Old Theldeniya town resurfaces; Unknown group digging at ancient sites

COLOMBO (News 1st); The old Theldeniya Town and several other ancient sites have resurfaced after water levels of the Victoria Reservoir dropped over the past few days due to arid weather.

The ancient Kandy - Mahinyanganaya Road, the Old Theldeniya Town as well as multiple cluster villages have resurfaced from the depths of the reservoir.

According to reports, large crowds are making their way to the location to witness the rare spectacle.

However, reports also suggest that a group has been engaged in excavations in these sites without any authorization.

Venerable Thalpotha Dhammajothi Thero, a local monk alleged that large holes have been dug up by this group, adding there is a serious concern as to what they are looking for, especially at the ancient Theldeniya Town.

The Duty Engineer of the Victoria Reservoir told News 1st that permission was not granted to anyone to conduct any sort of excavation or test at the premises.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvE5z37wJmE&t=2s About 7000 acres of land, consisting towns, villages, and agricultural land along with all the buildings including places of worship and bridges were gradually submerged with the opening of the Victoria reservoir on the 12 April of 1985. Teldeniya was one of the larger towns which went underwater along with this mega project. Teldeniya town has emerged from its watery grave twice in the last 30+ years during 2 dry seasons when the water level of Victoria Reservoir dropped to extremely low levels, the last time being 2017. The ghost town was complete with partially destroyed buildings, religious places but the road network and the bridges were surprisingly intact. Especially the old iron bridge built over Hulu Ganga which flowed through Teldeniya town is remarkably well preserved even after being underwater for 30 years.