Five years of development - Ratnapura District:

Sun rises in Ratnapura!

by Jaliya Wijeyakoon

Minister Seneviratne who has a great respect for all religions, has rendered yeoman service to the Buddhist temples and Kovilas in estates in the district.

Minister W.D.J. Seneviratne ceremonially opening the Kuruwita supermarket complex.

Minister W.D.J. Seneviratne switching on a new electricity supply in a village

Ratnapura district which is situated in the island’s western slopes of the central hill country is bordered by Colombo, Kegalle, Badulla and Hambantota districts. The district occupies a land area of 3275 square kilometres with a population of 1,096,760 according to 2008 statistics. Ratnapura district consists of 8 electorates, namely Ratnapura, Ehaliyagoda, Nivithigala, Pelmadulla, Balangoda, Kalawana, Rakwana and Kolonne. At present the district is represented in the legislature by two senior cabinet Ministers and four non cabinet Ministers and two opposition parliamentarians.

The UPFA, district leader Minister W. D. J. Seneviratne speaking to Sunday Observer elaborated the development projects carried out by the government during the last five years. The Minister was humble enough to admit the fact that the district was not in par with other developed districts until the advent of the UPFA government in 2004.

Under the dynamic stewardship of President Mahinda Rajapaksa a large number of new programs has been implemented to ameliorate the living standards of the people of the country and all those programs have been successfully carried out in Ratnapura district as well.

The all-island Jathika Saviya, Gama Neguma program one of the best launched by the government equally benefitted the poor people Maga Neguma program is yet another important development scheme of the present government. Thousands and thousands of kilometres in all the electorates in the Ratnapura district have been done up and concreted for the safer vehicular movements.

It has eased the burden of schoolchildren in remote villages and largely helped the villagers to bring their produce to the market place and attend to their day-to-day affairs. Some of these roads were constructed and concreted with the support of the area people and some lengthy roads were given on contract to the local contractors while some other roads were done up by the Road Development Authority itself.

As such the entire rural road network of the Ratnapura district has been developed to a fairly satisfactory level and there are a very few roads in the district to be attended to during the next term of office, the Minister stated.

Although the Ratnapura district comes under the wet zone of the island and one of the major rivers flows through it, the availability of drinking water to the people was a main problem until recently. The present government took steps to set up a number of water treatment plants and provide drinking water to the people of the district. The Water Resources and Drainage Board played a major role in this whole exercise.

Minister W.D.J. Seneviratne opening a rural electrification scheme

A name plaque being unveiled by the Minister opening a rural hospital at Kollonna electorate Chief Minister Mahipala Herath was also present.

The Ratnapura City development program is the biggest city development program in the district on which the personal attention and the supervision of the Minister is constantly focused in order to make the ‘City of Gems’, a model township in the country. This mega project includes a sports complex, vehicle park, super market, library, bus stand and other required amenities. The initial work has already got off the ground and expected to be completed by end of this year.

The town of Ratnapura and its adjoining areas annually go under water during the rainy season and the Minister has paid his utmost attention on this problem. A number of discussions with the relevant local authorities and the international organisations were held. Finally it was decided that the diversion of the Kalu ganga is the only effective solution to do away with this annual recurrence.

The diversion of Kalu ganga will be a massive development project which will involve a huge amount of money and the Minister is optimistic that he would be able to fulfil that project too during his next term of office.

Under the city development program, the Kuruwita town was developed and the super market complex was handed over to the people ceremonially by the Hon. Minister recently.

Healthcare services provided to the people by the State was not very satisfactory except for the General Hospital which caters to thousands and thousands of people in the district. During the last five years the Minister made every possible effort to promote healthcare facilities by providing the necessary medical equipment and required human resources to all rural and base hospitals scattered all over the district.

The Minister has made it a habit to personally inspect the hospitals and medical centres to ascertain the degree of necessity and to take immediate steps to redress the grievances of the general public. MOH offices, Maternity centres and rural medical centres have been established in remote areas to help the villagers who had suffered various hardships in the past.

Minister Seneviratne who has a great respect for all religions, has rendered yeoman service to the Buddhist temples and Kovilas in estates in the district. In addition to the new buildings and the material assistance, he has also provided financial assistance to the places of religious worship on requests made by the incumbents.

Solving the employment problem of the district is yet another admirable feat achieved by the Minister during the last five years. White collar jobs were granted to over 1500 graduates in the district through the Graduate Scheme and no political affiliations were taken into consideration in providing jobs. A large number of nurses were recruited and trained to improve the health sector.

A substantial number of youth were given jobs in the government sector irrespective of their political affiliations.The Minister reiterated the fact that as the leader of the district he always coordinate with other parliamentarians representing the district in carrying out new development projects and ensuring sustainable programs.

Sunday Observer contacted the senior opposition politician Mrs. Thalatha Athukorale to get her views about the development activities carried out in the area. She was of the strong belief that no effective development has taken place in the district other than patching up of existing things. No innovative or productive mass scale project has been inaugurated in the district which generates employment opportunities to the people of the district, she stressed.

She further stated that natural resources available in the district has not been exploited to uplift the living standards of the people which is not a very difficult process.