ARMY TO JOIN IN GOVERNMENT'S TREE PLANTING DRIVE IN CONNECTION WITH HE THE PRESIDENT'S SECOND SWEARING-IN CEREMONY

Press Release

Sri Lanka Army, to be in line with the second swearing-in of the office of His Excellency, the President Mahinda Rajapaksa and the government’s ‘Let’s Grow and Build the Country’ (Api Wawamu Rata Hadamu), is to plant thousands of tree saplings across island-wide Army formations and farms, commencing 15th November 2010. 

Major inaugural tree planting ceremony, graced by Lieutenant General Jagath Jayasuriya, Commander of the Army, takes place at the Panagoda Army Cantonment on Monday (15) when the government kicks off the campaign with 1.1 m tree planting. Thousands of saplings are to be planted by Army personnel at Panagoda during the inaugural ceremony. Other formations across the country including large Army agricultural lands at Kandekadu (Security Forces - East) and Kuttigala (Sri Lanka General Service Corps) follow suit, with the participation of thousands of Army personnel under different Security Forces Headquarters, Divisions, Brigades and formations.  

The concept for tree planting in Army formations was initiated by Lieutenant General Jagath Jayasuriya, in parallel with the President’s swearing-in of the office for the second term. Army personnel in Panagoda (15th), Kuttigala (17th) and Kandekadu (19th), who earlier in the year took measures to resuscitate their cultivations within Army formations, giving prominence to the largest Army farm at Kandekadu on the instructions of the Commander of the Army, have already made elaborate arrangements in this regard. (Ends)