Milad-Un-Nabi Festival 2009 in Matara

A. W. Gunawardhana Matara Central correspondent

Milad-Un-Nabi Festival 2009 the Holy Prophet's birthday will be centred around the district of Matara.

In this connection a preliminary meeting was held at the Gaminie Jayasekara Auditorium at the District Secretariat Matara.

This national occasion for Muslims in the District of Matara is to be held with the participation of Muslims living in 27 villages in the Matara district.

Muslims of low-income groups living without proper-housing and utility services in the rural areas will be provided with their urgent needs.

As part of the program to mark the occasion the needs of the Muslim schools will be first complied with. All school buildings needing urgent repairs, will first be attended to. Proper facilities for observances of religious activities within the school premises will also be provided.

Minister for Religious Affairs Pandu Bandaranayake chaired the meeting conducted for the successful implementation of the program aimed at providing relief to the Muslims living in remote areas of the district.

Mosques in need of special attention for improvement will also be coming under the purview of the committee appointed for the purpose.

Among the listed items are 100 new housing units to be provided to the needy families.

It was the Minister of Home Affairs Chandrasiri Gajadeera who proposed this National Festival 2009 to be staged in the Matara district.

The opening ceremony of this festival is scheduled to be held at Darul-Ulum-Maha Vidyalaya Matara on March 10, 2009.

The concluding ceremony will be staged at the historic mosque at Godapitiya in the Akuressa electorate.