Kiriella warns govt. of time bomb in Kandy City

By Saman indRajith

The government has placed the Kandy City and lives of its people in danger by keeping inmates afflicted with COVID-19 in the Bogambara prison, says Chief Opposition Whip and Kandy District MP Lakshman Kiriella.

Addressing the media at the Opposition Leader’s Office in Colombo, yesterday, MP Kiriella said that the quarantine centre at former Bogambara prison in the middle of the Kandy City posed health risks and urged the government to shift the infected inmates.

“During Yahapalana government we decided to shut down the Bogambara prison and converted it into a cultural park. We shifted prisoners to other places such as Pallekele and started to develop the premises that had been a prison since colonial times. Now, the incumbent government put the project on hold and brought infected inmates from all prisons to the Bogambara facility. First about 100 inmates were brought, but now as per the latest reports there are over 800 persons in the Bogambara prison quarantine centre. This place is in the middle of the city.”

Kiriella said that the prison premises were to be converted into a tourist attraction with an open-air theatre to promote upcountry handicraft industry and create employment opportunities for about 5,000 people. “Now, all that is over. The place has been turned into a quarantine centre and is like a primed time bomb.”

Kiriella accused the government of having mishandled the COVID-19 pandemic and let it develop into a national health crisis. “During the recent months, the government was preoccupied with winning the general election and having the 20th Amendment ratified by Parliament. Controlling COVID-19 pandemic was third on its list of priorities. The government should have thought of people’s lives rather than consolidating its power. Look at Taiwan, an island nation like ours with a population number closer to ours located very close to China. Since January there have been only 602 infected cases and only seven deaths. There had been no reports of new cases for the past 200 days. The main reason for that was the decision by Taiwan to shut down its airports. We too told the government on or around Jan 22 to close down the airport. They did not listen to us. They acted arbitrarily then and now blame the people for the spread of the virus. It is so sad to notice that there is not a single world leader blaming his country’s people for the spread of the virus but we have one. When the first wave of the pandemic was controlled to some extent, the government got the credit for it, but after the failure to control the second wave the blame was shifted on to the people.”