VILLAGERS PROTEST RELOCATING OF CEMETERY

Residents had expressed their displeasure over the clearing of the cemetery located on the Polonnaruwa-Habarana Main Road facing the Giritale tank bund. They said that the cemetery was more than 50 years old and it was being cleared using bulldozers under the pretext of shifting it to another location.

They accused the President of the Funeral Directors Association of the area and a prominent Buddhist monk of obtaining signatures of the villagers to clear the cemetery and that it was illegal.

The villagers said that bodies of many deceased war heroes and Police officers were interned in the cemetery.

However, the villagers had requested the authorities to prevent this insult to the dead including the deceased War Heroes.

However, Chairman of the Hingurakgoda Pradeshiya Sabha D.R. Udawatte said shifting of the cemetery had been approved by the DCC and that it was a legally implemented project.

Meanwhile, Divisional

The villagers said that bodies of many deceased war heroes and Police officers were interned in the cemetery

Secretary Pushpa Ekanayake said the project had been approved by the Divisional Coordinating Committee but she had instructed the Pradeshiya Sabha to obtain a clearance report from the Archaeological Department but she had not yet received any information about it.

The Officer-in-charge of the Polonnaruwa Archaeological Office was not available for comment.