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Peraliya villagers wait for tsunami museum but get only a scarecrow
View(s):In Peraliya, villagers complained that they have been waiting for 17 years for a promise made by authorities to come true.
“We were told a tsunami museum will be made here. But there have been many foundation laying ceremonies only,” a villager said.
The belongings of those who lost their lives in the train tragedy were to be displayed in the museum
They said a foundation stone was laid in 2005. The project was to be completed within two years under the supervision of the Moratuwa University. But until 2011 little or no work was done.
Another foundation stone was laid by Culture and the Arts Minister T. B. Ekanayake on August 11, 2011 at the invitation of Galle district Parliamentarian Mohan P. de Silva and another ceremony was held to lay another foundation stone, after the first foundation.
A.G.Ruwan Preethi Kumara
However, the Culture and the Arts Ministry constructed a building complex in 2011 spending about Rs. 400 million to open a Tsunami Museum and a Cultural Centre at Telwatte in Peraliya.
Ariyaratna Maduwage
The building remains a mere scarecrow nearly a decade after its work was initiated. It has been about nine years since its construction, but it still maintains only a pre-school and a cultural centre.
Retired public servant Ariyaratne Maduwage (87) has donated his Telwatte lands to build houses for those who were displaced by the 2004 tsunami catastrophe. residing in Telwatte,
“The idea of a museum was to display the belongings of those who lost lives, loved ones and memories from the waves. It is both for future generations and foreign visitors to witness the gravity of the tsunami,” he said.
“Either the Government should complete it or hand it to private parties if it does not have enough funds,” said Ratgama Pradeshiya Sabha member A. G. Ruwan Preethi Kumara.
A white elephant: The museum that never was. Pix by Gamini Mahadura
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