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Bold plans finalised to speed up emancipation of Wellassa folks - Minister Karu Jayasuriya

by Moneragala special correspondent, Herbert Vithanage

Karu Jayasuriya Minister of Power and Energy addressing the closing session of the three day celebrations organised by the Uva Provincial Council's Leader of the Opposition Muniratne Attanayake in association with the Uva-Wellassa Ayurvedic Physicians Association led by the Venerable Obbegoda Devananda Thera, admitted that successive governments of this country after regaining political independence had failed to address their attention to honour the patriots of the 1818 Wellassa rebellion against British rulers.

He said the best way of honouring these great patriots who had laid down their lives for the cause of National Independence would be to let the present generation take the lead to recapture the glory of the Wellassa region ravaged by the foreigners in pursuit of their scorched earth policy adopted as reprisals against the Sinhala patriots uprising that they ruthlessly suppressed and followed it up by lasting acts of repression over which several generations have continued to suffer serious economic setbacks.

Minister Jayasuriya said it has now fallen on the government of the UNF led by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe to address its mind to regain this lost splendour of the Wellassa region and he stressed that already bold and ambitious plans have been finalised to speed up the economic emancipation of the Wellassa folks.

The government he said considers this exercise as repaying a debt of gratitude to the 167 Wellassa patriots who sacrificed their lives to give currency to the political independence they now enjoyed and he assured that the government is determined to successfully carry out these development plans to honour the fallen patriots of the 1818 freedom struggles that culminated in the grant of political Independence in 1948. The Venerable Wattegama Jinaratana Thera gave a resume of the Uva Provincial Council's activities towards resuscitating the memory of the Wellassa patriots and the manner in which they had been publicised through several publications and the grant of awards over the past few years.

He paid a special tribute to the leadership given to the movement by ex- Minister Dharmadasa Banda and the Leader of the Opposition Muniratne Attanayake for their involvement in keeping the memory of the Wellassa patriots alive through to the sixth generation.

A.M. Buddhadasa Chief Minister Uva said that they of the PA administration of the Uva Provincial Council have always worked in close collaboration with the Opposition and assured that every assistance necessary for commemorating the patriot struggles of the Uva Patriots would be extended to the Movement to commemorate these Sinhala leaders who gave the impetus necessary to achieve National Independence through their selfless services. The Uva Provincial Council has already taken great steps toward regaining the past glories of the Wellassa region and hoped that the great public interest drawn towards these national patriots as a result of the active organisational capacity.

Dharmadasa Banda and the Leader of the Opposition Muniratne Attanayake's efforts would result in speeding up the economic freedom of the people of Wellassa once the granary of the nation.

Dharmadasa Banda explained in detail the steps being taken by the present Government to bring about agricultural development of the Wellassa region by rehabilitating over a 1,000 irrigation tanks and anicuts destroyed by the British rulers in their efforts to suppress the Sinhala patriots of the Wellassa Rebellion.

Work in this connection has already been initiated with about ten large tanks being rehabilitated under foreign aid readily available.

Ranjit Maddumabandara, MP said that the bloodless revolution worked out by the UNP leaders was the culmination of the initiative of the Wellassa Patriots killed by the British rulers in 1817-1818 uprising.

Muniratne Attanayake gave the history of the Wellassa patriots commemoration activities and urged the present generation to rally round the movement to perpetuate the cause of the National Patriots to regain the glories they targeted while sacrificing their lives.

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