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New plaque to include Tamil lettering

A plaque installed in Badulla to mark the inauguration of construction work on a new shopping complex funded by the Asian Development Bank irked several Parliamentarians who attended the inaugural ceremony last Friday including Ministers W. J. M. Lokubandara and Arumugam Thondaman as it contained only Sinhala wording to the exclusion of a Tamil translation.

Addressing the gathering at the inauguration ceremony Buddhasasana, Justice, Law Reform and National Integration Minister W. J. M. Lokubandara called for the immediate replacement of the plaque with a new one containing both Sinhala and Tamil wording.

The Minister said it was government policy to have both Sinhala and Tamil on all official plaques and letter heads. Exclusion of Tamil wordings in the said plaque would undoubtedly cause pain of mind to Tamils who constituted nearly 50 percent of the population in the Badulla district and it should be remedied forthwith. Minister Lokubandara said certain politicians were responsible for creating rifts between Sinhalese and Tamils for their personal gain. They should at least now stop such discrimination for the sake of peace. When Sinhalese and Tamils worshipped the same Gods like Vishnu and Skanda there should be no difficulty for them to unite to usher in peace and economic development for the country.

The Minister said Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe is now engaged in an earnest endeavour to usher in lasting peace in the country. The President, too, held peace talks with the LTTE earlier but they were unsuccessful. The Prime Minister's initiative will achieve success because it has received the blessings of all concerned including the international community.

Housing and Plantation Infrastructure Minister Arumugam Thondaman regretted that the plaque contained only Sinhala wording to the exclusions of Tamil. Some of his officials would have been responsible for the lapse.

Minister Thondaman said no development activities had taken place in the country during the last 20 years due to the long drawn out war. Now that Prime Minister has started negotiations to restore peace development activities can be launched once again.

He said everyone can know more about in the country freely due to the prevailing peaceful atmosphere. The C.W.C. supported the UNF Government because it is confident that it would be able to usher in lasting peace.

K. Velayuthan, MP for Badulla District said that all plaques installed when development projects were implemented throughout the country by the late President Premadasa, contained Tamil wordings too. However the plaque unveiled on that day at Welekade in Badulla had no Tamil version.

"We as Tamils and the people in general feel embarrassed over this matter." Even the name boards in Polonnaruwa and Anuradhapura contain both Sinhala and Tamil versions. This is a matter which should not be repeated he said.

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