Nearly 15,000 dansal — free roadside food and drink stalls run by devotees — have been registered across Sri Lanka for the Vesak Poya season, the Public Health Inspectors’ Union (PHIU) said on Thursday.
PHIU Secretary Chamil Muthukuda told reporters that registration remains open and that final numbers are still climbing as organisers complete paperwork ahead of the holiday. He urged dansal operators to follow proper food-safety procedures, noting that several communicable diseases have been reported in different regions in recent weeks. The PHIU was the body that pushed the dansal pre-registration requirement into formal practice, principally to track water quality, food handling and waste disposal at thousands of pop-up sites.
Vesak Poya, which falls on May 31 this year and is followed by a separate public holiday on June 1, is the most widely observed Buddhist festival in Sri Lanka, with dansal a defining feature of the islandwide celebrations. The festival sits inside the official state Vesak Festival being held from May 27 to June 2 in Matara, which is co-anchored with the Wesak United Nations Day observance, school-based Vesak-week activities and islandwide police security arrangements.
PHIU’s earlier guidance — long codified through its formal dansal registration framework — covers water-source verification, ice-cube hygiene and the handling of leftover food. The 15,000 figure is the highest disclosed PHIU registration total this cycle and gives an updated read on the scale of community catering during the Buddhist new-year moon.
Sale of meat, fish and alcohol is restricted under the gazette closing meat shops, casinos and liquor outlets between May 30 and June 1.
