CMC faces political drama amid dengue outbreak

Colombo, July 13 (Daily Mirror) - The Colombo Municipal Council (CMC) is facing political turmoil amid a dengue outbreak, with two members resigning from the Finance Committee, saying they cannot work with Mayor Vraie Cally Balthazaar and the ruling party members.

Two opposition members, Roy Bogahawatta and Taranga Shanaka, recently resigned from the Finance Committee."We as opposition members of the CMC can no longer pamper the ruling party. We cannot be a party to the crisis which the CMC faces today with unrealistic budget proposals," Bogahawatta told the media.

"The mayor came out with an unrealistic revenue target of Rs. 28 billion by the end of the year. The council had earned only Rs. 8 billion by the end of June this year. Also, dengue is spreading all over the city. The CMC has not been able to do anything about it," he added.

Commenting on the matter, Deputy Mayor Hemantha Weerakoon said the two opposition members were merely playing politics instead of performing their responsibility of helping keep Colombo clean.

"They themselves have said they have to play the role of the opposition. This clearly shows that they are not interested in cleaning the city," Weerakoon told the Daily Mirror.

He said dengue had more or less slowed down in Colombo. "Colombo accounted for 10 percent of dengue cases in January this year, but it is only 4 percent as of now," he said. He also said the main issue in Colombo was cleaning up public organizations. "There is no issue in cleaning up private residences in the city," he said.