President Hands Over Keys to 50 Army Built Houses to War Heroes & Families

Distribution of keys of 50 new houses out of a total of 86 built by the Army exclusively for next of kin of fallen War Heroes, battlefield-committed War Heroes and several serving War Heroes took place this afternoon (16) at the Presidential Secretariat during a ceremony, headed by HE the President Maithripala Sirisena and participating State Minister of Defence Hon Ruwan Wijewardene, Secretary Defence, Eng Karunasena Hettiarachchi and Commander of the Army, Lieutenant General Crishanthe De Silva.

Directorate of Veterans’ Affairs in close collaboration with the Directorate of Army Welfare and the troops of the Corps of Engineer Service Regiment contributed to the successful completion of the project, initiated by the Commander of the Army several months back with the blessings of the President and the Ministry of Defence. The housing project enabled the above-mentioned recipients to offer their own plots of lands for construction of those houses at the cost of the Army. Each house cost the Army Rs 2.5 million.

Earlier, 36 new houses built in accordance with the same guidelines were given away to the recipients in separate ceremonies by the Commander of the Army.

The new 50 houses erected under this phase are scattered in 15 districts including Matara, Galle, Colombo, Gampaha, Anuradhapura and Puttlam where land plots were offered by the beneficiaries themselves for constructions.

Tuesday’s ceremony attended by senior Army officers including the Deputy Chief of Staff, Major General Sumedha Perera, Commandant, Sri Lanka Army Volunteer Force, Major General Channa Goonetilleke saw the President symbolically give away the keys to a representative group of house recipients.

Colonel Commandants of respective regiments who were responsible for construction of those new houses also joined the occasion for distribution of main keys.

Each house was constructed to be in line with specific architectural plans, submitted by the recipients to suit the financial allocations made available by the Army. However, the recipient was facilitated to do their own alteration at their cost if they so desire.

President Maithripala Sirisena, State Minister of Defence, Hon Ruwan Wijewardene and Commander of the Army, Lieutenant General Crishanthe De Silva addressed the gathering on the occasion.