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38 kilos gold of Kataragama temple vanish ! Sashindra, Neelanga Dela or Commissioner the culprit ? SL blue brigade advances to rob deities too..!

(Lanka-e-News- 20.June.2015, 4.30PM) A new Basnayake Nilame was appointed to the Kataragama Maha Devale (temple) with the stepping down of Sashindra Rajapakse from that post .When such a post is accepted by a new nilame , the primary duty when a successor takes over is , the predecessor must entrust all his tasks  along with the fixed  assets and valuables of the temple to the successor . The responsibility to ensure this duly is shouldered by the Buddhist affairs commissioner  fully monitored by the government.

When the new chief incumbent D.P. Kumarage took over his duties recently from Sashindra , in the inventory of the temple assets there was no account of 38 kilos of gold meaning that this huge quantity of gold have gone missing !  When inquiries were  made , Sashindra’s answer was , he does  not know about this missing gold , and he did not take over that quantity of gold. 

It is Pradeep Neelanga Dela the present Diyawadana Nilame of Sri Dalada Maligawa of Kandy who was Sashindra’s predecessor  at Kataragama temple.

Based on reports reaching Lanka e news , the commissioner for Buddhist affairs has proposed a ‘Goda perakoduruwa’ ( a black coated shark)  to suppress the ‘great sacred activities’ of the two rogues of the notorious  ‘Blue brigade’. This outrageous  robbery has taken place during the period when Pradeep Neelanga Dela the temple rogue of the blue brigade was the Kataragama Devale chief incumbent. Citing the grounds    the Kataragama deity’s protection had diminished , (perhaps the deity knew a too clever and cunning rogue has taken over the Devale activities) ,  this gold was transferred to the  custody of Saman Devale , Ratnapura . 

Meanwhile  a spurious  drama was enacted that the Saman Devale was broken into  by rogues , and a well calculated  squalid tale was  concocted that the rogues had spirited away the gold .

Truly speaking , if the security at the Kataragama Devale had declined , what the chief incumbent should have done was, informed the government , and sought advice through the commissioner for the protection of the gold via the State bank , Central bank of Ceylon. 

These procedures were not followed because , for Neelanga Dela  who is a notorious crook from the days he was a district secretary and  the current Buddhist commissioner the accomplice in this robbery , the rare golden opportunity to rob the gold had knocked at their doors. They realized this is the opportunity to give full force and play to their innate ruthless thieving skills and talents regardless of who they are robbing - man , temple or even the deity  they are worshipping. 

No matter what , it is no secret now , from the president to the cabinet including the Buddha sasana minister are fully aware ,it is the commissioner for Buddhist affairs who is responsible and accountable for this outrageous robbery , though politicians robbing national wealth , now unfolding on a monumental scale and impoverishing the people under the last regime  is as bad or even worse.

It is the view of the residents in the vicinity of the Ratnapura Saman Devale, the claims  that rogues gained entry into this Devale which does not have even an aperture for a monkey to enter , and robbed this large quantity of gold and invaluable blue precious stones is the joke of the century. 

In a country where politicians engage in heroin and ethanol deals , pillage national wealth including  Tsunami funds , Divi neguma funds , children’s education funds etc. unconscionably and with impunity mind you with state patronage  , the Temple incumbents or  the Basnayake Nilames  the so called sentinels of Buddhist temples and their assets creeping through the crossed legs of the deities to rob temple assets springs  no great surprise . 

Be that as it may, but  the raging question now raised by the helpless  and hapless masses of the country is : what steps is  the government of good governance with all its initial grandiose and grandiloquent claims that it will stamp out corruption , crooks and criminals going to take, to stand by its grand  promises to the people . Of course , the government of good governance may not have made promises (broken or otherwise) to deities , yet can it just stand idle and watch all these crimes committed by these Basnayake Nilames against the silent , inarticulate deities who cannot stage voluble protests against these rascals and scoundrels.

May we remind, not only the masses even the inarticulate deities are watching intently as to what measures the government of good governance which made solemn promises and pledges to live up to its name and hopes of the people  going to take . Is it going to take the side of the daylight robbers , or at least from now on take the side of the deities and the people? Going by the latest unsavory and shameless  trends of blatantly and brazenly protecting proven criminals and crooks, with state patronage , much response cannot be expected from the government is the conviction of the people.  

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by     (2015-06-20 11:42:34)

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  1 discussion on this news

Whilst the laymen who masquerade as custodians of these dewale's are robbing the wealth from from under the very noses of the deities, I wonder whether the average person with an iota of brain still worship these dewales. This is a classic case of the nilame's robbing the temples which had gone on unhindered with the help of politicians. They will soon ask people to gift more gold to the deities to ward off the evil spirits that roam the countryside. The wonder is that people will still come forward with donations of gold. I think they should legislate that only flowers, scented oils and incence should be offered and not money and gold. If they can do this the clamour to get in to these nilame posts will disappear and non-political, releigious people can be appointed. Registration of assets should be another measuure that needs to be undertaken.
-- by N. Mithra on 2015-06-21

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