I feel greatly pleased in making into reality the long felt aspiration of hosting a web site for the Municipal Council Batticaloa during my tenure of Mayor- ship, with the support of the members and staff of the Council.

The Batticaloa Municipal Council was functioning without the elected representatives of the people after 1999, due to the prolonged war and political instability in the North and Eastern parts of the country for the past few decades or so. The Council was reactivated in March 2008 with the elected representatives of the people under the new leadership emerged in the Eastern province consequent to the re-establishment of democracy guided by His Excellency the President, Mr. Mahinda Rajapakse. The establishment of this website coinciding with the anniversary celebrations of this beneficial transition is considered as a prelude for the future developments of the City.
This website will bring to the knowledge of the world community of our historical eminence, cultural heritage, natural resources, the beauty of the lake and sea, spectacularly located side by side, one of its kind in the world, basic requirements for development and potentials for investment.

The existence of a high standard Civilization and cultural heritage in Batticaloa from time immemorial, even before “Ravana”, the mighty Tamil king, were recorded in the ancient Mythological histories known as “Ramayana” and “Maha Baratha”. The arrival of “Rama”, an Aryan king from Indian subcontinent, was connected with the history of “Mamangam” temple and the introduction of “Throupathai amman” worship in the 14th century by the “King Magon” are also known from the books “Maddakkalappu Maniyam”, “Maddakkalappu Varalaru” and stories handed down through generations. The history of the “Dutch Fort” the central attraction of Batticaloa City is also dates back to the reign of King “Suhathiran” in 15th century whose dignitary “Puliyamaran” built a brick fort. The name “Puliyantivu” which denotes the part of the city is also a proof to that story. The destruction of this fort by Portuguese who rebuilt it with clay in 1622 and subsequent renovation by the Dutch in 1638 are part of the present history.

The distinct feature of Batticaloa “The singing Fish” was proved to be a fact not a myth, by the recording of the musical notes by Rev. Fathers of St.Michaels College, Rv.Fr.Lang, SJ and Rev.Fr.Morgan, SJ in the year 1954.

I strongly believe that this website will serve as an efficient tool to bring the heritage of the Batticaloa City to the knowledge of the international community and to permanently preserve the History, art and culture of Batticaloa in addition to serving as a trove of information to the Central Government, Eastern Provincial Council, Other potential Donor Countries, Organizations and individuals. Also it will serve to encourage tourism and future development activities of the City.

I take this opportunity to extend my special thanks to the Federation of Canadian Municipalities and its local representatives for the provision of financial assistance all others who helped in many ways to host this website and invite their ideas and suggestions to improve the quality and wish wholeheartedly for the future development of this site.