A response to Kandy town Traffic Plan, Night market

With reference to the article titled ‘Kandy Town: Traffic Plan, night Market to be cancelled’    which appeared on March 8 Daily Mirror the Governor office of the Central Province has sent the following Right of Reply. Having read the article under the above caption that appeared in the Daily Mirror, quoting the views of the Hon. Lakshman Kiriella, I would wish to respond as follows;   

Night Market: 
This concept was introduced to provide the small entrepreneurs of the Kandy District the ability to market their wares, in a conducive environment, to the citizens of Kandy as well as the many tourists who visit the city. 

 
The plans to introduce the “night market” was discussed with the Venerable Mahanayake’s, His Worship the Mayor of Kandy as well as all other officials in the city and was implemented only after having received their consent and concurrence. I must reiterate that the decision to have the “night market” was public knowledge and hence the Hon. Kiriella or His Worship the Mayor now stating that they were unaware of such plans could in no way be factually correct. The photograph below, of His Worship the Mayor inaugurating the “Night Market” will substantiate what I state.   “Night market’s” are a feature in other cities throughout the world, such as Kandy, which are frequented by many tourists. The success of the “night market” was evident in the large numbers both tourists and citizens of Kandy - who visited the market, all of whom were appreciative of the new concept. 

 
One way traffic system 
This was implemented, merely to easy the traffic congestion in Kandy city and the difficulty encountered by its citizens to freely commute within the city and done after careful study and with the concurrence of the relevant authorities. Here too the new traffic plan was discussed with the relevant officials as well the Venerable Mahanayake’s and His Worship the Mayor of Kandy and The Deputy Mayor Mr. Mohamed Alahi was present at all meeting and implemented only after having received their concurrence and consent.   

One would also be aware that most streets within the city of Kandy are “one way” streets, something considered necessary to the enormous congestion and restriction of free flow of traffic. Therefore, the new traffic plan was also implemented for the same reasons.   

I wish to categorically refute the inference that the new traffic system was unsuccessful. All that it needed was probably only some “fine tuning” to overcome trivial problems that would obviously surface in any new scheme.   While reiterating that both the “Night Market” and the “One way traffic system” was implemented to benefit the citizens of Kandy, I would have expected the Hon. Kiriella and His Worship the Mayor of Kandy to discuss their reservations with me instead of arbitrarily instructing the stoppage of both.