Kuragala archeological site preserved- Vidura

By Uddhika Samaraweera

The Government has taken a number of steps to conserve the Kuragala archaeological site, State Minister for National Heritage, Vidura Wickramanayake told Parliament yesterday (5).

He was responding to a question raised by SJB MP Hesha Vithanage regarding the Kuragala archeological site. Adding the site had prehistoric importance and that a skeleton more than 16,000 years had been found there, the State Minister said necessary steps have been taken to conserve it.

“In 2013, with the intervention of the then Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa, illegal constructions used by some Muslims in Kuragala were brought down. But  a construction connected to the cave still exists,” he said.

The State Minister said permission had been given, acceding to a request made by the Department of Archeology to construct a pagoda by Ven.Wathurukumbure Dhammarathana Thera. Every possible step would be taken to protect the Kuragala site, he said..