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Pics by Chandana Wijesinghe
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Are private parking lots threatening their existence?
Lalitha asked us to wait for a moment and hurried back to the parking lot. Issuing a parking ticket to a three-wheeler, she pointed at us and said something to the driver, smiling. The driver put his head out of the three-wheeler and spoke laughing out loud. “She never issues us tickets, she just pockets the money,” he was teasing her. “This is the first time Lalitha Akka ever issued a ticket to us.” She issued his parking ticket, collected money from him and returned to talk with the journos from The Nation.
“See,
I told you. I have been here on this road for over a decade now.
Regular customers of these shops know me very well now,” said Lalitha
Perera, one of the traffic wardens issuing parking tickets at Prince
Street, Pettah. This dark tall woman in her late fifties, dressed in
dark green uniform with a pleasant look sounded very friendly despite
the fact that we were distracting her from her job. She managed to find
time to speak to us while running here and there to issue tickets.
“I have this job thanks to Premadasa Mahaththaya. I was 28 when I got the job and my husbands earnings weren’t enough to run my family of four. I have three children, all married now,” she said. Lalitha had joined the Colombo Municipal Council in 1981.
CMC Traffic Director Nihal Wickramarathna revealed that CMC started recruiting Traffic Wardens in 1978. “They were recruited at a commission-based salary structure. CMC paid them 1/3 of each warden’s daily income at that time,” he said. Traffic wardens were incorporated into the permanent cadre in 1988 with a monthly salary scheme and a pension when they retire. “Now a traffic warden receives around Rs.20,000 per month with a basic salary of Rs.14,000,” Wickramarathna said.
K P Padmawathie, who works in Vauxhall Street in front of the Aitken Spence towers, said that she finds her salary reasonable. “I have been working as a traffic warden since 1988. I can manage with my salary and I know I will receive a pension when I retire. That is something,” she said. “It would be better if we get more,” she smiled.
Traffic Wardens’ office officer-in-charge N M Wijeratne was more concerned about the issues wardens face. He showed his displeasure about private parking lots mushrooming in Colombo City. “We charge only Rs.10 from a vehicle an hour. Heavy vehicles are charged Rs.20 an hour. Some private parks charge Rs.30 for an hour, while others charge Rs.40 for the first hour and Rs.50 for each additional hour,” he said. “Some people complain that some charge over Rs.400 from vehicle owners for parking vehicles for just eight hours,” he added.
At the beginning there had been nearly 300 traffic wardens, recruited by the CMC. “There are only 93 wardens currently on duty. This new trend of hading over parking lots for private management has restricted recruiting new wardens, Wickramarathna pointed out.
In fact, all of the Traffic Wardens shunned the concept of private parking lots unanimously. “I only have five more months to retire. I’ll be safe. But my worries are about my co-workers. Their jobs will be in jeopardy if the private sector gets all of this,” she said pointing at the parking lot. They pay very less and there won’t be a pension for them either,” said Lalitha, thoughtfully.
Traffic Wardens’ office Administrative Officer Y K Withana drew our attention to the problems Wardens face when they perform their duties. “Some motorists refuse to pay for the ticket. If a warden forces him to pay, they would get angry and even pick up fights. There are plenty of times where we have to seek police assistance.”
A shop owner in Prince Street, Mustafa appreciated the job traffic wardens are doing helping them. “Most of them are very friendly and helpful. Or else our customers would have had to face a lot of problems. Being in this place for so long they always have a hunch about motorists,” he said.
Our chatty tour guide, Geetha, also a traffic warden at CMC had taken up the job at the age of 18. She joined us from the Traffic wardens’ office in T B Jayah Mawatha and helped us in introducing fellow traffic wardens.
On our way to Pettah Geetha also revealed some of the troubles she had faced. “Most of the government vehicles refuse to pay for parking. They try to escape from it by flashing the state sign on their vehicles,” she lamented. “Sometimes the shop owners also seek relief. We can’t force them because we need to seek their help also sometimes,” she admitted.
She also mentioned the accidents they face during their work hours. Chandrani, a traffic warden in Maradana, had met with an accident while an old woman was reversing her car out of a parking lot. Chandrani had died from that at the age of 48 after suffering for three months at the hospital.
Finally, we met Rita in a parking lot in Pettah. She had been a Traffic Warden for over 25 years. “Most of the shop owners are very kind to us. They let us use their washroom and provide us accommodation during lunch.” She was busy issuing tickets in spite of heavy showers.
Speaking about their troubles she pointed out a common issue which others hesitated to speak out about. “Some people tend to look down on us since we are on the road each day, being women. But this is a job they should respect just as any other government job,” she said. “I can’t say that all of us are pure as gold. But we must know how to keep out of trouble. It all depends on us,” she added.
Lalitha asked us to wait for a moment and hurried back to the parking lot. Issuing a parking ticket to a three-wheeler, she pointed at us and said something to the driver, smiling. The driver put his head out of the three-wheeler and spoke laughing out loud. “She never issues us tickets, she just pockets the money,” he was teasing her. “This is the first time Lalitha Akka ever issued a ticket to us.” She issued his parking ticket, collected money from him and returned to talk with the journos from The Nation.
“See,
I told you. I have been here on this road for over a decade now.
Regular customers of these shops know me very well now,” said Lalitha
Perera, one of the traffic wardens issuing parking tickets at Prince
Street, Pettah. This dark tall woman in her late fifties, dressed in
dark green uniform with a pleasant look sounded very friendly despite
the fact that we were distracting her from her job. She managed to find
time to speak to us while running here and there to issue tickets.“I have this job thanks to Premadasa Mahaththaya. I was 28 when I got the job and my husbands earnings weren’t enough to run my family of four. I have three children, all married now,” she said. Lalitha had joined the Colombo Municipal Council in 1981.
CMC Traffic Director Nihal Wickramarathna revealed that CMC started recruiting Traffic Wardens in 1978. “They were recruited at a commission-based salary structure. CMC paid them 1/3 of each warden’s daily income at that time,” he said. Traffic wardens were incorporated into the permanent cadre in 1988 with a monthly salary scheme and a pension when they retire. “Now a traffic warden receives around Rs.20,000 per month with a basic salary of Rs.14,000,” Wickramarathna said.
K P Padmawathie, who works in Vauxhall Street in front of the Aitken Spence towers, said that she finds her salary reasonable. “I have been working as a traffic warden since 1988. I can manage with my salary and I know I will receive a pension when I retire. That is something,” she said. “It would be better if we get more,” she smiled.
Traffic Wardens’ office officer-in-charge N M Wijeratne was more concerned about the issues wardens face. He showed his displeasure about private parking lots mushrooming in Colombo City. “We charge only Rs.10 from a vehicle an hour. Heavy vehicles are charged Rs.20 an hour. Some private parks charge Rs.30 for an hour, while others charge Rs.40 for the first hour and Rs.50 for each additional hour,” he said. “Some people complain that some charge over Rs.400 from vehicle owners for parking vehicles for just eight hours,” he added.
At the beginning there had been nearly 300 traffic wardens, recruited by the CMC. “There are only 93 wardens currently on duty. This new trend of hading over parking lots for private management has restricted recruiting new wardens, Wickramarathna pointed out.
In fact, all of the Traffic Wardens shunned the concept of private parking lots unanimously. “I only have five more months to retire. I’ll be safe. But my worries are about my co-workers. Their jobs will be in jeopardy if the private sector gets all of this,” she said pointing at the parking lot. They pay very less and there won’t be a pension for them either,” said Lalitha, thoughtfully.
Traffic Wardens’ office Administrative Officer Y K Withana drew our attention to the problems Wardens face when they perform their duties. “Some motorists refuse to pay for the ticket. If a warden forces him to pay, they would get angry and even pick up fights. There are plenty of times where we have to seek police assistance.”
A shop owner in Prince Street, Mustafa appreciated the job traffic wardens are doing helping them. “Most of them are very friendly and helpful. Or else our customers would have had to face a lot of problems. Being in this place for so long they always have a hunch about motorists,” he said.
Our chatty tour guide, Geetha, also a traffic warden at CMC had taken up the job at the age of 18. She joined us from the Traffic wardens’ office in T B Jayah Mawatha and helped us in introducing fellow traffic wardens.
On our way to Pettah Geetha also revealed some of the troubles she had faced. “Most of the government vehicles refuse to pay for parking. They try to escape from it by flashing the state sign on their vehicles,” she lamented. “Sometimes the shop owners also seek relief. We can’t force them because we need to seek their help also sometimes,” she admitted.
She also mentioned the accidents they face during their work hours. Chandrani, a traffic warden in Maradana, had met with an accident while an old woman was reversing her car out of a parking lot. Chandrani had died from that at the age of 48 after suffering for three months at the hospital.
Finally, we met Rita in a parking lot in Pettah. She had been a Traffic Warden for over 25 years. “Most of the shop owners are very kind to us. They let us use their washroom and provide us accommodation during lunch.” She was busy issuing tickets in spite of heavy showers.
Speaking about their troubles she pointed out a common issue which others hesitated to speak out about. “Some people tend to look down on us since we are on the road each day, being women. But this is a job they should respect just as any other government job,” she said. “I can’t say that all of us are pure as gold. But we must know how to keep out of trouble. It all depends on us,” she added.
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