Madhu Wicramasingha
The Cabinet has approved the memorandum presented by President Ranil Wickremesinghe to provide food and essential services to residents in Kolonnawa and other areas in the country affected by recent floods as a result of adverse weather conditions. This decision was made during the Cabinet meeting held yesterday (03).
Following the President’s observation tour to assess the situation and discussions on the needs of flood-affected residents with local officials in Colombo’s suburbs, including Kolonnawa, the memorandum was presented to address immediate relief and long-term solutions to direct relevant authorities to implement several urgent actions.
The relevant authorities in the Kolonnawa DS Division have been recommended to refrain from permitting new constructions on the river banks of the Kelani river, take immediate action to remove all illegal constructions, suspend all on-going landfilling activities, repair and restore the drainage systems, and assess the current status of water pumping stations to attend to any immediate repair needs.
Additionally, the approval has been granted to appoint a committee chaired by the District Secretary/Government Agent of Colombo and comprising of representatives of the relevant authorities including the Urban Development Authority (UDA) and the Department of Irrigation. This committee will inquire into the possible root causes of the floods in the Kolonnawa area and recommend remedial measures to be taken to avoid such recurrences of floods in the area in future.
They will also prepare a comprehensive Development Plan for the Kolonnawa Divisional Secretariat Division, focusing on reorganizing the town and maximizing the utilization of available lands.
The committee has been informed to submit the report to the President within one month, facilitating the President to submit it to the Cabinet along with the relevant recommendations.
By – Madhu Wicramasingha
