Sri Lanka President inaugurates a program to uplift 12,000 villages in the country

Sri Lanka::

* Sri Lanka President inaugurates a program to uplift 12,000 villages in the country
Thursday, March 29, 2007, 13:26 GMT, ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.

Mar 29, Colombo: Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa today inaugurated a massive development project to uplift 12,000 villages island-wide in 4000 Grama Niladari Divisions under the ‘Jathika Saviya - Gama Neguma’ program at Hindiyawala in Meerigama in the Gampaha district.

Addressing the ceremony the President said that the development should not be based on politics and up to this date Sri Lanka has not received any benefit from development programmes which did not involve its population in it.

“My life has been blessed by the winds of purity and fragrance that sweeps across the fields of kurakkan (millet) in our villages. The village life has also created a deep sense of love, affection, environmental consciousness and a spirit of innovation that had helped nurture the dream such that I have for all village communities of Sri Lanka. I am very keen to realize such a dream through the implementation of the “Gama Neguma”, the village upliftment program,” President said. Under the Jathika Saviya-Gama Neguma programme all villages in the island are scheduled to be developed in three stages. Within three years is a total number of 14,000 Grama Niladari Divisions will be developed.

The program aims to free the poor from the mentality of dependence on subsidies in the course of economic development and involve them actively in the process by convincing them that they are an essential component in development activities of the area.

Five ceremonies organized in connection with the main launching of the programme were held in five provinces. All development projects were launched in 4,000 Grama Niladari Divisions simultaneously.