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We have conducted a fact-finding investigation into the circulating posts stating that donations can be made for the special exhibition which is to be held on the Tooth Relic at the Dalada Maligawa from April 18 to 27 and those who provide financial assistance can have them to be deposited into a bank account.
Social media posts:
A post was shared through social media including bank account details, mentioning that those who wish to donate money for the Sri Dalada Maligawa Exhibition could transfer their donations to the given bank account.
The statement that was published with the post is as follows.
“Invitation to all the Sri Lankans around the world to contribute to this great cause and accumulate great merit. As the Tooth Relic exhibition is being held after 16 years, and the UGSLO has made plans to provide 50 toilets and restrooms, 5 bag security centers, and other community services for the millions of people who will come to benefit from it, we respectfully request that financial contributions to this noble cause be credited to the account number below.”
(“ලෝකයේ විසිරි පැතිරී සිටින සියලුම ශ්රී ලාංකිකයන්ට ආරාධනා කරනව මෙම මහඟු කටයුත්තට දායකත්වය දක්වල උතුම් පින් රැස්කරගන්න කියල. ශ්රී දන්ත දාතු ප්‍රදර්ශනය අවුරුදු 16 පසුව වීමත් එය වැදපුදා ගන්න පැමිනෙන දසලක්ෂ ගානක් අභින්සක ජනතාවට UGSLO මගින් කැසිකිලි හා වැසිකිලි පද්දති 50ක් ඒ වගේම බෑග් සුරකුම් මධ්‍යස්ථාන 5ක් වගේම තවත් ප්‍රජා සත්කාර කරන්න සැලසුම් සකස් කර ඇති හෙයින් මෙම සත් ක්‍රියාවට මූල්‍යමය දායකත්වය පහත ගිණුම් අංකයට බැරකරන ලෙස ඉතා ගෞරවයෙන් ඉල්ලමු.”)
Here is how we did a fact check regarding this, to check the credibility of this message.
Fact-Check:
Upon our check we could see that the mainstream media had also reported on the fake news regarding the special exhibition on the Tooth Relic shared through social media.
The news reported that the shared information that anyone can donate money to the exhibition that is going to be held after 16 years is fake. The basis for this has been the official information provided on the official Facebook page of the Sri Dalada Maligawa.
You can refer to those news here and here.
The mainstream media has also reported regarding that through their official Facebook pages.
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Official Facebook page of Sri Dalada Maligawa
The official Facebook page of the Sri Dalada Maligawa has issued an official statement regarding this post, stating that it is completely fake.
They have stated that all the necessary facilities for the rituals at the Sri Dalada Maligawa have been provided by the government and the Sri Dalada Maligawa and that they have not entrusted any individual, group, or organization for their fundraising activities.
Also, they confirmed that the circulating social media post is false, when we inquired them.
Since the social media post states that an organization called United Global Sri Lanka Organization (UGSLO) is collecting funds to provide necessary facilities to the people visiting the exhibition of the Sacred Tooth Relic, we checked the official Facebook account of that organization.
The announcement regarding this collection of funds was still up on their official Facebook page this morning, but it has now been removed.
However, the organization has issued a statement in all three languages, Sinhala, English and Tamil, stating that there was a miscommunication on the part of their organization. They have issued a statement apologizing for this.
Upon checking the Facebook account of this, UGSLO organization, it was revealed that the chairman of this organization is social media activist Sudaththa Thilakasiri.
Therefore, we were also able to see that there was a lot of discussion on social media regarding this advertisement.
The social media account ‘Apple Kade Nuwan’, which had posted this announcement with bank account details, had initially tagged Sudaththa Thilakasiri’s Facebook account, but the tagging was later removed. The post posted by Apple Kade Nuwan has also now been removed.
The original post, where Sudaththa Thilakasiri was tagged, reads as follows.
Sudaththa Thilakasiri had also shared this advertisement on his Facebook account, but is has now been removed.
We attempted to contact Sudaththa Thilakasiri to inquire about this matter, but we were unable to reach him.
Exhibition of the Sacred Tooth Relic to be held after 16 years.
Arrangements have been made to commence the Tooth Relic Exhibition, which is scheduled to be held after 16 years, on the 18th of April.
Speaking to the media following a special discussion held at the Presidential Secretarial in Kandy on the 2nd, under the patronage of President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, Mr. Pradeep Nilanga Dela mentioned,
“The event titled, “Sri Dalada Dakma” (“සිරි දළදා දැක්ම”), will be held at the historic Sri Dalada Maligaya premises for 10 days. The exhibition will begin at 3pm on the opening day and will conclude at 5.30 pm.
Thereafter, arrangements have been made to hold the event from 12 noon to 5.30 pm from the 19th to the 27th.
Meanwhile, the Diyawadana Nilame said that two ‘Dansal’ will be held every night for the devotes who come to see the exhibition, and that it is planned to provide food to 30,000 people.
He also stated that it has been decided not to issue any special permits for this year’s exhibition.
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Conclusion:
Our investigation reveals that the social media post circulating stating that donations can be made for the special exhibition of the Sacred Tooth Relic and that those who donate money can deposit money into a bank account, is a false news.
A statement has been issued from the Sri Dalada Maligawa stating that all the necessary fundings for the “Sri Dalada Wandanawa”, are being provided by the Dalada Maligawa and the government and that they have not entrusted any third-party individual, group or organization to raise funds.
Title:Will money be collected from the public for the special exhibition of the Tooth Relic?
Written By: Fact Crescendo TeamResult: False
