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by special correspondent

President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga, by an Act of Parliament, established the Ranaviru Seva Authority to be operative directly under her in order to ensure the psycho sociological welfare of the family members of the police and the three armed services personnel who were disabled, killed or missing in action.

More than a million persons in the police and the three armed services are benefitting under this programme which depends on the generosity of donors in the private and State sectors.

The Ranaviru Seva Authority is receiving several letters daily helping to solve the common problems of war heroes and their family members while some are those from the war heroes themselves or their family members seeking help to solve their problems. Admission of children to schools, transfers in service, lands, telephone supplies, electricity, litigation, police problems, salaries and compensation are among the many problems referred to the Ranaviru Seva Authority has a common welfare division to deal with these problems. In terms of a recent policy decision of the government the salaries of those killed or missing in action must continue to be paid to their dependents. This step was taken in view of the various difficulties encountered by the dependents over a long period before they could obtain their dues. Similarly, as far as school admissions to Government schools are concerned, 10 per cent is assigned under priority for war heroes. At the same time, lands received by the Ranaviru Authority under special circumstances are gifted to landless soldiers without any political interference.

President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga inaugurated a Housing Development Project under the control of a Special Presidential Committee appointed by herself to provide houses to soldiers, or after their demise to their widows, children or parents who do not own houses. Mr. Armyne Weerasinghe is the Chairman of that Committee. Under the project, each house is awarded one hundred thousand rupees out of Funds contributed by private donors. Since this fund dwindled recently, the initial allocation of 100 million rupees under the Presidential fund is now being utilized towards the construction of 1000 houses for the ensuing year. Under the project, by now 700 of the targeted 1000 houses have been already allocated to Ranaviru families while the balance 300 is due to be completed by the end of the year.

Under the Skill Development Project of the Ranaviru Seva Authority, the Special Presidential Committee intervened to find vocational training facilities to soldiers who were retired on being disabled in action or to their dependents who are unemployed. 6000 Vocational Training Centres island-wide are made use of to provide this facility. Energization of war-hero families is the main objective of this measure. School dropouts at G.C.E. Ordinary or Advanced Level is another major problem faced by Ranaviru families as much as it is common to other families. In order to encourage the soldiers' children towards higher education, a special Ranaviru Childrens' Scholarship Project is operative. Under this project an awardee receives Rs. 500 for two years out of funds contributed by Sri Lankan expatriates and local donors. This too is a project directly connecting the beneficiary to the donor with Ranaviru Seva Authority playing the roll of an intervenient ensuring the transparency of the project. The donor directly communicates with the beneficiary child enabling further educational assistance. Quite apart from the RSA Scholarship Project, certain financial problems of Ranaviru family children of different age groups are referred to a Foster-parents Scholarship Programme depending on the nature of the application.

President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga who persistently fosters special attention to the requirements of those soldiers maimed in battle for saving the flag of peace in the country, made an appeal to the private and State organizations to give priority to the disabled soldiers whenever they call on their organizations for assistance. The Disabled War-heroes' Welfare Project of Ranaviru Seva Authority is also implementing programmes such as aid to complete half-built houses and cooperation towards psychological energization. Accordingly, skill-development projects are introduced to ex-servicemen who were retired due to physical disability, as a means of pass-time as well as a self-employment ability. Similarly various common facilities for the villages of disabled soldiers are improved such as the provision of water to the five such villages utilizing a donation of 5 million rupees by the National Lotteries Board, recently.

The Transit Exchange Camps Development Project is another brainchild of President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga.Servicemen before being deployed to operational areas rest at these camps for a few days. The president having considered the recent facility shortcomings in these camps ordered their immediate improvement and also secured a three acre land at Ratmalana to construct a new camp at a cost of 15 million rupees. New dormitories have also been constructed in Anuradhapura. These are steps taken under the Ranaviru Seva Authority to uplift the moral of the soldiers when they report for duty at the warfront.

Ranaviru Surekum Unit of the Presidential Secretariat provides psychological relief to family members of soldiers killed or missing in action. By now 500 volunteers have been trained to help such families island wide to overcome their psychological problem. At the same time, the Ranaviru Seva Authority organized a training programme for doctors engaged in treating the police and servicemen under an international team of experts qualified in war-pressure psychiatry. Similarly this unit under the Authority is conducting programmes at provincial level to psychologically energize disabled soldiers and widows of soldiers killed in action. 600 war-heroes retired on medical grounds have been provided with mobile toilets.

On the occasion of the official commemoration of War Heroes' Day 2001 at President's House, in the course of discussing various problems of war-heroes' families, the President presented the suggestion to establish Mobile Service Projects on a provincial basis with the participation of government Departments. Accordingly, Legal Mobile Services were conducted in the Rajarata, Ruhuna, North Western Province and up-country, successfully providing answers to legal and many other problems posed.

The latest project under the Ranaviru Seva Authority is the Ranaviru Commemorative Park. Planting and naming of a tree in memory of each of the soldiers killed in action is the objective of this project. The President has made arrangements to secure a picturesque extent of land abutting the Randenigala-Kandy Road for this purpose and the Mahaweli Ministry under the sponsorship of the Ceylon Tobacco Company will carry out the project under a committee chaired by a former Army Commander Lt. Gen. Denis Perera. The Theme of the Park is "Objective of War and Death is Life and Peace". The Ranaviru Seva Authority is implementing all these projects out of funds contributed by private donors and with facilities and administration provided by the government. Former Chairperson of Ranaviru Seva Authority Dr. Tara de Mel who is also an Advisor to the President rendered an exemplary service by efficiently managing the resources provided by private donors and the State, towards the welfare of Ranaviru family members. The present Chairman Dr. Narme Wickremasinghe, who is following in the footsteps of his predecessor is assisted by a staff consisting of ten graduates who are project and field officers, in addition to fifteen other personnel and ten volunteers. The staff also includes a psychiatrist and a lawyer. It is also equipped with a committee of consultants equipped with professional skills. The establishment of the Ranaviru Seva Authority can be reckoned as one of the major tasks undertaken by the government to see to the welfare of war heroes and their family members who are dedicated to the cause of saving the nation.

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Copyright 2001 The Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd.
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