The historic Piyangala cave, Sri Lanka’s only cave with Veddah frescoes is facing imminent destruction with villagers in the Digamadulla area alleging that attempts are underway to crush the stone depicting the frescoes to transport it to the Oluvil harbour.
It is alleged that a government minister with the connivance of some officials is involved in the move to crush the stone found in the cave into rubble and transport it to Oluvil.
The Piyangala cave is world famous as the only cave in Sri Lanka with Veddah frescoes and is a protected site coming under the purview of the Department of Archaeology.
Residents say that the destruction of the cave has begun with granite being extracted from it.The villagers have begun to protest against this destruction. They have formed a protest group and carried out several campaigns to save the heritage of Digamadulla and save this historic site.
The group is known as the Organization to Protect Heritage of Digamadulla.
Officials of the Department of Archaeology have promised the villagers they would hold a discussion with them soon.
However the villagers fear that the meeting may come too late as there is a move to blast the rock cave using dynamite within a day or two.
Archaeology Department officials were not available for comment. |
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