Vedda Chief Uruwarigelage Vanniyale said he preferred his life in the jungle to town comforts and that he even used the vehicle issued to him by the government only for the purposes of his community.
“As the leader of a clan of more than 500,000 people, I must have a vehicle. However this ramshackle vehicle given to me by the Mahiyangana Divisional Secretariat gives
trouble often. So, I feel like roaming in the jungle looking into the needs of my clan as in the past. The divisional secretariat issued me the vehicle on the directive of President Mahinda Rajapaksa. I use it only for trips involving social, cultural and welfare activities of my clan. I will never consider it a prestige to own a vehicle. However it is an ordeal to travel in this vehicle,” he said.
