Traders in Thennekumbura, Kandy, protested against the government after roadside stalls were cleared from the Mahaweli River reservation under a court order, alleging that supporters of the governing Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) were given preferential treatment, the Daily Mirror reported.
Court officials, Mahaweli Authority officials and police arrived at the site, inside Gangawata Korale Pradeshiya Sabha limits, to carry out the clearance. Business owners were told they could face arrest if they obstructed the operation.
The allegation is about one shop
The traders’ complaint is not that the court order was wrong, but that it was not applied evenly.
Protesters said several stalls had been identified for removal but one shop was left standing, which they attributed to its political connections.
“If it was a court order, why was that shop spared? The court gave the order for that shop too, so why was only that shop spared?” the vendors asked.
They said they respect the authority of the courts, but accused officials of presenting the matter in a politically biased way when seeking the order, and said political considerations may have influenced how it was carried out.
The protest intensified when the vendors confronted a National People’s Power (NPP) member of the Gangawata Korale Pradeshiya Sabha who arrived at the scene. The JVP is the leading party within the NPP; the Daily Mirror’s report uses both names.
The stalls were set up with official involvement
The traders said they had operated at the location for 25 to 30 years, had invested their own money in building and maintaining the stalls, and had held formal agreements under which they paid Rs. 5,000 a month in rent to the local Pradeshiya Sabha.
According to local representatives, the stalls were originally established through arrangements involving both the Pradeshiya Sabha and the Mahaweli Authority. Legal proceedings were later brought against individual stall owners, which produced the court-authorised clearance.
That sequence is the substance of the grievance: the same local authority that collected rent from the stalls is the authority whose reservation they were found to be occupying unlawfully.
The traders said the businesses were their families’ main income and supported school-going children. Some said they had already suffered heavy losses from Cyclone Ditwah, for which the government is still paying rent allowances to displaced families, and now faced further hardship.
They also warned that a quieter stretch of road could raise safety concerns at night, and urged the authorities to find a fair solution.
A date discrepancy in the report
The Daily Mirror’s report is internally inconsistent on when the clearance happened. It is datelined “Kandy, September 10” and was published at 8.45am on 10 September, but its text says the tense situation was reported “today (09)” — that is, 9 September. The clearance appears to have taken place on Wednesday and been filed on Thursday morning.
Not reported
The Daily Mirror does not say how many stalls were removed, which court issued the order or when, or who brought the proceedings. It does not name the shop said to have been spared or its owner, and carries no response to the allegation from the Pradeshiya Sabha, the Mahaweli Authority, the NPP member confronted at the scene or the JVP.
It does not say whether the rent agreements were valid, whether the traders were offered alternative sites or compensation, or whether anyone was arrested.
Sourcing note
The Daily Mirror is the only verified newsroom to have filed on this protest. NewsFirst’s latest listing and Hiru News’s English listing carried nothing on it, and Ada Derana returned a CloudFront 403 across the whole domain throughout this cycle.
