Sri Lanka It's Happening

July 19, 2008

In Sri Lanka any vacant lot is fair game for squatters. If you take the train from the fort railway station, you will be traveling for many miles through shanties which have been built on Railway Land.

It's illegal to even walk on the railroad so how come people are allowed to build houses on railway land? At some places bareland by the road side have also been grabbed in this same manner. At Maligawatte, the side walk has been completely taken over by motor spare part vendors.

These houses and shops are not card board boxes or wooden huts but small structures built out of bricks and mortar. Every single one of them is connected to the national grid for electricity and get their water supply from the mains (The waste water goes into the railway track or the road). The postman delivers letters to these addresses and they have fixed or mobile phones. These people don't pay any taxes but manage to get their children into the goods schools in the neighborhood while children of tax payers are let out.

If you were to build a house legitimately on your own land getting approval for blueprint is a tedious process that often involves the greasing of a few palms. Getting electricty and water supply connections is even worse. Once you finish building you need to get a certificate of conformity and usually the inspector will point of non existent short comings so that you are forced to grease his palm as well. Squatters don't face any of these difficulties.

Finaly the government has woken up and squatters are being evicted (but they are being provided alternative lands and many being the henchmen of politicians would simply squat somewhere else). However what is disgusting is the manner in which they have been evicted.

The people who used to live in slave island were given just one weeks time to move. Then the urban development authority extended that deadline by a further week. Yet they came back with heavily armed police on the date of the original deadline and demolished the houses. The residents didn't even have enough time to remove their belongings to safety. To add insult to injury the displaced were treated to a strong dose of tear gas and some who protested were arrested.

Wonder who they voted for at the last election.

Posted by raditha at July 19, 2008 1:31 AM