Siyatha's religious venture
Ruwini JAYAWARDANA
The Siyatha team who recently ventured into the electronic media
arena with Siyatha TV and Vettri Tv have expanded their mission of
bringing the best for their fans with a project to take their listeners
and viewers on a pilgrimage to Buddhagaya, India.
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Siyatha
FM’s pilgrimage to Buddhagaya in 2007 |
Voice of Asia Newwork had teamed up with Mihin Lanka for the project
to take around 145 lucky passengers to one of the most sacred religious
places of the Buddhist citizens of Sri Lanka.
The project was first launched in 2007 when Siyatha FM took 160
listeners to Buddhayagaya. The listeners were selected thought a simple
question aired in the radio channel. This time those who would had seen
an image of the Mihin Lanka aircraft on Siyatha Tv or the sound of the
aircraft on radio will be able to call, send a post card or SMS stating
the correct time will be chosen to take part in the pilgrimage. Two
winners will be picked per day, a viewer and a listener. The competition
will continue on the television channel and radio station till December.
"Surprisingly the bulk of the team that we took to Buddhagaya two
years back comprised individuals between 35 to 40 years. This is
contradictory to the idea that it is mostly the elderly who are
interested in embarking on pilgrimages," Voice of Asia Network Chief
Executive Officer Dinal Peramune noted.
Voice of Asia Network General Manager Mohanraj Madawala stated that
at a time when other television and radio networks are on a race for
popularity Siyatha focuses on bringing something worthwhile to their
audience.
"We could have easily taken the winners to a country like Bangkok,
Singapore or any other glamorous venue. However we are duty conscious
and that is the key to our expansion. We do not emphasize on profit
making in the programs we launch," he expressed.
Siyatha Tv Chief Operations Officer Ajaz Shafeek said that this is
one of the biggest promotional projects launched in the island as it is
no easy task taking a aircraft full of people to a foreign land. Last
year the team was also able to include two disabled soldiers in the
list. They also said that a number of Muslim and Tamil citizens too had
taken part in the competition hoping to join in the sacred journey.
"Some wonder if they would have a tough time obtaining their passport
and visa. We have a team who would look into such matters and assist
them to get those as smoothly as possible. All those who will get a
chance will be chosen 10 days prior to the day we will be setting off on
the pilgrimage. Age, religion and social status will not be a deciding
factor in choosing the lucky ones who will be taking part in the
promotion," Madawala said.
Viewers will be able to watch Siyatha Tv on UHF 32 (Colombo), UHF 23
(South), UHF 31 (North Central) and UHF 35 (Kandy) while listeners can
tune into Siyatha FM on FM 90.9 (Colombo and Kandy) FM 107.6 (Down
South), FM 89.8 (North Central) and FM 98.6 (Island wide). For further
details contact 0716844485. |
