Garbage illegally dumped around the Beira Lake is being brought in by people from outside Colombo rather than by City residents, Deputy Mayor of the Colombo Municipal Council (CMC), Hemantha Kumara claimed, dismissing suggestions that garbage on CMC lands is contributing to the City's dengue problem.

Responding to questions from The Daily Morning, he said yesterday (8), " We have not given permission for garbage to be dumped on any land belonging to the CMC, nor is garbage being dumped on our lands," he said.

Kumara said that areas surrounding the Beira Lake had recently been cleaned through a joint initiative involving the Clean Sri Lanka programme, the CMC and civil organisations.

"The people dumping garbage around the Beira Lake are not Colombo City residents. The waste is being brought in by people travelling from outside the City, who arrive in vehicles, dump the garbage and leave," he claimed.

Kumara said that the CMC continues to manage household waste by collecting it from residences and transporting it to Kerawalapitiya for disposal. Waste is also disposed of at the waste-to-energy power plant and at a site belonging to the Land Reclamation and Development Corporation.

In addition, community clean-up campaigns and dengue prevention programmes are being carried out across all Municipal wards to minimise mosquito breeding and improve environmental sanitation. Commenting on the dengue situation, Kumara said that while the Colombo District accounts for around 21 per cent of the reported dengue cases, the CMC area accounts for only 4.7 per cent, down from around 10 per cent recorded in January.

He added that instructions had been issued to the relevant authorities and staff to take action against factors contributing to dengue transmission. Kumara also acknowledged that abandoned construction sites continue to pose a challenge. He said that Public Health Inspectors are taking necessary legal action where mosquito breeding sites are detected, while the Mayor had instructed officials to identify the owners of abandoned sites and ensure that appropriate action is taken. "Some sites have already been cleaned, while in other cases we are still in the process of tracing the owners," he said