Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa has launched a project to build a life-size statue of the killed tusker Kavantissa, together with an elephant research facility and library, on land at Ambanpola belonging to the late President R. Premadasa.
The statue will commemorate the tusker that lived in the Siyambalangamuwa tank reserve, Hiru News reported at 8:59 a.m. Colombo time on Sunday.
Where it will stand, and why there
The site is an estate at Kahambiliyawetiyawatta, Ambanpola, which belonged to the Opposition Leader’s father, the late President R. Premadasa. The filing’s stated reason for the location is proximity: the land sits very close to the area frequented by the Kahalla–Pallekele elephant herd, of which Kavantissa was part.
Alongside the statue, the allocated land is to carry a research facility and a library. The project’s stated purposes are to establish a centre for practical measures to reduce and resolve human–elephant conflict, to promote scientific research, and to advance the conservation of tuskers and elephants for the benefit of present and future generations of Sri Lankans.
The programme is to be implemented by the Kavantissa Elephant Protection Task Force, chaired by Premadasa, who is also co-chair of the Sri Lanka Parliamentary Forum on Climate.
A note on the name of the body
This desk recorded the formation of a Kavantissa Elephant Protection Organisation on 19 October, launched after a meeting at the Opposition Leader’s Office with civil society and conservation representatives, with the stated aims of investigating Kavantissa’s killing and protecting the elephant population.
Sunday’s filing calls the implementing body a task force. Whether this is the same body under a different rendering, or a separate structure created to run the memorial project, is not stated. Readers should not assume two organisations exist on the strength of the difference in wording.
What happened to Kavantissa
Kavantissa was among the largest tuskers in Sri Lanka and was killed in October, an event that produced a sustained public reaction. Protests were held in Kandy over the killings; villagers questioned in the case alleged that confessions had been forced; a suspect, Sugeeshwara Bandara, was remanded until 11 November; and environmentalists laid responsibility on ministers. Premadasa had earlier called for foreign experts to assist with the post-mortem.
The image Hiru carried with Sunday’s filing shows Premadasa standing with hands joined beside the dead animal at the scene, among wildlife officers and a crowd behind a cordon. It was not used here: Hiru watermarks its photographs.
A translation note
Hiru’s English-language headline and URL render the project as a “living statue” of Kavantissa. The Sinhala text says ජීවමාන ප්රමාණයේ ප්රතිමාවක් — a statue of life-size proportions. Ada Derana’s headline on the same announcement also reads “life-size”. This article uses life-size, which is what the source text supports; “living statue” is a literal rendering of the first word that does not carry the meaning.
Not reported
The filing gives no cost, no funding source, no timetable and no sculptor or designer. It does not say who will operate the research facility or library, how they will be staffed or funded, or whether any state body, university or the Department of Wildlife Conservation is involved. It does not say whether the land is being donated, leased or retained in private ownership, and it records no response from the government.
Single verified source. This announcement was carried by Hiru News, a verified newsroom. Ada Derana also reported it — the Ada Derana headline is the basis for the “life-size” cross-check above — but that site has returned a CloudFront block on every fetch route for roughly fifty days, so no publication date could be extracted for it and it is not cited as a source here.
