Govt. declares Friday, Aug. 1st a holiday

The government has declared Friday (August 1), a holiday to ease traffic congestion on the opening day of the SAARC summit.

Western Province DIG Nimal Mediwaka yesterday said at a news conference said that the move would immensely help police control traffic congestion in Colombo.

With the next two days, Saturday and Sunday, being holidays the flow traffic to Colombo would be more controllable, he said.

Mediwaka said Police will introduce stringent security measures in the metropolis and certain other designated areas but the public will have to undergo minimum hassle though they will be subjected to body checks by the police and security forces personnel.

Those who are working in the High Security Zone areas in Colombo would be issued special passes.

On the day that the SAARC delegates will be visiting Parliament the roads surrounding Parliament would be closed for traffic from 6.00 a.m. to approximately 2.00 p.m.

Asked whether there would be restrictions on movement of traffic in the Mt. Lavinia area as the spouses of some of the delegates will be staying at the Mt Lavinia hotel he answered in the negative. The hotel will function as usual, he said.

According to well informed sources the First Lady Shiranthi Rajapaksa would be hosting 30 spouses of key SAARC delegates at the Mt Lavinia Hotel for a luncheon.

There will be 12,000 police personnel deployed to oversee the security arrangements during the SAARC in addition to the security forces personnel, he said.

The Colombo–Katunayake road would be closed for traffic intermittently for a maximum period of 26 minutes each time to facilitate the movement of State Heads and the key delegates as and when the flights transporting them would arrive the BIA Mediwaka said.

Train services will not operate between Colombo Fort and Bambalapitiya and a shuttle bus service will operate between the two points from 1-4 August. The passengers could use the rail tickets to travel in these buses he said.