The Sri Lankan garbage disaster: A crime of capitalism
By
Vilani Peiris—convenor of the Committee of the Independent Workers Inquiry
28 October 2017
October 14 marked six months since the collapse of a huge garbage dump in Meethotamulla, a suburb in Sri Lanka’s capital city, Colombo. At least 32 people died after being buried alive. Eight remain missing and more than 100 were injured.
Some 198 families, numbering around 1,000 people, were affected and 146 houses were damaged. The victims have been abandoned by the government, which has offered only token compensation and provided small houses, without decent facilities, for a handful of families.
The disaster was not an isolated incident or an accident, but the result of the criminal policies of successive governments, aimed at boosting corporate profits, including through the gutting of social spending. Under capitalism, such tragedies have become a fact of daily life, including throughout the Indian subcontinent.
On September 1, another garbage mountain collapsed at Ghazipur in the Indian district of East Delhi, killing two people and injuring five others. A fire broke out at the collapse site on October 14, frightening nearby residents.
Opened in 1984, Ghazipur’s landfill had reached a height of 50 metres before the collapse, well in excess of the official 20-metre limit. The site encompasses almost 70 acres or 28 hectares.
The landfill is owned by a private company, without certification from the Delhi Pollution Control Committee. Around 3,000 metric tons were being dumped there every day. It collapsed after several days of heavy rain due to the sheer weight of the debris. The fire last month was triggered by methane gas produced by decomposing garbage.
After the September 1 tragedy, the Delhi regional…