Attempts are being made to open a huge Buddha Statue erected at the premises of Neeraviyadi Pillaiyar temple which was constructed very long time ago at Semmalai in Mullaitivu.
Following are further details in this regard;
The people of this area have been worshiping this Neraviyadi Pillaiyar temple since their ancestral time till they were uprooted due to the war, according to the people.
Aftermath of the resettlement at this area, people were unable to enter into the temple due to the fear as a big military camp was located near this temple.
Colomba Medalanga Thero from Maruthanai appropriated the premises of this temple with the help of the military stationed near the temple and set up hut for him to stay during the Rajapakse’s regime in 2013.
Through the gazette notification, this area was declared as the place belonging to the Archaeological Department even by mentioning the name of this area wrongly “Chettimalai” and this Thero had been arguing this wrong name as the right name of this place and started constructing Buddhist temple there.
Due to the fierce opposition of the people after the regime change in 2015, the construction activities were stopped and the attempts are now being made to open this Buddhist temple once Mahinda Rajapakse has been sworn in as the Prime Minister.
in addition, this Thero has deleted the old name board in Tamil mentioning “Pazhaiya Semmalai” and put a new name board in Sinhala.
This attempt, which is fiercely opposed by the people of this area, has been continuing in a way to create ethnic tension in this area. It will lead to the ethnic conflict if this attempt is not given up, the people of this area emphasized.
