By R.P. Gunawardane –

Prof R.P. Gunawardane

Our most beautiful and the biggest university campus in the country is almost destroyed by this natural disaster. It is extremely hard to witness this colossal damage done by this powerful storm followed by extensive floods. It is the responsibility of the government to give utmost priority to restore the campus to original or better status while also giving priority to restore the lives of the people who were seriously affected.

University of Peradeniya, formerly University of Ceylon, Peradeniya completed its golden jubilee a few years ago. It has never lost its “Utopia” and remains the largest most beautiful and the prestigious university campus in this country with international reputation. It is therefore the duty of the current government to give utmost priority to restore and further develop this prestigious institution to serve current and future generations.

It is extremely sad to witness the colossal damage done by this natural disaster to academic buildings and infrastructure in our beautiful campus in particular to the Faculties of Management, Agriculture and Veterinary Sciences and Information Technology Center and the beautiful well-maintained campus premises.

The gymnasium and some halls of residences are also badly damaged. Open air theatre near Hilda Hall (commonly called Wala -means hole) and the Lovers Lane are also seriously affected. Internal roads within the campus and nicely arranged footpaths near the Main Library, Arts Theatre, Gymnasium and elsewhere are also destroyed.

One of the new features of the Peradeniya campus namely Information Technology Center was destroyed with most of its instrumentation. I was personally instrumental in approving funds for the establishment of the Information Technology Center at Peradeniya when I was serving as the Secretary to the Ministry of Education and Higher Education about 25 years ago. In fact, that building with equipment was declared open by me in the year 2000.

The Openair Theater near Hilda Hall was also badly affected. It should be renovated to the highest level with all the modern facilities and an upgraded drainage system to avoid any future floods in this area. Like in the past regular drama festivals should be held in the theatre by inviting famous drama teams, actors, singers and similar entertaining groups. These events should be open to general public.

It has been observed that some beautiful large trees with a number of extended branches at a lower level are damaged or partly destroyed. These trees in the campus need immediate attention by the botanist to restore them if possible. In addition, the playground, tennis court and cricket grounds along the Galaha Road were flooded and extensively damaged. These need immediate attention to restore to their original state or better.

Tourism should also be promoted in the campus since it is close to Botanical Gardens. Peradeniya Campus will be an attractive location for tourism in the Kandy area.

Rehabilitation of Lovers Lane and extending it beyond the current location along the Mahaweli bank also should be given highest priority in the renovation. This extension may cover the area starting near the Senate building up to a point near the Peradeniya bridge creating a stable foot path/ walking path along the bank of Mahaweli with nice Bamboo bushes around.

Similarly Upper Hantana area also could be developed creating additional stable and safe footpaths. Plans should be prepared for all these projects by consulting relevant experts in the NBRO, experts in the Faculty of Engineering and the Department of Geology of the university.

The whole road network in the campus should be renovated and widened with a proper central drainage system and safe pavements.

For all these restoration work funding should be allocated and released expeditiously from the treasury direct to University of Peradeniya bypassing the UGC.  To oversee the expedited restoration, the Vice Chancellor should appoint a joint sub-committee consisting of Senate and Council members with all the powers to oversee the expedited restoration process.

Such a procedure and mechanism will certainly expedite this urgent and extremely important process to complete soon with success without further affecting and delaying academic programs and research activities in the campus.