Western Province Chief Minister Prasanna Ranatunga has instructed Western Provincial Council Commissioner Chandrani Samarakoon not to allow pavement hawkers to conduct their businesses on the pavements of Colombo City.

Colombo Mayor A.J.M.Muzammil had reportedly requested the Police Chief to allow pavement hawkers to sell goods on the pavement.

The chief minister had written to the commissioner requesting her to intervene in the matter and uphold the ban on pavement hawking.

He had said that he could not accept the mayor’s decision because, if the authorities permitted the sale of goods on the pavement, it would directly affect the public.

As he could not allow the public be harmed, the chief minister had directed the commissioner to act on the matter and inform him of the action she had taken within three days.

The letter also said that Colombo had been named as the first in the list of fastest developed cities in the world, because of the previous regime's efforts to develop the city.

Former defence secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa had given alternative sites for the pavement hawkers to do their business, and the latest move by the mayor clearly showed that he was just trying to gain political advantage by destroying the Colombo City development project, he had alleged.(Jayantha Samarakoon)