Connect with us

News

No funds from govt. for Poson Festival; Dhammarathana Thera

Published

on

Ven. Walahangunavewe Dhammarathana Thera, the Chief Incumbent of Mihintale Rajamaha Vihara, yesterday (21) said that no funds have been received for this year’s State Poson festival due to the government’s strict financial management.

The Thera expressed these views at a special discussion held at the Mihintale Sacred Site with officials including Central Province Governor and Acting Governor of North Central Province Lalith U. Gamage regarding this year’s Poson Festival.

Nayaka Thera said that the President’s Office, the Prime Minister’s Office, the Department of Cultural and Buddhist Affairs, as well as the higher government officials of the North Central Province have avoided the State Poson Festival, which will be held in about 10 days.

Acting Governor Gamage said that arrangements should be made to celebrate the Poson Festival keeping in line with the financial management programme of the President.

After it was said that no funds were received from the government for the Vesak Festival held in the Central Province, the discussion became quite heated.

Ven. Dhammarathana Thera, who spoke first, said there’s only 10 days left for Poson Poya but no executive officer except the district secretary has attended any meeting in this regard.

“No representative of the Governor’s Office or the Chief Secretary of the North Central Provincial Council visited us so far. About 2 million people will come to Mihintale this year. We have to ensure their hygiene and safety and we need to provide them with water and electricity,”

“I am happy that at least the Governor of the Central Province has visited us today. Those inside the Province have no interest in attending these meetings or looking into preparations,” the Thera said.

Governor of Central Province and Acting Governor of North Central Province Lalith U Gamage said;

“We know that the Buddhist culture that exists today in this country was established after the arrival of Mihindu Maha Rahat Thera and it is the responsibility of all of us to preserve it.”

“I came here today to personally ask about the contribution made by the donors including my daughter in the USA to the Mihintala Rajamaha Vihara and its development.”

“For 20 days, I have been appointed by the President as the Acting Governor of North Central Province. Therefore, it is my duty and responsibility to get an understanding of how the Poson Festival is being conducted.”

“We successfully completed the Vesak Festival in the Central Province but we did not spend even one cent from the government. The entire cost was borne by philanthropists, well-wishers and from all the people from non-religious places of worship. Since there is an economic crisis, the President has advised us to manage state funds.”

“If we fail to salvage the country from this crisis, we will not be able to do any of the other activities. The President also wants to conduct the upcoming Poson Festival properly,”

After the Governor’s remarks, Ven. Dhammarathana Thera said;

“Financial management is good, since it has not been done since 1948. We don’t ask for millions of rupees for this Poson Festival. We need to install at least 200 speakers to cover the entire site. People come to worship these sites with much difficulty. We don’t even collect money from the vehicle parks because we have to think about the people as well.”

“The Governor said the government did not fund the Vesak Festival and it was funded by the people from other religions. Let us also send a message through the media today asking them to help us.”

“You said that money was collected from philanthropists, but there are no such philanthropists here like in Kandy. Had Mihindu Maharahat Thera arrived in Colombo, funds could have been collected from philanthropists in Colombo easily. There are no such well-off people in these areas,” the Thera said.

News

Litro slashes gas cylinder prices

Published

on

By

Litro Gas Lanka, one of the country’s two leading suppliers of domestic Liquefied Petroleum (LP) gas, has decided to slash the prices of its products.

The price reduction will be effective from midnight tomorrow (June 04), according to Litro chairman and CEO Muditha Peiris.

Continue Reading

News

Three state bank employees arrested for stealing pawned gold jewellery

Published

on

By

The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) has arrested three employees of a state bank in Oddamavadi for stealing pawned gold jewellery to the tune of LKR 20 million.

According to the police, among the arrestees are the deputy manager, operations manager and the service assistant of the said state bank.

The trio is accused of stealing pawned 873g of gold jewellery from the safety-deposit box of the state bank.

The CID team had initiated probes into the matter after receiving a complaint about several pieces of gold jewellery that had gone missing from the depository of the bank.

An individual, upon visiting the bank to retrieve the gold jewellery he had pawned in November last year to obtain a loan, had learned that the items were, in fact, missing. After conducting an inspection, the bank employees realized that 13 packets of gold jewellery have been disappeared from the depository.

The bank’s management has suspended the duties of the deputy manager over the incident.

During the interrogations, he had confessed that two other female employees – an operations manager and a service assistant – too were complicit in the theft. They were later placed under arrest by the CID investigators.

They had used the depository keys which were in their possession to steal the gold jewellery on three occasions.

After stealing 13 packets of gold jewellery, the trio had sold them to gold jewellery shops in the area for LKR 13.7 million out of which LKR 5.7 million was retained by the deputy manager to settle a loan. The operations manager, meanwhile, held on to LKR 5 million, which she deposited in a bank for her daughter. The service assistant had purchased a three-wheeler and a piece of land from the LKR 3 million she received.

The trio was remanded until June 16 after being produced before the Valachchenai Magistrate’s Court on Friday (June 02).

Continue Reading

News

3 sluice gates of Kukule Ganga reservoir opened

Published

on

By

Three of the four sluice gates of Kukule Ganga reservoir were opened this evening (June 02) as heavy rains were experienced in the catchment areas.

The authorities have advised the people living in low-lying areas of the Kukule Ganga reservoir to be on alert of possible floods.

It is reported that the water levels of the reservoir have increased at an alarming rate after the downpours in the water catchment areas.

Meanwhile, the Irrigation Department issued an ‘Amber’ flood warning for the upper catchment areas of Kuda Ganga sub-basin of Kalu River after heavy rainfall was received.

Continue Reading

Trending

Copyright © 2022 Sri Lanka Mirror. All Rights Reserved