Senehe Siyapatha to construct houses for Aranayake victims

Tuesday, 8 November 2016 00:01 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

The partners of the ‘Senehe Siyapatha’ program at the signing of the MoU for the construction of the Gammanaya in Aranayake

Defence Secretary Eng. Karunasena Hettiarachchi and the Power and Renewable Energy Minister Siyambalapitiya laying foundation stone in Aranayake

Foundation stones for 30 new houses for those displaced by the Aranayake landslide disaster were laid by the ‘Senehe Siyapatha’ initiative, as the program commenced its third phase of relief for victims of natural disasters earlier this year.

Construction work on the ‘Senehe Siyapatha Gammanaya’ begun after the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding this week between program partners the Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd, Dialog Axiata Plc, the Disaster Management Centre, the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation, the Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation and the Ministry of Defence.

The Senehe Siyapatha initiative contributed Rs. 50 million towards disaster relief, with donations from the Sri Lankan public. Dialog Customers were invited to donate Rs. 50 towards relief efforts and Dialog tripled the donation by adding Rs. 100 thereby donating Rs. 150 in total. Dialog customers donated Rs. 15 million within a week to the initiative, while the company added Rs. 35 million.

Under its first phase of activity, the ‘Senehe Siyapatha’ initiative donated 50 water pumps worth Rs. 1.6 million to the Disaster Management Centre to aid immediate flood relief efforts, while footwear worth over Rs. 11.5 million was distributed to over 10,000 children in 32 schools in the Colombo and Gampaha districts under the second phase.

The third phase commenced with the laying of the foundation stone for the ‘Senehe Siyapatha Gammanya’ in Aranayake, with the occasion graced by Minister of Power and Renewable Energy Ranjith Siyambalapitiya and Secretary of Defence Eng. Karunasena Hettiarachchi.

The Sri Lankan armed forces will provide the labour at no cost to construct the ‘Senehe Siyapatha Gammanya’ in Aranayake.

The disbursement of funds for the ‘Senehe Siyapatha’ initiative is independently audited by PricewaterhouseCoopers Sri Lanka, with the report published on www.dialog.lk/relief.