Sacred City in name only

By L.B.Senaratne

Even though the Kandy town has been declared a sacred city, much of this is confined to pillars in wood and copper. The first demarcation in wood was made during the tenure of the Cultural Affairs Minister who was later to become the Diyawadana Nilame, the late Nissanka Wijeyaratne.

The second was during the period of President Chandrika Kumaratunga. Later a Gazette notification gave teeth to the regulations covering the Sacred City area, which was enlarged. It was realised that the removal of business premises and persons would take a long time.

One of the most important issues was the removal of liquor bars from the sacred city area, but they still remain very much where they were.

At his investiture as Asgiriya Mahanayake Thera Ven. Udugama Buddharakitha Thera called on the State to remove all liquor bars from the sacred area, but, unfortunately some of them are said to be on temple land, allocated on long term lease. Some Buddhist stalwarts reportedly own liquor bars under names of relations, but the buildings are owned by them. It is in this situation that the Sacred City concept has become a sham of sorts.

The pillars erected in the past had copper plates, but some of them have been removed by vandals. One of them was right in front of a police barrier. After a recent meeting held by those interested in the Sacred City vision steps were taken to apprise the President of the situation and seek some relief by which the vision could be made a reality, even if it were to take time due to the question of compensation and removal of business establishments from the area.

Meanwhile S.Liyanage, the secretary of the Mahanuwara society for the conservation and protection of the people's heritage, said the suggestion by Kandy Director of the Urban Development Authority to convert the Bogambara prison and remand prison into anything other than cultural centres, once the prison was shifted to Pallekelle, met with objections at a meeting held on Habitat Day in Kandy.