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Pilgrims’ rest in India: Controversy over Ravi’s move
Foreign Minister Ravi Karunanayake neither contacted his Cabinet colleague Justice and Buddha Sasana Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe nor the Sri Lanka High Commission in New Delhi, before presenting his proposal to the Cabinet this week to transfer the Buddhist Pilgrims Rest, now under the management of the Sri Lanka High Commission in the Indian capital to two Sri Lankan monks.
This was despite Minister Rajapakshe having obtained Cabinet approval earlier in November last year to establish a Trust under the Buddha Sasana Ministry, with himself as a member to manage the property. The Sri Lanka High Commissioner was also to be a Trustee.
Both, Minister Rajapakshe and Sri Lanka High Commissioner Chitrangani Wagiswara, told the Sunday Times, they had not been consulted on the matter prior to Minister Karunanayake submitting his proposal to hand over the management of the Pilgrims Rest — situated opposite the Delhi Railway station — to the two monks, one of whom the Minister had appointed to the Board of Directors of Lanka Hospital (former Apollo), when he was Finance Minister.
However, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson told the Sunday Times that Minister Rajapakshe, in a letter to the ministry earlier this month, had objected to Minister Karunanayake’s proposal to hand over the management of the Pilgrims Rest to the two Sri Lankan monks and in fact, referred to his Cabinet proposal of November last year. “So, how can Minister Rajapakshe say he was not consulted?” she asked.
She went on to say that Minister Karunanayake’s proposal states that the Cabinet decision of November 2016 is still “being processed” by the Buddha Sasana Ministry, and the Trust has not been established or registered, as far as they were aware.
According to the Buddha Sasana Minister’s Cabinet paper, the other Trustees were to be nominees of the President, the Prime Minister and the Secretary to his ministry. Asked specifically, if he was not consulted, Minister Rajapakshe said he was not consulted over his colleague’s Cabinet paper submitted this week, which the President had rejected. Ms Wagiswara told the Sunday Times that she had consulted the monk in charge of the Pilgrims Rest, who said complaints about mismanagement were bogus.
However, both Ministers Rajapakshe and Karunanayake, in their arguments for taking over the management of the Pilgrims Rest, have stated the place was mismanaged and used for purposes other than for what it was established.
The Indian govt handed over this property in 1958 to the Govt of Sri Lanka (GoSL), to house Sri Lankan Buddhist pilgrims visiting India. In 1969, the GoSL built the Pilgrims Rest. It was initially managed by the Maha Bodhi Society of Sri Lanka and later handed over to the SLHC in India, for its management.
Since direct flights commenced from Colombo to Buddhist sites such as Buddha Gaya, Saranath etc., fewer pilgrims now need to travel through New Delhi.