Limited funds to protect archaeological monuments

Priyanka Kurugala

Sri Lanka has to protect around 250,000 archaeological monuments throughout the country.

These sites are part of a very important andhistorical national heritage. However only two percent of government funds have been allocated by the Treasury to protect of these sites, National Heritage Minister Jagath Balasuriya said.

Addressing a press conference at the Government Information Department recently, he said nevertheless as of now, the ministry has taken action to conserve Jaffna Fort and other Forts with funds from the Netherlands.

“After facing 30 years’ of terror, the government is unable to spend a large amount of money to conserve every archaeological site. Any government will pay their attention and give priority for development programs and provide infrastructure facilities to the country after facing such a situation,” he said. “Due to this reason, at the moment, the ministry is not capable of taking appropriate action to protect any archaeological site, when it isinformed about destruction,” the minister said.

“The public should be made aware of their heritage. The ministry has taken steps to establish Archaeological ConservationCommittees throughout the country at village level to make the people aware about protecting archaeological monuments,” the minister said.