28 December 2009
Suduwella Community Water Supply Project declared open
Urban Development of Amparai inaugurated
Also present on this occasion were Plan Implementation Minister P Dayaratne, Eastern Province Minister Wimalaweera Dissanaike, PC member TAK Thewarapperuma, Amparai UC Chairman Sarath Deshapriya, UC members, MEP Amparai organiser Sriyani Wijewickrema and WD Tissa Yapa of the UDA.
24 December 2009
Boralesgamuwa Urban Development
04 December 2009
Vavuniya Urban Development Plan unveiled
25 November 2009
New homes in Dematagoda for displaced shanty dwellers of Slave Island
23 November 2009
Acceleration of the Rs 350 million Independence Square Development Project
13 November 2009
Henry Jayasena inspired a new generation through his dramatic capability
12 November 2009
World Town Planning Day Commemorated
11 November 2009
Hon Dinesh Gunewardena addresses Federation of Madhya Pradesh Chambers of Commerce & Industry
Prime Minister opens pilgrims’ rest in Sanchi
Pilgrims face various hardships when visiting Sanchi, an underdeveloped area in Bhopal in the modern state of Madhya Pradesh. Its biggest drawback has been the lack of a pilgrims rest or lodging facilities for pilgrims coming to this spot, far from the traditional pilgrimage route to Dambadiva. The plans for a pilgrims’ rest in Sanchi were made three years ago by the Ministry of Urban Development and Sacred Area Development on the directions of Hon Dinesh Gunawardena Minister of Urban Development and Sacred Area Development, under the guidance of President HE Mahinda Rajapaksa.
The Vandana Niketana established in Sanchi by the National Physical Planning Department of the Ministry of Urban Development and Sacred Area Development is a three-storeyed pilgrims’ rest containing an image house, sermon rooms, bedrooms for pilgrims, open living rooms, bathrooms, a kitchen and sanitary facilities.
The Indian Government, the Government of Madhya Pradesh, the Public Works Department of Madhya Pradesh, the Mahabodhi Society of Sri Lanka which gifted the Land and the Chief Incumbent of Sanchi Ven Banagala Upatissa thero all collaborated in this effort.
The Chief Incumbent of Sanchi Ven Banagala Upatissa thero, representatives of the Indian people led by the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh Hon. Shivraj Singh Chauhan, Mrs Sumedha Jayasena, Minister of Women’s Empowerment and Child Development, Dr Prathap Ramanujam, Secretary to the Ministry of Urban Development and Sacred Area Development and many clergy and laity from Sri Lanka and overseas participated on this occasion.
09 November 2009
Hon Dinesh Gunewardena addresses Indian Merchants’ Chamber
Now that terrorism had been defeated in Sri Lanka, the country is poised for rapid development under the sound economic policies of HE President Mahinda Rajapaksa. So said Hon Dinesh Gunawardena, Minister of Urban Development and Sacred area Development, addressing potential investors at the Indian Merchants’ Chamber in Mumbai on 30 October.
Minister Hon. Dinesh Gunawardena meets Shri Satya Narayan Goenka
Hon Dinesh Gunawardena is seen here with Shri SN Goenka and Smt. Ilaichidevi Goenka. Hon Sumedha Jayasena is on the extreme right.
Hon Dinesh Gunawardena, Minister of Urban Development and Sacred Area Development, paid his respects to the leading teacher of Vipassana Meditation, Shri Satya Narayan Goenka on 30 October 2009 in Mumbai.
Shri Goenka, who was born in Mandalay in Myanmar in 1924, studied Vipassana Meditation under the renowned Burmese meditation teacher U Ba Khin. Later he opened the Dhammagiri Meditation Centre at Igatpuri, in the Western Ghats Mountains in Maharashtra, India. He has trained over 700 teachers and now has a network of Vipassana Meditation Centres all over the world. More than 100,000 people attend Vipassana Meditation courses under his network every year.
Shri Goenka is a writer and poet who has published works in English, Hindi and Rajasthani. He has lectured to audiences around the world, notably to the World Economic Forum at Davos in Switzerland at the Millenium World Peace Summit of the United Nations, both in 2000.
In conversation with Hon Dinesh Gunawardena, Shri Goenka revealed that government officials, police officers and even prisoners were being given meditation courses in India. He emphasized that the students of Vipassana were not being converted from one religion to another, but were being shown a portal to escape from misery. He explained that even prisoners convicted of murder were able to obtain inner peace through meditation.
Hon Dinesh Gunawardena reminded Shri Goenka that there were already two Vipassana Meditation Centres in Sri Lanka, including one in his own home village of Kosgama. He invited Shri Goenka to open another centre in the north of the country, to help the citizens of the country who were traumatised by the recent conflict to find inner harmony.
Shri Goenka invoked blessings on the President and people of Sri Lanka.
Women’s Empowerment and Child Development Minister Hon Sumedha G Jayasena also participated on this occasion.