Sgt. Major W.P. Ariyaratne is a happy man. He is eagerly looking forward to moving into his newly built house with his wife and three children, at the end of this month after long years of roughing it out with parents and in rented housing, while serving at the warfront.
Since 1996, Sgt. Major Ariyaratne has served in the operation areas of Jaffna, Mannar, Vavuniya, Kalmunai and Akkaraipattu. He was in all the Riviresa operations in the Special Operations Platoon. With the end of the war, his dedication has been rewarded. In this second stage of the Api Wenuwen Api programme, houses are being built for soldiers of the Army, Navy and Air Force, who have a land of their own but no means to build a house.
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| Sgt. Major Ariyaratne |
Ariyaratne said he had purchased the land using his savings together with the sale of a small property he had and a loan from his sister. He also took a loan from the People’s Bank for levelling the property which was on a hillock.
The house, built by Army Engineers is now in its final stages. Work started on March 18 and is scheduled to be completed by the end of June. Ariyaratne has been granted permission to be in Kandy to see the final stages of construction. It is a comfortable house with three bedrooms, a spacious sitting and dining area, kitchen, a tiled, fitted bathroom inside, an outside toilet and a carport.
Having lived with his parents, Ariyaratne and his family moved to Gurudeniya in Kandy to admit his children to school. His eight-year-old daughter has gained admission to Kandy Girls’ High School and he hopes to get his sons aged three and two also into schools in Kandy.
In Senarathgama, Katugastota, Sujeewa Udayangani, 30, and her 4 ½ year-old daughter Amaya, are also preparing to move into the house built for them through the ‘Api Wenuwen Api’ programme. The Army Engineers unit was hard at work to finish the house by the end of the month.
Although relieved to have the house, Sujeewa is mourning the death of her husband. Staff Sergeant M.D.S.K.Karunawansa of the Special Forces, was killed in action on May 18, last year, in the final day of battle at Puthumathalan. Married for four years, Udayangani said her husband, who counted 14 years in the army, worked mostly in the north even after marriage.
“I wrote to the Defence Secretary and Army Commander, through his Regiment, appealing for a house,” Udayangani said. They had lived in a rented house and when the lease ran out, she moved to her mother’s house in Senarathgama. Her mother had written a plot of land in her name. As it was on a slope and not suitable for building, her brother obligingly exchanged his land for hers. “I am so happy to have this home, close to my family,” Udayangani said.
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| Waiting to move in: Sgt. Major Ariyaratne's two sons in front of their new house. |
Speaking to the Sunday Times, Major General Prasad Samarasinghe, Military Spokesman, said when Defence Secretary Col (Retd) Gotabhaya Rajapaksa took over, he found that the first task was to boost the morale of the service personnel. The strength of the forces was increased and many youths from the villages were recruited.
The burning issue among the forces he said was a lack of housing. Thus the project Api Wenuwen Api was proposed and inaugurated through the Ministry of Defence and the Mahinda Chinthanaya, with the aim of providing 50,000 houses for Army, Navy and Air Force personnel who fought in the war to wipe out terrorism from the country.
In the first phase of the project, 1509 houses were constructed at Ipalogama, Anuradhapura for war heroes of the three forces, who had no houses of their own. ‘Rana Jayapura Housing Village was declared open by President Mahinda Rajapaksa in November 2009. Spread over 180 acres, it is a large cantonment, equipped with facilities for education, health, banking, a supermarket etc. While the cost of each house was Rs.1.4 million, the cost of infrastructure was around Rs. 2.1 million. The recipients were the families of Army, Navy and Air Force personnel.
It included those in service as well as those who are disabled, missing or killed in action.
Phase 2 of the project has now been launched to construct 700 houses, under the Seva Vanitha branch of the Defence Ministry, led by Ms. Ioma Rajapaksa. Maj. Gen. Samarasinghe says the Ministry has found that there are many soldiers who have some land but no money to build a house.
The beneficiaries have been identified and construction was inaugurated with 30 houses in Kandy and Kurunegala districts in March this year. Each house is estimated to cost Rs. one million, excluding the labour which is provided by the Engineer regiments of the three forces. Construction is supervised by the Seva Vanitha.
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| Security for them: War widow Sujeewa Udayangani with little Amaya |
In the Kurunegala district, the construction is being handled by the Navy engineers, and recipients are from both Army and Navy. At Thoreyaya in Kurunegala, the wife of Petty Officer T.M.R.K. Tennekoon is one of the recipients. Her husband has been missing in action since December 2007, when the Dvora he was serving on was blasted by the terrorists. Her daughter Methma is five years old.
“Neither my husband nor I owned a house,” said Indu Jayani Jayasuriya. She lived with her husband’s father in Galigamuwa and when her daughter was admitted to Maliyadeva, moved to Kurunegala. “When I heard about the ‘Api Wenuwen Api’ programme, I somehow managed to purchase 16 perches of land by taking a loan. I suffered a lot after my husband’s death,” she says grateful to the Navy Welfare for making it possible for her to get this house.
Another recipient S.P.J. Senarath who has served 16 years in the Navy is now posted in Mankulam. His wife Deepani said she had land in her parents’ property in Alawwa but could not think of building with two small children of 3 ½ years and six months old, as her husband was away most of the time. “We are grateful to the President, the Defence Secretary and the Navy Commander for giving us this opportunity,” Deepani said. “Construction started on March 18, and we have had no expenses at all as it is being done by the Navy engineers.”
During the war, there were many contributions to the fund, Maj. Gen. Samarasinghe said. “We had a good response from Sri Lankans here as well as those living abroad, particularly in the UK, US, Italy and the Middle East.” It is hoped that contributions would continue to come in so that more war heroes could be looked after.
Those who wish to build houses in memory of a loved one could contribute to the fund. Various organisations also could participate by donating the cost of one or more houses, he said adding that the Ministry has the mechanism to support the project which has been approved by Parliament and functions under a Board of Trustees.
The fund is in a Bank of Ceylon account. “It is the duty of Sri Lankans to look after the soldiers who have fought for the country,” he added. “Sri Lankans living abroad could also make their contribution to the nation.”
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