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| Sunday, 12 September 2004 |
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Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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Remembering D. J. Wimalasurendra on his 130th Birth Anniversary : He had a dream ... by Karel Roberts Ratnaweera
'During colonial times, when D. J. Wimalasurendra submitted his report on The Economics of Power Utilisation in Ceylon to the Engineering Association of Ceylon,the majority of its members criticised it vehemently. By the time Laxapana came into effect, in 1924, Wimalasurendra had not only survived the sneers of his foreign contemporaries, but he had also signalled a message to the rest of Lanka: that the future of our planning and implementation can rest successfully in the capable hands of our experts'. These words are from a 'Daily News' Editorial of June 15,1990. But it is said that the British establishment of the day attempted to sideline him. One biographer wrote that Wimalasurendra was short and did not have Caucasian features. Born to master-craftsman, Dewapura Jayasinghe Wimalasurendra and his wife of Galwadugoda, Mohandiramagedera, Galle, on the border of the Colombo-Galle railway, 'DJ's' destiny had already been predicted by astrologers who saw the light of his future genius shining on the horizon. Devapura Jayasena Wimalasurendra, as the eldest son of devout Buddhist parents, had his early schooling at Ananda College. He passed his Senior Cambridge and the London Matriculation examination and later won Corporate Membership of the Institution of Civil Engineering,London, and similar membership of the Institution of Electrical Engineers,London. He rose in the then Public Works Department (PWD), and in 1893 joined the engineering branch of the Ceylon Technical College,serving as an apprentice at the government factory. Later, holding the highest positions in engineering, Wimalasurendra was overlooked by the government of the day in favour of British engineers. Wimalasurendra was the first Sinhalese to pass the A.M.I.C.E. examination held in India for which the then ruling British poured praise on him! The hydroelectric project was begun in 1924 but it was in 1953 that 'DJW' saw its fruition, shortly before he died that year. To list all Wimalasurendra's qualifications, achievements and speeches in the State Council of the then Ceylon, of which he was a member would be impossible here. While in England on further studies, he was summoned back to the island by the Colonial Secretary and examined the progress of the scheme.It is said that he was disappointed by what he saw and submitted a detailed report on how the scheme had been bungled. For one thing, he said, the whole town of Norton Bridge was to be submerged with the filling of the Norton reservoir. "What did the bureaucrats do?" he asked, and was so disgusted with things that he left for England. Later, back in Ceylon, he was also responsible for what has been described as the fascinating engineering feat of 'Looping the Loop'. The Bandarawela-Badulla railway extension being prepared by the government was to go round the hill on which the Ella station stood and enter a tunnel at the bottom of the same hill.The path took the shape of a double loop which finally came out of the tunnel to meet the Demodera station at the foothill. 'His fame as an engineer spread far and wide and finally the voters of Ratnapura voted him in to represent them in the first State Council after the Donoughmore Reforms. The hydro-power pioneer predicted jobs for millions. It was in 1918 that he said that the waters of the Mahaweli could be harnessed for self-sufficiency in our country as well as in India! In 1912 D.J.W. joined the world-famous Faraday House in London and on his return to the country became Chief Engineer of the P.W.D. Wimalasurendra stood for election when the island first went to the polls under universal franchise in 1931 with other great personalities such as S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike, Sir Baron Jayatilake and E.W. Perera. It is said that Galle owes its original water scheme to 'DJW.'In 1922 the Kandy Municipal Council asked Wimalasurendra for his help in the takeover of its electricity scheme from Boustead Bros. Meanwhile, Nuwara Eliya was getting its power supply from the Blackpool power-generation plant which was set up by Wimalasurendra. Hydroelectricity aside, it could be said that closest to his heart was the designing of the golden pinnacle of Dutugemunu's Ruwanweli Mahaseya, a great honour that was granted him as the scion of several generations of master craftsmen honoured by our ancient Sinhala kings. D. J. Wimalasurendra married Millicent de Silva, sister of the late, one-time Director of Education, S.F. de Silva. They had six children, the eldest of whom, a son named after his father, married a grand-daughter of friend and clansman of D. J. Wimalasurendra, Dr. Emmanuel Roberts. |
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