Urban wetlands park plays host to Army tank

Urban wetlands park plays host to Army tank

18 Feb, 2013 Dinouk Colombage Colombo, Development, Environment

Urban Development Authority (UDA) has seen fit to place a used army tank there for everyone to see.

Every evening, as the park fills up, people clamour to get an up close look at the vehicle. While such objects naturally attract the attention of most people, it is surprising that the authorities have chosen to place this in a “child friendly” environment.

In fact, the image of the people crowding a tank in a public place is not too dissimilar to those images seen of people in the West Bank in Palestine crowding around abandoned Israeli tanks (see attached photos).

The only difference between the situations is Palestine is a war zone, the Urban Wetlands Park is exactly what the name suggests, a park. Officials have claimed that the tank was one that was used during the war and they wanted to give the public an opportunity to see it up close. As to why they chose to put it on display at a park rather than a military museum is not explained.

While such a park is a welcome addition to the city, the UDA will need to seriously reconsider the deployment of an out of use tank as an attraction.