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KMC Corruption Costs Taxpayers Millions

The Kandy News learns that several major acts of corruption in the Kandy Municipal Council costing the tax payers tens of millions of rupees have come to light in recent investigations carried out by the Municipal authorities. Our key informant who does not want to be identified is of the view that some of these practices have been long standing operations.

Mayor Kesara Senanayaka as well as the Municipal Commissioner Mrs. K.H.A. Meegasmulla spoke to this newspaper when questioned about these acts of corruption. The Mayor agreed that most of these practices have a long history. He claimed that he has been trying to fight corruption ever since he assumed office and that he was having some success only now.

Our investigations revealed that the Municipal Commissioner has played a major role in unraveling most of these corrupt practices. Last December an official in the Water Supply Department was apprehended while taking away ten bags of cement. It was reveled that he had also been cheating the Council on fuel for the official vehicle that he used.
The Commissioner suspecting that fuel may be stolen from most of the 122 vehicles that the KMC runs ordered that the vehicle fuel tanks be sealed after fuel is pumped. The impact was dramatic. In the first month while the mileage recorded increased slightly, diesel consumption declined saving the KMC Rs 167,000. If this is extrapolated for one years the amount saved (defrauded) would be about Rs 20 million.

Commissioner Mrs. K.H.A. Meegasmulla also detected a fraud in parking revenue collection of the KMC. Last December when she heard that a pile of official documents of the parking division were being burned, she rushed to the spot and managed to save some of the documents. When an inquiry was conducted it was revealed that the officer in charge had been under reporting the daily collection of street parking revenue and pocketing the difference. The documents were being destroyed to cover his tracks.

The Commissioner also suspects that some of the officials who are entitled to use their private vehicles for official duty and claim reimbursement are submitting false claims. She has instituted a pre-approval scheme to close this loophole.

The storekeepers in the KMC Central Supply Store have been interdicted pending an inquiry over a suspected fraud of Rs 1.5 million.

Not so long ago The Kandy News also revealed that a husband and wife couple who were hired as Computer Programmers are suspected of having sold the proprietary software that they developed for KMC and vacated posts without notification.

The JVP member of the Council Anura Gonawela alleged some months ago that the Water Supply Department had over-invoiced imports of parts. This is now under police investigation.

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Piachaud Gardens Residents Await MMCs Who Ignored Their Pleas

Of late Piachaud Gardens appear to have gone off the radar screen of the KMC says a group of Piachaud Garden residents. The residents who accuse the KMC of bad faith and negligence are waiting to confront candidates who would come to them begging for their votes for the forthcoming municipal elections.

In 2002 the residents of Piachaud Gardens were excited by the prospect of assistance from the KMC to improve their neighbourhood. That year they founded the Piachaud Gardens Welfare Society with the encouragement of the Kandy Municipal Council. In particular the Deputy Mayor L B Aluvihare was supportive of our activities the residents told The Kandy News. He provided some resources for a shramadana and even participated in it. The KMC also provided a truck for daily garbage collection. Thereafter the KMC undertook repairs to the roads and drains. It also installed at the request of the residents a steel crossbar on the steep and narrow incline of the thoroughfare that connects Anniewatta with Peradeniya Road. The idea was to stop large trucks and heavy vehicles passing through the residential neighbourhood creating air and noise pollution and endangering pedestrians. Mr. Aluvihare promised, residents say, to make Piachaud Gardens a “model” neighbourhood. But that was in 2002.

Residents say that the daily garbage collection suddenly stopped without any explanation being given for the stoppage. The steel crossbar has disappeared and heavy vehicles are again using the thoroughfare as a shortcut between Peradeniya Road and Anniewatta. Both the KMC and Police have ignored several appeals from the residents to restore the crossbar. The residents claim that several accidents have occurred on this stretch in the past two years with two people losing their lives.

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Rent Extortion in Kandy Market
Mafia gang charges Rs 45,000 per month and KMC Rs 1,150

The Kandy News can reveal that the Kandy Municipal Council (KMC) is losing a large amount of money from rental income from the Kandy Central Market. Some of the money that is the due of the KMC goes in to the pockets of a virtual Mafia like gang that operates in the Market. But the KMC loses some of its income because of its total failure to regularly revise rents to a realistic level.

With the exception of the beef stalls that are auctioned annually to the highest bidders, the rest of the market stalls and shops are charged a monthly rental of Rs 1,150 only. This is in sharp contrast to a “rental” of Rs 1,500 per day (Rs 45,000 per month) that each of the two stalls holders who have retail outlets at the entrance to the market pay not to the KMC but to a gang of extortionists.

MMC Sanjeewa Hulangamuwa told The Kandy News that he raised this issue several times in the Council but to no avail.

The Kandy News found that this gang has the backing of some key officials of the KMC including some elected members as well as some senior policemen. They not only extort rent from these two market stalls but also exercise control over some key spots used for pavement hawking and charge “rent” from those traders as well.

When this newspaper asked Mayor Kesara Senanayaka about this situation he agreed that rent extortion was a problem. But he asserted that these were complex issues that he inherited from his predecessors and defied easy solution. He said that he would take action on receiving a report from the Municipal Commissioner that he had called for.

The Municipal Commissioner maintains that there has been no systematic policy for renting municipal shops. This has resulted in considerable confusion and also loss of revenue to the Council, she conceded.

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