them? Please confirm, rather than writing anonymous articles because we need to know, what Mr Neighbour claims to know. Till then, I wont believe the Rajapakses are able to do this under a regime gunning for them and making similar unproven allegations, almost daily, since ousting them.
June 11th, 2016 at 9:54 pm
Aloy,
Great idea!
Since the land legally belongs to the CMC let the CMC serve the public by alleviating traffic congestion and educate the childten of that area by donating ALL of that land the venerable Museas college to build a parking garage and to build additional school buildings to educate more Sinhala Buddhist girls.
But, will the CMC led by a Muslim mayor do such a good deed for the Sinhala Buddhists, or will they build a mosque with a minaret right next to the Museaus college, just as they want to do next to the Dalada Maligawa??
June 11th, 2016 at 10:07 pm
Only Bhadrani Jayawardana and Padma Perera stand by what is right.
All others are crooks in this. The land belongs to CMC, not to UDA or any other. Mervyn Silva was contracted by a Muslim car sales businessman to evict squatters. Mervyn’s wife and in-laws are Muslims. CMC mayor Muzzammil is supporting this for obvious reasons. He says this land does not belong to the CMC. What is he doing to collect unpaid rates?
The land was illegally acquired by this Muslim car sales businessman. Tamil businessman Thiru Nadesan (Mahinda’s cousin’s husband) has a land opposite to this land. Policeman Anura Senanayaka had instructed not to take any action on Bhadrani’s complaint. Now Anura is in remand over a matter related to the killing of Thajudeen.
Ultimately CMC was deprived of rates for decades, its land robbed and crooks have made millions. Politicians of all sides are merrily involved.
A classic case to reflect on the plight of the people.
June 21st, 2016 at 7:08 am
One of our dear friend’s ancestral home in Ward place was forcibly occupied perhaps by the same gang.MR was informed and it took a couple of years to evict them. That gang comprised of a Sinhalese politician and a Muslim gang. It took her over 2 years to legally evict them.