Santosh Jha, the High Commissioner of India, and the relevant Sri Lankan officials on March 21 exchanged letters about the grant to the island nation.
| Photo Credit: ANI

“India has signed an additional grant of Sri Lanka Rupees (SLR) 150 million to build houses and infrastructure facilities in the Buddhist sacred town of Anuradhapura,” the Indian High Commission has said.

Santosh Jha, the High Commissioner of India, and the relevant Sri Lankan officials on March 21 exchanged letters about the grant to the island nation.

With this, the Indian government’s total commitment to the project currently stands at SLR 450 million for the construction of houses and infrastructure facilities in Sobitha Thero village of Anuradhapura.

The late Sobhitha Thero was an iconic Buddhist monk in the island nation’s good governance movement.

“Responding to the drastic changes in the economic landscape of Sri Lanka, the Government of India decided to infuse additional funds into nine ongoing grant projects to expeditiously complete these projects, while also minimising the impact of the sharp rise in the cost of construction materials on the original scope of projects. The extent of additional funds is up to 50% of the original commitment by GOI in each of the nine projects,” the Indian High Commission said.

Representational image only.

“Two Indian Coast Guard ships arrived at the port of Galle in Sri Lanka for a formal visit to facilitate professional exchanges and conduct joint training exercises,” the Indian mission in Colombo said.

“The Indian Coast Guard ship Samarth, an Offshore Patrol Vessel, and Abhinav, a Fast Patrol Vessel, arrived at the southern port on February 27,” the Indian High Commission said. The ships will visit Colombo from March 2 to 5 before departing the island nation.

“@IndiaCoastGuard Ship Samarth and Abhinav enter #Galle harbour today on a goodwill visit to #SriLanka. Visit of #ICG ships will facilitate professional exchanges & joint exercises with the Sri Lanka Coast Guard, i.a.w ICG-SLCG MoU,” the Indian Coast Guard said in a post on X.

The Commanding Officers of the Indian Coast Guard ships, Deputy Inspector General P. Pradeep Kumar and Commandant (JG) Prabhat Kumar, will call on the Director General of the Sri Lanka Coast Guard and other senior officers during their visit.

“During the stay, the ships will undertake training for Sri Lanka Coast Guard on VBSS (Visit, board, search, and seizure), Fire Fighting and Damage Control, Maritime Pollution Response and hold few other professional interactions,” the press release said.

“Further, activities such as yoga, beach cleaning and walkathon will also be held during the visit. In addition, Passage Exercise (PASSEX) will be conducted with Sri Lanka Coast Guard ship, on departure, off Galle and Colombo,” it said.

The ships will also be open for visits by school children to further the people-to-people connection and awareness about the Indian Coast Guard and its capability.

In the past few months, Indian Naval ships and submarines Kora, Kabra and Karanj visited Colombo.

“Visits by Indian Navy and Coast Guard vessels to Sri Lanka aim to enhance camaraderie and interoperability between the two friendly neighbouring Navies, which is in keeping with India’s SAGAR (Security and Growth for All in the Region) doctrine and ‘Neighbourhood First’ policy,” the High Commission said.