Saturday, 23 November 2013 00:00
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The ‘Nine Arch Bridge’ between Ella and Demodara railway stations on the Badulla line is an outstanding civil engineering marvel of the British colonial era. An artist’s impression of this Gotuwala Viaduct built in 1921 is featured on the cover of the folder issued with the CHOGM 2013 stamps released a day before the opening of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.
Located almost 3,100 feet above sea level, this largest viaduct in the country is 99.6ft high and has been built entirely of solid rocks, bricks and cement without using a single piece of steel.
People call it the ‘Ahasnamayepalama’ (Bridge of Nine Skies) in Sinhala obviously because of the view from below. When one stands underneath it and looks up it is a beautiful sight of ‘nine skies’ through the nine arches, hence the Sinhala name. One end of this curved nine-arch bridge is a tunnel.
According to a popular tale, when construction work was commenced on the bridge, World War I broke-out and the steel consignment assigned for this site was seized and used for war-related projects. When the work came to a standstill, the locals came forward and built the bridge with solid stone bricks and cement without steel.
The two CHOGM stamps – one in the denomination of Rs. 5 and the other Rs. 25 – feature a young girl carrying a bunch of blue lotus flowers, the national flower. The CHOGM 2013 logo, which was also designed based on the national flower along with a number of colours to symbolise the different nations, was also prominently displayed.
The pictures were identical except for the background colour and the denomination. Possibly this was a missed opportunity where two different pictures would have created a bigger impact particularly because the collectors – both local and foreign – would preserve the First Day Covers.
Being a special occasion, in addition to the First Day Cover that is released with every new issue, a Souvenir Sheet and a Folder were also released.
The souvenir sheet which also carries the two stamps features a number of old colonial buildings. These include the old Parliament (presently the Presidential Secretariat), the National Mutual building in Fort (recently converted to a currency museum by the Central Bank), the Secretariat and the Town Hall.
The First Day Cover states that CHOGM 2013 is the 23rd Meeting. The Colombo meeting was really the 22nd CHOGM. The biennial summit meeting of the heads of government from all Commonwealth nations was first held in 1971 in Singapore. The theme of CHOGM 2013 was ‘Growth with Equity: Inclusive Development’.
The Commonwealth Prime Ministers Conferences date back to 1944. This was after the colonies of the British Empire became dominions gaining independent status. Until 1969 the meetings were held in London except for one in 1966 when a meeting was held in Lagos into discuss the issue of Rhodesia.
As the number of countries that gained independence began to increase, they demanded the establishment of a Commonwealth Secretariat. The UK responded by founding the Commonwealth Foundation.
Instead of the meetings being held only in London, they started to be rotated among the member countries, subject, of course, to the ability of the country to host a conference. As the countries began to change their constitutions with some of them adopting Republican constitutions, the meetings were renamed ‘Commonwealth Heads of Government Meetings’ thereby reflecting the Commonwealth’s growing diversity of the constitutional structure. CHOGM was thus born.
CHOGM is held in different member countries with that country’s prime minister or president (in countries where there are executive presidents) chairing the meeting. President Mahinda Rajapaksa thus chaired CHOGM 2013 and will remain Chairman until 2015 when the next CHOGM will be held in Malta.
