The implementation of new mesh network in Mahavilachchiya is being done now. ISIF is the funding agency and the implementation is done by LankaCom this time.
There are 4 Wi-Fi zones now in the village and two more zones will be added. The strength of signals are stronger this time than the previous implementation due to the technological advancements during the past 2-3 years.
18 houses have been connected to the mesh by now and more houses will be connected in coming weeks.
Unlike last time, the whole village will be covered with the mesh internet network this time.
The annual housemeet was held in Thakshila Maha Vidyalaya on February 3, 2009. The provincial educational authorities, government officials, the principals of schools in Mahavilachchiya DS Division, police and Civil Security Forces officers and other dignitaries in the area attended the event. The house Perakum became the first while Gemunu became the runner-up and Wijaya the third. The principal and the staff of the school had worked hard with the students and the parents to make the event a success. (Photo credits: Saman Wijitha Kumara)
A bana pinkama (a Buddhist religious sermon) was held in Sri Sudarshanaramaya, Mahavilachchiya January 31st night. An invited monk from an aranya (monastery) in Ritigala did the sermon. The Chief Monk of the temple, Maraka Suseela Thero was also present. The Divisional Secretary, Mr Sugath Kithsiri also was present at the event. A large number of devotees listened to the sermon. (Photo credits: Saman Wijitha Kumara)
Mr. Sugath Kithsiri, the Divisional Secretary of Mahavilachchiya and Mr. Kapila Abenayaka the O. I. C. of Mahavilachchiya Police Station
A group of patriotic Sri Lankans in Sydney, Australia donated 50 Flashlight Torches to Mahavilachchiya and Tantirimale to help enhance security of these villages. The distribution was done with the participation of Mr. Sugath Kithsiri, the Divisional Secretary of Mahavilachchiya, Mr. Kapila Abenayaka the O. I. C. of Mahavilachchiya Police Station, Lieutenant Colonel M. U. Munasinghe an army officer of North Central Province. They handed over the torches to the personnel of Civil Security Force. Mr. Sugath Kithsiri coordinated the donation.
Minister of Mineral Oil Resources Development Duminda Dissanayake assured the residents of Tantirimale, who have been engaged in a continuing public protest over the poor state of the 26 kilometer stretch of road from Vannihelambewa junction Anuradhapura to Bogoda, Tantirimale being in a state of disrepair, that the government would take immediate steps to start its rehabilitation.
The Maha Sangha too had joined the protest on Saturday (26).
The road from Vannihelambewa Junction, Anuradhapura has been in a badly neglected state from 1994 and the public in the villages of the area launched a protest by placing logs across the road and planting banana trees in the middle of the road where the tar had been washed off.
Traffic on the road came to a halt for over thirty hours with the protestors blocking the road and the Maha Sangha including the Chief Incumbent of Tantirimale Raja Maha Viharaya Ven. Tantrirmale Chandaratana Nayake Thera joining the protest. The Minister, who met the protestors, pledged before the Maha Sangha that the rehabilitation of the road would commence from May 15.
The major irrigation reservoir, the Maha Villachchiya Mahavewa, is in the danger of destruction as its dam was damaged during the recent rains that fell on the North Central Province. About 5,000 farmer families, who depend solely on the waters of this major reservoir, with a capacity of 23,000 acre feet of water, to irrigate their rice and other crops will be affected if the dam is not repaired immediately farmers told The Island.
About 3,000 acres of paddy are cultivated by the farmers of the Maha Villachchiya area with irrigation from the reservoir. When the reservoir was first rehabilitated, 888 farmer families were settled in the lands below it but today after four generations the number of families had increased to 5,000,
At present about 500 metres of the bund of the reservoir has been damaged by erosion and the threat of the bund being breached badly was pointed out in the press several times before, but the irrigation authorities have not taken steps to repair it.
However, when the local authorities were contacted for a comment they said there was no immediate danger of the dam breaching right now. But the water level of the reservoir had reached spill level with the recent rains. The senior farmers and settlers expressed fears of the worst to come if the dam is not repaired now.
Tantirimale is situated in Mahavilachchiya Divisional Secretariat Division. Read this article about Tantirimale in Sinhala Wikipedia. This article was compiled by Sunil Premarathna, a former student of Horizon Lanka, now a final year student at University of Colombo. Sunil Premarathna is also doing his thesis on Mahavilachchiya reservoir and its irrigation system these days.
The late Minister of Highways & Road Development Mr Jeyaraj Fernandopulle visited Horizon Lanka, Mahavilachchiya in October, 2006. He was greatly impressed about Horizon Lanka’s mission on developing the village with the use of ICT and asked how best he could help Horizon Lanka. The staff, students and the parents requested him to repair the roads in and around Mahavilachchiya as it is the most needed requirement for the village. He immediately instructed local authorities to repair the road up to Horizon Lanka. He was in the process of repairing other roads in Mahavilachchiya, including repairing the road from Nochchiyagama via Suriyadamana to Mahavilachchiya since this could make easy access for Mahavilachchiya’s agricultural products to Nochchiyagama and Thambutthegama markets. Mr Fernandopulle was also willing to extend the carpeted road from Anuradhapura to Oyamaduwa up to Mahavilachchiya. We are not sure if the project would go forward with his untimely demise.
This story was originally written and uploaded to Horizon Lanka website on Octiber 09, 2006.
Road to Mahavilachchiya is in very good condition only upto Oyamaduwa Junction. But beyond that the work has not been done well. Recently Minister of Highways Hon. Jeyaraj Fernandopulle and the Deputy Minister Hon. W. B. Ekanayake visited Mahavilachchiya to see the road conditions. They also visited Horizon Lanka Foundation. We hope that the roads in Mahavilachchiya will be repaired soon as it would encourage investors to start ICT related ventures in Mahavilachchiya.
Sirasa TV won the award for the best news reporting at the State Tele Awards for the news item it did on Mahavilachchiya’s mesh internet project. Yasarath Kamalsiri was the producer of the news item. The award ceremony was held at BMICH, Colombo yesterday (March 17, 2008.)
You can watch the news item on YouTube by clicking this link. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rt1ZdfQVp7E The video clip of the news item which was uploaded to YouTube has drawn more than 30,000 hits.
"The mission of Horizon Lanka Foundation is empowering the rural community through enhanced ICT awareness while preserving its hallowed traditions and cultural values, by utilising the unique infrastructural resources available at Mahavilachchiya optimally, constituting a pioneer level testing ground and launching pad for innovative technologies, widening avenues of employment for the rural youth through expansion of Business Process Outsourcing opportunities and facilitating mastery of English language, and serving as a model to be emulated by emerging eVillages in Sri Lanka."
VOLUNTEER AT HORIZON LANKA, MAHAVILACHCHIYA, SRI LANKA
We welcome foreign volunteers to Horizon Lanka. Those who prefer to volunteer at Horizon Lanka Academy, Mahavilachchiya can contact Global Vision International's volunteer scheme to Horizon Lanka. If you can teach English, computers, management, etc., you can contact us and GVI for that. You can read some of the tour reports by our former volunteers in this page. Visit http://www.horizonlanka.org/volunteer/index.htm for more details
This is how the lime harvest in Mahavilachchiya is being wasted as the prices are too low for a farmer to take them to a market.
Some of the roads in Mahavilachchiya are being renovated these days. The road from Tract 4 Junction to Tract 3 is being repaired these days.
The annual housemeet was held in Thakshila Maha Vidyalaya on February 3, 2009. The provincial educational authorities, government officials, the principals of schools in Mahavilachchiya DS Division, police and Civil Security Forces officers and other dignitaries in the area attended the event. The house Perakum became the first while Gemunu became the runner-up and Wijaya the third. The principal and the staff of the school had worked hard with the students and the parents to make the event a success. (Photo credits: Saman Wijitha Kumara)
