One of the iconic sights and experiences of the Galle Face Green which both locals and foreigners have come to love, is the variety of street food that is available when you stroll down one of the most well known public spaces of Colombo. For decades, the Galle Face Green promenade has withstood the test of time, weathered conflict, terrorism, tsunami, reclamation of land from the sea, political upheaval and have helped many a Sri Lankan to have an ‘affordable’ evening out, with their families. Today, that source of comfort food, peace of mind and a vibrant street food scene at the good old Galle Face is under threat, with authorities threatening vendors, who have made a living on Colombo’s best known seaside public space, with eviction and cancellation of their vendor permits.

While the authorities have claimed that they have followed a lengthy process, and will evict the vendors as a ‘measure of last resort’, the need for such drastic action, en masse raises some serious questions about the procedure and fairness of the act. However, authorities have not indicated a deadline by which they expect the vendors, many of whom have been engaged in the business for several decades, should vacate the thriving street food strip. The vendors, mostly made up of Colombo's urban poor, are dependent on the business they get from the coastal walk path – street food strip to get by. While it is often desirable to develop such high traffic tourist and public spaces, the authorities must also understand that the Galle Face Green ‘ecosystem’ is a unique one, and is ingrained as a customary place of visits for locals, and a gastronomic–visual must-go site for tourist who transit through Colombo. City planners and local authorities must also understand that it is simply not fair to evict a group of people, who for decades, had made a livelihood at one particular location, without discussions and consultations.     

The relevant authority, Sri Lanka Ports Management and Consultancy Services (Pvt.) Ltd. Chief Executive Officer Suraj Kathurusinghe, citing health code violations and the loss of ‘aesthetic beauty’ of the promenade, noted that unauthorised food vendors and eateries at the Galle Face Green have been notified to vacate the premises as a measure of last resort. Kathurusinghe claimed that the unauthorised vendors were responsible for making the location less appealing for both foreigners and local citizens, especially for women and children. How the authorities measure the ‘aesthetic beauty’ of a location which draws thousands of locals and foreigners on a daily basis remains unexplained.

Responding to a query by The Daily Morning, Kathurusinghe also stated that efforts had been made to standardise and regulate these vendors, such as by way of constructing 62 permanent stalls set up under the ramparts of the Green and the seaside walkways to be sold to the existing vendors at concessionary rates. However, he claimed that these options had been misused by the vendors. In this regard, he cited an instance where a single vendor had bought five stalls but operated only one. Adding to this situation, Kathurusinghe claimed that this issue was compounded by the fact that the third party administrators in charge of the parking lots adjacent to the Green, who were contracted by the Colombo Municipal Council to manage the allocated parking spaces, had unlawfully permitted the setting up of eateries within the designated parking space. This, Kathurusinghe observed, discouraged people from accessing the permanent stalls set up beneath the ramparts. If that is one of the key issues which has pushed authorities like Kathurusinghe, he ought to discuss the issue with the Colombo Municipal Council (CMC) and correct the irregularities which their staff are involved with.

Citing multiple health code violations that some of these stalls were found to be guilty of, Kathurusinghe claimed that the eviction notice was a measure of last resort, undertaken alongside the clearing of the Galle Face Green for the Independence Day parade, after exhausting every other possible measure. However, the ports management and consultancy service ought to revisit this decision as it impacts the lives and livelihoods of many vendors who have been making the Galle Face Green a memorable place to visit for a long time. Given the economic crisis Sri Lanka is facing and the difficulties the social class the vendors come from have to endure, shutting them down abruptly without providing them fair compensation or an alternative, is unfair and heartless. 

Good governance needs a degree of empathy, sensitivity and bucket loads of fairness. It seems the vendors who made the Galle Face Green memorable for decades, have not been provided any of them.