The money received by the Archaeological Department from USAID in 2014, had been handed over to the History and Archaeology Unit of the Sri Jayawardenapura University.
During that period Professor Alexander Kapukotuwa and Professor Mandawela were in charge of the History and Archaeology Unit of the Sri Jayawardenapura University.
While the two above mentioned professors had been accused of misappropriation of funds allocated for excavation and preservation activities, the Chancellor Professor Karunaratne had taken over the funds allocated for the excavation and preservation activities of the Ampara Ancient Rajagalatenna site.
1500 bags of Cement
It is reported that 1500 bags of cement had been purchased for the construction of a staircase for the proposed excavation and preservation site at Rajagalatenna.
In addition, 50 ‘Na’ trees had been felled in the Rajagalatenna area for the construction of a wooden stairway.
However despite the purchasing of the cement bags and the cutting of 50 trees, no cement stairway nor wooden bridge has been constructed on the site premises.
According to Archaeological Department internal sources, there is no account of what happened to $ 500,000 that was donated by USAID for the Rajagalatenna project.
Rajagalatenna in Ampra is considered one of the world’s most ancient archaeological sites. Eighty ancient inscriptions have been recovered from this site including cave scriptures, tablets and various other scriptures.
Of the discoveries made so far, the most outstanding was the discovery of a 2,000 year old scripture. It has also been discovered that there are around 700 archaeological monuments in the vicinity of the Rajagalatenna site.
Several attempts to contact the Chancellor of the Sri Jayawardenapura University Professor N.L.A. Karunaratne, in order to verify these allegations, proved futile.
