Header Block Sinhala

ශ්‍රී ලංකා යුද්ධ හමුදාව

ජාතියේ ආරක්ෂකයා

President Rajapaksa Commends Army's Relief Roles &;amp; Contribution to Development

A state-of-the-art, ‘Lakviru Sevana’, Ven. Elle Gunawansa Thera’s conceptual model for sale of varieties of products, crafted by disable War Heroes of Tri-services, saw its birth Monday (10) afternoon at Battaramulla, Pelawatte.

His Excellency, the President Mahinda Rajapaksa who is also the Commander-In-Chief of the Armed Forces as Chief Guest on the occasion, declared open this long-felt requirement, the new ‘Lakviru Sevana’, amidst all the pomp and ceremony. This venue will showcase talents and skills of our disable War Heroes.

Members of the clergy, Secretary to HE the President, Ministers, Chief of Defence Staff, Army and Navy Commanders, Deputy Inspector General of Police, representing the IGP, spouses of Tri-service Commanders, Senior Tri-service officers and a host of invitees graced this inaugural ceremony.

In his appreciative talk to the occasion, the President Rajapaksa spoke high of the dedication and commitment of the Army, being displayed towards the country’s journey to development and prosperity.

‘We see our War Heroes after fulfillment of battlefield challenges are now working equally hard to lessen economic hardships, heaped on the common masses, due to spiralling costs of living. Even their public welfare role in this direction, by mediating in the sale of vegetables, is being distorted at international level and projected as a measure that has been implemented to militarize Sri Lankan civil society after depriving the society of their civic rights,’ the President said.

‘Some queried the wisdom of retaining a large Army of this magnitude upon completion of the humanitarian operation in Wanni and the East. It was not a war fought between two countries. It is an ongoing humanitarian operation that commenced which in turn will bring development, prosperity and hope to all Sri Lankans. Do those elements know how Colombo surroundings, canals, waterways, etc, are cleaned up? Do they know how colossal buildings such as stadiums, housing schemes, bridges, etc come up? That difference is being made by none other than our War Heroes with a broad sense of humanity. Unfortunately, many do not understand this truth, nor do they want to appreciate it either,’ he said.   

‘When I visited the Army vegetable stall here, I saw for myself the price differences in the signboard. Price of each variety on sale is equivalent to the selling price of the poor farmer in the village. This move has significantly contributed to slash outside market prices by 8-10 percent,’ the President added.

This most modern sales complex, constructed under the patronage of Ven. Elle Gunawansa Thera, Incumbent, Dharmayathanaya, Bauddhaloka Mawatha, Colombo-7 and Dharmayathanaya Trust, houses many stalls, exclusively reserved for sale of those Ranaviru products in the ‘Lakviru Sevana’.

In addition, the complex comprises a special stall where carbonic vegetables, grown in Army formations, including the farm at Ekala, are to be sold here at cost price. Two separate Seva Vanitha Army Branch (SVAB) managed stalls, one for the sale of Ranaviru handicrafts and the other for the sale of snacks and refreshments, plus an     agency post office are also located in the complex.

The day’s programme got underway after the President Mahinda Rajapaksa and other distinguished guests arrived at the venue.

Ven. Elle Gunawansa Thera and a few hand-picked street children under rehabilitation at the monk’s training centre for street children, warmly received the Chief Guest, President Mahinda Rajapaksa on arrival. The Chief Guest, who has been the guiding force behind welfare of Ranaviruwo and their families, was then conducted to the site in a colourful procession, preceded by some 300 disable War Heroes on crutches and wheelchairs. At the entrance to the complex, President Rajapaksa unveiled the public signboard of the sales complex as the first item on the agenda. Afterwards, the Chief Guest and other distinguished invitees went round the complex and saw for themselves how the complex had been organized, giving first preference to the customer-friendly sale of products and the administration of the centre.

The brief meeting that followed later on in the new auditorium at the complex after the formal opening, honoured the memory of fallen War Heroes for two minutes at the beginning, as the august gathering of invitees rose to their feet. Ven. Elle Gunawansa Thera, the brainchild behind the project then extended his greetings to the occasion and outlined the importance of making such a venture, available to the disable War Heroes who had sacrificed their legs and limbs for the sake of the unitary status of the country. Ven. Gunawansa Thera assured that all proceeds of this project are to be channeled for promotion of welfare roles of those valiant service personnel. He also lauded the Army’s role in relieving the masses of their economic burdens.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa paying a special tribute to those disable War Heroes commended them for the courage and determination they have, to rise above their physical disabilities and still succeed in life against constraints.

Continuing his speech to the occasion, President Rajapaksa said that some elements are desperately still trying to explore possibilities of taking our War Heroes to international war tribunals for petty political gains while some other international cinema and television actors, using our own Rupavahini battlefield visuals, were collecting different bits of warfare happenings to produce films, defamatory of our War Heroes. It is our Army which rescued each and every citizen in the North and East unhurt during the operations, which itself is a world record. Some of them meanwhile go behind families, looking into cases of disappearances and demand investigations be conducted at international level. Their priority goes to such machinations, not towards the welfare of our saviours,’ the President underlined.

‘Our protagonist of this project stood by our Armed Forces fearlessly, hand in hand with the other members of the Maha Sangha and clergy of different denominations as the humanitarian operation was on. Ven Sir, we are ever grateful to you for that. We took correct and firm decisions in right time and changed the mental disposition of the then Army, although we underwent a string of challenges and difficulties in preparing and mobilizing all Tri-services and the Civil Defence Force together to achieve our targets. Past wrong decisions, taken because of immaturity and petty political gains that came in as Dollars to interested parties, made the country to suffer for over 30 years,’ the President noted.

After the end of the day’s main programme, Mrs Manjulika Jayasuriya, the spouse of the Commander of the Army, Lieutenant General Jagath Jayasuriya, opened a newly installed ATM machine in the complex. She, in her capacity as President, SVAB has taken charge of two stalls, set apart for disable Army War Heroes.