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| Sunday, 18 January 2004 |
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Prelate assists rebuilding of temples damaged by floods by Deepal Warnakulasuriya A Buddhist prelate has come forward to assist in the reconstruction of 40 temples in the Galle, Matara, Hambantota and Ratnapura districts that were damaged during the floods and landslides in May 2003. More than 90 temples were damaged in the four districts due to the devastating floods that rendered several thousands of families homeless. The Ven. Bodagama Chandima Nayaka Thera, Chief Sanghanayaka to Taiwan and President of the Dharmachakkra Child Foundation, Bandaragama, pledged a sum of Rs. 25.5 million for the reconstruction of those temples, for which funds have been obtained with the assistance of the 'Theravada Samadhi Educational Foundation' and Buddhists in Taiwan. The Ven. Chandima Nayaka Thera at a meeting with the Maha Sangha at the Manelwatta Viharaya, Kelaniya, said that the funds would be utilised to repair 40 selected temples and to rebuild 4 temples damaged by floods. The Thera said that the funds for the reconstruction work would be released on February 07 through the Dharmachakra Child Foundation, Bandaragama. The reconstruction of the four temples will be designed by experienced architects in the country. Dharmachakkra Child Foundation Secretary, the Ven. Pallewela Sarada Thera, said that the Foundation had also arranged to distribute 5000 'Dhammapadaya' books in Sinhala, English and Tamil. Scholarships to 40 medical students would also be given on the same date. He said that the Nayaka Thera had assisted the government to print the Dhamma school books from Grade One to Nine in 1992 and Dhamma School Final Examination Books in 1999. Ratnapura Shasanarakshaka Bala Mandalaya Secretary, the Ven. Ethoya Mahinda Thera, said that places of worship damaged or destroyed by the May floods had not received any compensation from the Ministry of Buddha Sasana though it had pledged to do so and urged the Maha Sangha to remind the government to honour it. |
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