[CITIZENS' Mail - (06-08-2018)] | Daily News

[CITIZENS' Mail - (06-08-2018)]

Galle grandeur nothing new

This is with reference to your news item about shifting of the Galle stadium.

The tsunami did not affect the stadium much as it was buffered by the ramparts of the fort. The esplanade existed during the British times. It was then racing grounds, and not many people today will know that there was an oval-shaped governor’s pavilion which existed till the forties. The racing ground was shifted to Boossa and the esplanade functioned as a sporting ground, it is the only ground for the entire town. Cricket, football, athletics and even parades were held there. All schools used it for sporting activities. International cricket matches were played even then.

Coming from Colombo by road and passing the railway station, one is taken up by the green expanse of the ground and the ramparts.

The esplanade existed even before the UNESCO came into being and I do not think that we should bend backwards to appease them.

Let them take it off the world heritage list but we will have the grounds as we had it all this time.

I have a hunch that since we are following the Singapore example, it will not be wrong before high rise buildings come upon the ground, once it is removed another place and changed the old world completion of the town completely.

Dr. Chandra Weeraratne

Ratmalana


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