Deyata Kirula kicks off in grand style

Sri Lanka's annual national exhibition -Deyata Kirula 2012 opened yesterday for the sixth consecutive year at Oyamaduwa, Tantirimale in Anuradhapura. President Mahinda Rajapaksa opened the exhibition which showcases development programs of the government.

The exhibition coincides with the 64th National Day celebrations.

This year, the exhibition has over 1,000 stalls run by public and private sector organisations on a 600 acre land in the North Central province.

The exhibition is open from 8 a.m. to midnight daily and will conclude on February 10. School children accompanied by parents can enter without any payment, while others need to buy tickets.

Meanwhile, the Government has spent over Rs 5 billion for the exhibition. Minister of Information and Telecommunications Ranjith Siyambalapitiya said that rural development projects worth Rs. 25,000 million have been implemented in the area .

This is one aspect of this exhibition and we select an under developed area for the exhibition and invest money to improve infrastructure of the area. Tantirimale was neglected during the last couple of decades, due to Tantirimale being selected as the venue for the exhibition, the socio- economic conditions of the people has improved.

With the new infrastructure, more economic opportunities will open up for them, he said.The organisers expect over 5million people to visit the exhibition.

Parking facilities are available for over 10,000 vehicles at the exhibition site. The entire road network in the area has been renovated and special transport arrangements are in place.

Several short cuts are opened to Tantirimale off Anuradhapura from Colombo via Puttalam, and from Jaffna, Vavuniya and Mannar.

A new road including a bridge across Malwathu Oya has been constructed via Cheddhikulam.

The department of agriculture has landscaped the exhibition site. Dr.Rohan Wijekoon of the department said that the concept of landscaping the agriculture department’s exhibition site is in keeping with agro- tourism promotion.We have a rich agro- biodiversity in the country. Several home gardens in the eight acre area have been used for the purpose. Various crops from rice, vegetables and fruit to wild varieties of those crops, specially varieties that people have never seen before have also been cultivated here.

- GW