Colombo beggars marched out

LAKBIMANEWS
Based on intelligence reports, police are to remove all “unwanted persons” from the city with a view to assuring security in Colombo for the forthcoming SAARC summit. They said only people who have “solid reasons to be there” will be authorized to enter high security zones while the SAARC summit was underway.
“All unnecessary persons from the high security zones will be removed due to security reasons,” clarified SSP Ranjith Gunasekera, police spokesman. “This will include not only beggars but all persons who do not show solid reasons to remain in the area.”
In a move aimed at “beautifying the city” beggars are to be taken from their regular spots and temporarily accommodated in designated locations. Colombo Mayor Uvais M Imtiyaz told LAKBIMAnEWS confirmed that all beggars will be relocated but said it was on security concerns.
“It is calculated that there are about 500 beggars in Colombo,” Uvais said. “All of them will be shifted and accommodated in community halls at Slave Island, Maradana and so on.” They will be provided with food and other facilities during their stay.
Conflictingly, CMC Opposition Leader Vasudeva Nanayakkara said that the council had nothing to do with removing beggars from the city. “The CMC is not involved in removing beggars from the city,” he maintained. “It is the work of the ministry of social services and social welfare.”
Nanayakkara elaborated the CMC had started a long term project to provide shelter to people who spent their nights in streets and on pavements. “We plan to provide a plot of land and to invite the private sector to construct a building to accommodate beggars and other people who haven’t got a roof above their heads.” He said electricity and water will be supplied at state cost.
“My estimate is that there are no more than 250 beggars in Colombo city and they all need shelter,” he continued. He said such measures could reduce the number of people spending their nights in streets and on pavements.
When we contacted the ministry of social services and social welfare, they said they had nothing to do with removing beggars from Colombo. Secretary to the Ministry of Social Services and Social Welfare Mrs V Jegarajasingham said: “We are not dealing with that matter and it is not under the ministry to attend to such things.”
Meanwhile, beggars near the Fort railway station said some beggars from that area had been taken to “faraway places” more than a week ago. We learnt that some people had come in buses around 1 am, loaded the beggars into the vehicles and taken them to another location. The beggars who were interviewed were not sure where the others had been taken.

Deepani Samanlatha, whose home town is Warakapola, was with her little child near the Fort railway station. She said she had been begging there for more than seven years. She lamented that it was unfair to take them away to community halls in other places and stressed that poor and unfortunate souls like her had to face unpleasant circumstances in society.
“I have been living at this train station for more than seven years now and we wouldn’t have done so if we were given houses,” Samanlatha said. “We don’t want ready made houses.
It is enough if the authorities can provide us with vacant land so that we can build our own homes.” She added that beggars from the bus station opposite the railway station were taken to Anuradhapura about a week ago.
“People who came back after they were released said that more than 20 people died,” she claimed.
“The law is blind,” said JA Lalith Priyankara. “That is what I have to say. I have no place to go and have lived all my life in this bus station.” He earns his living by “helping” bus conductors to load their buses. He said poor, innocent people like him suffer due to the unjust actions of groups who have power.
“The only two things I loved in my life were drugs and my mother,” he said. “But I couldn’t even attend to my mother’s death because of drugs. So I stopped using them.”
He emphasised that it was unfair for the authorities to remove them from the places where they had been earning a living. “Recently I was beaten up for nothing by the police,” he said. “I was only a bit drunk and was calmly sleeping at this bus stand when they came and assaulted me. What did I do to get beaten up? Now I can’t even properly use my hand to eat rice.” He showed us his swollen right hand.