Harvesting in the Army-sown paddy fields that cover 12 acres in extent, near Sri Jayawardenepura Army HQ took place recently.
Army Commander Lieutenant General Shavendra Silva graced the harvesting ceremony, ‘Ran Aswanu Neleeme Mangallaya’ at the premises and Witness splendid Harvest , together with a few Senior Officers and Other Ranks.
‘Thuru Mithuru -Nawa Ratak’ project saw its birth on 30 December 2019 with inauguration of planting of 170 Araliya saplings along both sideways of the road that runs through the new Army HQ under the Phase 1 of the project covering a distance of about 1.7 km.
The Phase 2 of the project began on 14 January 2020 by ploughing this 12-acre patch of unattended paddy-fields, found ideal for paddy sowing and also by planting 140 more saplings of Mee, Kobonila, Karanda, etc along the same road.
Troops with the help of heavy machinery turned the arid soil, dug a reservoir that collects rainy water, prepared waterways and beds for seedlings before the rare BG 252 red samba seed paddy was shown on 24 January 2020 to match with the season.
During the same programme under the Phase 3, installation of several community-related PT accessories in four places, planting of 100 coconut seedlings, release of 20,000 fish fingerlings to the Army-dug reservoir and beautification of the whole surroundings took place while inaugurating walk-path facilities to the public.
