President Gotabaya Rajapaksa during his visit to Meemure as part of the ‘Gama Samaga Pilisandara’ Discussions with the Village” stated that the rural village holds much potential to attract tourists and that infrastructure and facilities must be upgraded to meet those increasing needs.
Speaking to locals and officials who gathered during this tour, the President asked that facilities required to attract tourists to the area including the opening of adventure water sports, mountaineering, and identification of other tourist attractions must be identified and implemented. This he said will inversely assist in job creation allowing for more locals to enter the tourism industry. He called on state banks to provide ATM facilities as well.
He made this observation while participating in the meeting held at the Meemure Primary school in the Ududumbara Divisional Secretariat on Saturday (13).
The President also opened the ‘Smart Classroom’ equipped with computers donated by Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT) Mobitel to Kaikawala Primary School. The computers donated by the SLT Mobitel for Meemure Junior school and televisions and internet connections donated by Dialog Axiata were also handed over to the school by the President.
The “Discussion with the Village” programme commenced on September 25, 2020 from the Badulla district. Thereafter programmes were organised covering Matale, Ratnapura, Anuradhapura, Ampara, Polonnaruwa, Kalutara, Moneragala and Kegalle districts.
The idea behind this programme is for President to speak with rural communities living in remote and difficult areas without intermediaries about their longstanding unresolved problems and to present them directly to officials for solutions. Problems that can be solved on the spot are instantly addressed. The rest which take time to deal with are noted down to find solutions later. The objective of the programme is to reach out to the people of the villages, understand their problems and find solutions through their own suggestions.