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| Tuesday, 24 August 2004 |
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Milton Dharmasinghe, Bulathsinhala special corr. Buddhasasana, Public Security, Law and Order Minister, Deputy Minister of Defence, Ratnasiri Wickremanayake said in Labugama, Horana that the rate of crime in the country had been increasing rapidly as the police officers are not in a position to take legal action against the offenders who would take action in return against the law enforcing authorities on breach of fundamental rights. So they believed they would have to face immense problems in future in this regard. The Minister was speaking at a religious ceremony held on last Saturday at Vaulugala Siri Dhammarakshitharama Purana Viharaya, Labugama, Horana. The occasion was the Pushpopahara (offering of flowers) to the newly opened Buddha statue in the new Buddha Mandiraya in the temple. Ven. Labugama Sri Gnanawimala Wimalatissa, Chief Sangha Nayaka of Pasdun, Raigam, Hewagam korales presided. Minister Wickramanayake said, "Sri Lankans are becoming a minority very fast. About two decades ago under the instructions of foreign forces steps were taken to minimise the members of children in a family to two or three. Before that there were six to eight members in the family. Now the situation has changed tremendously. "There are few Buddhist priests in the country. More than thousand temples are without priests. Today the country is short of Buddhist priests and most parents with two or three children are reluctant to make them priests. Buddhist organisations and rich Buddhists should form an organisation and they should help all the poor Buddhists in rural areas by trying to raise their living standards. Minister Wickremanayake said in olden days Buddhists should have connections with the village temple and help the high priests to conduct Daham Paselas. The bond between the temple and the villagers should continue. Temples should form organisations to help the poor Buddhists in the village. By enforcing laws alone would not help develop Buddha Sasana in Sri Lanka. The Minister also emphasised that the Government had already planned to implement the recommendations of the Buddhist Commission report. If it were implemented solutions to the existing problems faced by Buddhism would be solved. This couldn't be implemented alone. So we would try to get the assistance of all the Buddhist countries in Asia and have an International Buddhist Conference in November this year to discuss it in detail and come to a settlement. Opposition Leader of UNP, WPPC Kithsiri Kahatapitiya said that there were hundreds of Buddhist temples in Western Province and most of them needed assistance to develop and WP would take suitable steps to develop the standard of Buddhist centers in the province. Ven. Labugama Sri Gnanawimala, Chief Sangha Nayaka of Raigam, Hewagam, Salpiti korales, the Ven. Ariyawansalankara Wimala Keerthi Srimawala Inda Sumana, Chief Sangha Nayaka of Kotte Kalyani Samagri Dharma Sabha, the Ven. Gonaduwe Gunananda Thera, the Ven. Molligoda Ariyaratne Thera, Sarath Ranawaka, Kalutara District MP, P. D. Abeyratne also spoke. |
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