Jayawardenagama HS residents deprived of facilities

Residents of the Jayawadenagama Housing Scheme request from the authorities to hand over the Library and the Activity Centre which was there at the inception of the housing scheme.

The secretary of the Welfare Association of Jayawadenagama Housing scheme, Sarath Gamini stated that the National Housing Development Authority had not taken any action towards the issues they are facing.

“The activity centre of the scheme was a result of many requests made to many ministers. Now it is under the Council and they are trying to rent the place for wedding receptions and other occasions. We do not have a place even to have a meeting.” he said.

The Housing Scheme was built under the concept of the late president Ranasinghe Premadasa, which was handed over to the public in 1983. It has seven hundred and five houses. The scheme consists of a Children’s’ playground, a canal, a library and an activity centre.

The Vice secretary of the Welfare Association of the Jayawadenagama Housing Scheme S.E.R.V.M.D Bandara said “The Mayor of the Kaduwela MC solved one of our major problems which was collection of garbage. We are grateful for that. But we still have many issues to be solved. The roads, including the main entrance to the scheme have not being renovated for a long period. We had a library here. We would like to have the library back.”

According to the President of the Welfare Association there are no buses at all to the scheme. Earlier there were two buses which travelled to Galle road. Commenting on the issue Mayor of the Kaduwela Council G.H. Buddadassa stated “The council did not take the library. It is the people who abandoned it. The gymnasium is situated in one side of the Library. The activity centre was handed over to the youth in the area. Since there were many incidents we had to take over. We are hoping to hand it over to people after renovation,” he said.