News Around Kandy: Dec 2004- Jan 2005

I wish to thank the UDA Chief Engineer Mr. AV S Weerasinghe and The Kandy News (October-November 2004) for the article that Mr. Weerasinghe wrote on Kandy traffic and parking. As he pointed out the new car park is only a part of the solution to the Kandy traffic problems. He has mentioned several other factors that have to be addressed. I would like to note below a few additional points that should be considered to find a long-term solution to Kandy traffic problems.

I have noted the following as additional causes for the traffic congestion on Peradeniya Road. But some of these points apply to other parts of the city as well.

The ever expanding Channeling Centers that generate a lot of traffic.
The large number of schools along Peradeniya Road that also generate a large amount of traffic.
The large number of tutories also on Peradeniya Road – students usually stand on the road or pavement until their class begins.
The two petrol stations near the Kandy Convent and Girls’ High School attract heavy vehicles for diesel and often block the road.
The CTB bus depot in Katukelle also causes a lot of traffic backups.
Buses stopping on the middle of the road to pick up passengers.
Indiscipline of trishaw drivers who disregard road rules. Kandy also has too many trishaws that occupy an increasing share of the available parking space.
Poor maintenance of roads that allows potholes to remain unrepaired for extended periods of time.
Municipal workers clear drains and pile them up on the sidewalks compelling pedestrians to walk on the road.
Narrow pavements that are not adequate to accommodate pedestrian traffic.
Use of pavements by private business for parking, storing goods, or to display their wares. Beggars who occupy patches of pavement area are an added burden.
Poorly located lamp posts, telegraph posts etc that are ether an obstacle to motor traffic or pedestrian traffic or even both.
Poor maintenance of pavements.

I propose the following to solve some of the above problems. The Channeling Centres on Peradeniya Road must be relocated. UDA should allocate land for this purpose. The CTB Depot in Katukelle too can be relocated.

There is a proposal to widen Peradeniya Road from the Kandy Police Station to Girls’ High School spending over Rs 100 million. In my view this won’t be particularly helpful to ease the traffic congestion. This money can be better used to have proper bust halts off the path of traffic on Peradeniya Road.

Channeling Centers generate
a lot of traffic

The Police must do a better job of regulating Trishaws. Similarly the KMC can do better in road and pavement maintenance.

Finally I come to the all important car park. The Torrington Square location of the new car par is such that it won’t be attractive to people who have to conduct business on the far side of the town towards Trincomalee Street. Even the promised shuttle bus service may not be that convenient. I propose three additional small car parks for Kandy. One should be at the upper end of King’s Street. Land can be made available by relocating the remand prison. The second should come up on Yatinuwara Veediya for which the army camp can be relocated. The third car park can be opposite the municipal council for which a portion of land from the presidential palace compound can be used.

The author is a Chartered Civil Engineer residing in Siebel Place, Kandy.

New Assistant High Commissioner
of India in Kandy

The new Assistant High Commissioner of India Mr. K.R. Rajan Pillai assumed duties recently at the Kandy Branch of the High Commission. He succeeds Mr. Achal K. Malhotra.

When we recently went to see Mr. Pillai in his office at Rajapihilla Mawatha he was in a relaxed mood. He warmly welcomed us and had a long conversation in the course of which he told us about his varied experience as an India diplomat and the first impressions he had formed of Kandy and Sri Lanka. Being a native of Kerala he was particularly interested in the striking similarities between Sri Lanka, especially Kandy, and his native land. The beauty of Kandy has already charmed Mr. Pillai. That is not surprising considering the fact that he lives and works in an area around the Lake that is particularly attractive.

The culinary links between Sri Lanka and Kerala are well known and Mr. Pillai and his family, we are sure, would very much be at home with the Aaapa, indi Aappa and other such local delicacies.

Mr. Pillai comes from a farmer family in Kerala and had his primary education at his village CMS School. He read for his BA at Delhi University. After graduation he joined the Indian Administrative Service and served in the Ministry of Commerce in Delhi. He was later posted to Singapore as Commercial Attaché. After serving there for sometime he came back to Delhi and worked as the Regional Passport officer. As a diplomat he has worked in the Indian embassies in Indonesia, Brazil and the Philippine before his current posting in Kandy.

Mr. Pillai likes to play Soccer and Badminton in his leisure time.

His wife Saraswathie has joined him in Kandy. His two sons Promod and Pradeep are students in Delhi.

The new Assistant High Commissioner sees the strengthening of trade and investment links and cultural relations between India and Sri Lanka as his chief mission.

The Kandy News is happy to welcome this distinguished son of India to our midst and wish him well for his tenure in Kandy.

“American Centre” Returns to Kandy

The American Centre, which was an important part of the Kandy educational and cultural scene for several decades from the 1950s until it was closed down in the early 1990s, will return to Kandy though on a very much reduced scale than before. This time it will be established in the D S Senanayake Public Library in the form of a small information resource centre. The Kandy Municipal Council has agreed to provide a space of about 380 square feet to the US embassy for this purpose. The request came from the embassy to the Kandy mayor Kesara Senanayake.

D S Senanayake Librarian Mrs. N M S Nilthotanga says that the Cultural Affairs Officer of the Embassy Angela James who recently visited Kandy to look at the site agreed that it was suitable for the purpose.

The KMC has also agreed to provide a telephone link to the proposed centre. The US Embassy will provide furniture, computers and audio-visual equipment and reference reading material. It will also train a KMC official to run the unit. The Centre will have web facilities.

Sarath Doolwela



Full text from home page KMC Removes Shops Obstructing Car Park Court rules against shopkeepers The KMC recently removed the Torrington Square shops that stood as the final barrier to the completion of the multistory car park that is coming up near the D S Senanayake public library. Of about one hundred shop owners three quarters moved out some time ago accepting alternative accommodation at the Good Shed Bus Station. But as The Kandy News revealed some months ago a minority turned down the Council offer and went to court and obtained a court injunction prohibiting the KMC from forcibly removing them. On November 9th when the court lifted the injunction the Council took prompt action to evict them. The car park is being built at a cost of Rs 600 million with funds provided by the Asian Development Bank. The new facility has the capacity to accommodate 900 cars at any given time. Reliable sources in the KMC who spoke to us on condition of anonymity revealed that the main motive of the shop owners for the hold out was to get maximum compensation from the Council. Several of these shop owners, KMC sources say, are very close relatives - typically wives, brothers, sisters or children - of some members of the municipal council that governed the city in the early 1990s when the shops were built. Some of these councilors sit in the present council as well. Even a personal appeal from the UDA Minister Dinesh Gunewardena who visited Kandy recently to speak to the concerned parties did not persuade the shop owners to change their position. More recently, sensing that the Council was desperate, the shop owners not only demanded high rates of compensation but also for alternative accommodation either next to the D S Senanayake Library or on the sidewalks in the underground mini shopping complex near the Ismail clock tower. Municipal sources said that the shop owners aided and abetted by a few councilors were virtually holding the Council to ransom when the court lifted the injunction. The court held that the Council has the right to remove the shops if it served a higher public purpose. The court also noted that the shops were constructed originally by the UDA on municipal land without obtaining the permission of the Council. Thus the structures were deemed illegal. The court did not specify any monetary compensation for the shop owners but had urged them to discuss with the municipal council and reach an amicable settlement. The Kandy News has information that the shop owners originally paid Rs 15,000 to the UDA for each shop. The information available to this newspaper indicates that Rs 40 million was set aside from the car park budget for compensation to property owners. Our inquiries to find out how much of this sum remains unspent met with a studied silence from officials. If the car park is not completed by the end of the year the municipal council faces the risk of losing over Rs 100 million from the Asian Development Bank grant that it received. However, with the removal of the shop buildings to make way for the approach road that risk has receded. Senior staff reporter Sarath Doolwela contributed to this report. Full text from home page Mayor Removes Ugly Billboards Mayor Kesara Senanayake has implemented a recent KMC decision to remove billboards from the environs of the Kandy Lake that marred its beauty. Several Kandy residents have contacted The Kandy News praising the mayor's action. The municipal council took a decision not to allow billboards around the Lake in the vicinity of Rajawasala Udyanaya (Wace Park) and on Sangaraja Mawatha. Accordingly twenty six billboards were removed last August. The advertising firm that erected the billboards, Kent Display, to its credit, has complied with the mayor's orders. KMC has a contract with Kent for billboard advertising in the town. Tailpiece: The signboard near Rajawasala Udyanaya that purportedly indicated the way to the Malwatta Vihara had “Maliban” the name of the sponsors more prominently displayed than that of the Vihara. That too has been changed! Full text from home page

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