Anuradhapura district-based 68 Army personnel, 23 sailors and 13 airmen who had contributed to the humanitarian operations, received ownership to those new houses, each worth about Rs 3.5 million during this ceremony.

These new houses were erected in blocks of land, owned by the War Heroes themselves and those constructions were completed by engineers in the Sri Lanka Air Force, donating their labour and technical know-how to the noble project on the directions of Mr Gotabaya Rajapaksa who is the brainchild behind its implementation.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa as the Chief Guest at Horowpothana, symbolically handed over the keys to two beneficiaries, inaugurating the house-warming ceremony at traditional auspicious timings.

Later on, keys to the rest of the new houses were delivered to the recipients in a colourful ceremony that got underway at Ruwanweli Madya Maha Vidyalaya grounds at Horowpothana afterwards, in the presence of a distinguished gathering, including Mr Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Ministers, Governors, Chief Minister, Secretaries, Chief of Defence Staff, Tri-Service Commanders, state officials, local politicians and other invitees.

In the past few years after culmination of the war, a dozen of such housing projects have been successfully completed by the Ministry of Defence and Urban Development in Kandy, Kurunegala, Matara, Hambantota, Moneragala, Badulla, Galle, Ampara, Trincomalee, Batticaloa, Kalutara, Kegalle, Polonnaruwa, Gampaha and Ratnapura Districts, providing decent and spacious shelters to War Heroes.

Ministry of Defence and Urban Development which launched the ‘Api Wenuwen Api’ housing project with generosity of each and every Sri Lankan and the expatriate community, maintains that invaluable sacrifices of valiant War Heroes for sovereignty of the Nation, should be always held in high esteem by rewarding them in whatever the way possible.

HC/army media_Pix By : Chandana Perera