Gangaramaya Temple Wesak Zone
Background
Wesak is the main religious festival of Buddhists in Sri Lanka. Each year, the head priest of the Gangaramaya Temple and a private media station Sirasa, organize two Wesak zones.[2][3]
Gangarama Wesak Zone, conducted at the heart of Colombo, consists of illuminating the surrounding buildings with lights and an exhibition zone displaying Wesak Lanterns made by different individuals and institutions including schools (Image 1). In 2017 and 2018, it was conducted in collaboration with the Prime Minister’s Office.[4][5]
Links to the Tobacco Industry
- 2013 - Independence Television Network (ITN), one of the two state media stations in Sri Lanka, reported that Dinesh Dharmadasa who is the corporate and regulatory affairs director of CTC, donated money to the Gangarama Wesak zone. Rev Kirinde Assaji Thero, in his thanking speech, highlighted the sponsorship given by the Ceylon tobacco company director Dinesh Dharmadasa.[6][7]
- 2017 - Arunadisi Traders Private Limited and Kurunegala Merchants Private Limited were mentioned on the list of sponsors of the Gangarama Wesak Zone 2017 in the newspaper advertisement (Image 2). They are the designated distributors of Ceylon Tobacco Company PLC (CTC) for Colombo and Northern areas of the island respectively.[4][8][9]
Image 2: Newspaper advertisement on Gangaramaya Wesak zone 2017[4]
- 2018 - Kurunegala Merchants Private Limited was on the list of sponsors of the Gangarama Wesak Zone 2018 as mentioned in the relevant newspaper advertisement (Image 3). They are the designated (or official?) distributor of Ceylon Tobacco Company PLC (CTC) for the Northern area of the island.[5][9]
Image 3: Newspaper advertisement on Gangaramaya Wesak zone 2018[5]
Gangaramaya Temple also collaborated with the Ceylon Tobacco Company PLC (CTC) in one of their Sustainable Agriculture Development Projects (SADP), Na Sevana Community Development Project.
TobaccoUnmasked Resources
Other relevant TobaccoUnmasked pages
- Ceylon Tobacco Company PLC (CTC)
- Sustainable Agriculture Development Programme (SADP)
- Na Sevana Community Development Project
- Arunadisi Traders Private Limited
The local language translations
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Notes
- ↑ Pinterest. Gangarama Beira Lake at Vesak Festival at night, undated, accessed January 2017
- ↑ Sirasa TV. Sirasanamami Vesak Kalapaya, 03 May 2015, accessed March 2017
- ↑ GossipFirstGallery. Gangarama Wesak Kalapaya, 03 May 2015, accessed March 2017
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Buddha Rashmi Organizing Committee. Jaathika Wesak Mangalya 2017: Punyanumodana, Lankadeepa, 17 May 2017
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Buddha Rashmi Organizing Committee. Jaathika Wesak Mangalya 2018: Punyanumodana, Lankadeepa, 04 May 2018
- ↑ Ceylon Tobacco Company PLC. CTC Annual Report 2014, 2015, accessed March 2017
- ↑ D Dharmadasa, LinkedIn Profile, Undated, accessed March 2017
- ↑ Ceylon Tobacco Company PLC. Annual Report 2016, 2017, accessed May 2017
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Ceylon Tobacco Company PLC. Annual Report 2014, 2015, accessed May 2017
