Lankan authorities’ failure to repair roads exacerbated villagers suffering

Higurakgoda/Sri Lanka – Many villagers in the Higurakgoda area are suffering due to the dilapidated state of the main road leading to the villages.

The people in these villages encounter difficulties when traveling to the city for their jobs or any other purposes and the situation worsens during the rainy season.

School children in the area are the most affected, some of them were not able to attend their schools, according to the villagers.

Despite informing political representatives and government officials, none of them provided solutions to their problem. There’s a conflict between two groups of politicians regarding the construction of the road.

Though this construction was started about five times during the last few years, the contractor has not yet completed it. Locals said that the road constructions which have finished up to now are non-standard.

Some parts of those constructions are already broken. They said that the Dengue mosquitoes are spreading because the water in the drainage system has been aggregated without flowing, and some of the villagers are currently suffering from the disease.

Residents are deeply worried because their requests have been neglected for years in a period where major roads, including highways, are constructed.

Nayana Rasadari, the head of the village association, said that a member of the former government is obstructing this construction, calling on the authorities to give solutions for the obstructions of this road construction.

“This is an excellent example of poor construction. These concrete drains have been created without using the iron properly. That’s the reason for this part which has broken. Such small iron is used,” the head of the village union Nayana Rasadari stressed.

Also, the people of Higurakgoda complained that the construction stopped halfway about six times and has not finished yet.

“Even the necessary money that is provided to the contractors, they spend it quickly because there are many constructions in several places of the country, that’s why the construction of this road stopped halfway and therefore the work was delayed,” according to Nalaka pushpakumara, a member of Consumer rights forum “Polonnaruwa”.