People have reconciliation, but some politicians lack it: President

Saturday, 21 June 2014 00:10 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

The entire nation is faced with an unfortunate situation because some politicians don’t have the reconciliation which exists among the people in this country, said President Mahinda Rajapaksa. “Some politicians want to betray the country for their narrow political ends, he added. Those who pretend to represent the nation merely for power betray the country in the international forums, the President said. The President was speaking at the handing over of the Bogambara Prison Complex in Kandy to the Government custody yesterday. “There is nothing unachievable when we have the national unity. Therefore, everybody should get together to build the country,” the President further stated. The Bogambara Prison Complex in Kandy was formerly handed into Government custody today. It was officially handed over to the President by Rehabilitation and Prison Reforms Minister Chandrasiri Gajadheera at a ceremony. The Bogambara prison was closed down on 1 January this year to be shifted from the historic capital of Kandy, which houses the Sacred Tooth Relic of the Buddha. “The Bogambara Prison was closed down on 1 January and about 2,700 prisoners who were in the Bogambara Prison have been transferred to other prisons,” he said. The Bogambara prison was housed in 32 acres in the Kandy City close to the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic and was built by the British Colonial Government in 1876. A drama depicting the history of Bogambara prison is to be enacted today at the handing over ceremony. Under the Government’s development program of expanding the prison network in the country and improving prison conditions, it was decided to close the Bogambara prison, which was situated in the heart of Kandy. Serving inmates were transferred to a new prison complex in Pallekele. The Bogambara prison complex will be used for commercial purposes as a building with historical and archeological value and a part of that land will be used for a new development project. The Bogambara Prisons was a maximum security prison and the second largest in Sri Lanka, after the Welikada Prison in Colombo.

Official handing over of Bogambara Prison

The official handing over of Bogambara Prison for further development by the President Mahinda Rajapaksa yesterday in Kandy

– Pix by Sudath Silva