By Dr. Ranjith Premasiri, Secretary General, IGSL
Address made at the 30th AGM of the GSSL
Ladies and Gentlemen, Good evening!
Professor Rajiva Wijesinha, Honourable Member of Parliament, and today’s chief guest. Distinguished invitees, guests, heads of the institutes, members of the head table, senior geologists and dear colleagues, It gives me great pleasure to address this distinguished gathering on this very important occasion. This is a historical milestone on our long way. Geologists have been serving this country for over a century and the history goes back to early 20th Century. Our great geologist and mineralogist Dr. Ananda Coomaraswamy is the pioneering geologist who did tremendous work. Since then, geologists have continued to do their duty by the nation. However, the geological community in Sri Lanka was small until nineteen seventies, but they played a very important role in the country; discovering several mineral deposits, carrying out geological mapping of the country and also being involved in many hydropower projects. The geological community expanded dramatically in the nineteen eighties, due to demand for geologists in many national projects in the country. Most of our senior eminent geologists are proudly present here. They have understood the necessity for having some organization to work together, exchange knowledge and popularize the geosciences and also the blessing of having recognition for the geologists. Thus resulted in the establishment of the Geological Society of Sri Lanka (GSSL) in 1983. Our most senior members must be greatly appreciated for their very important initiatives in this regard. The GSSL has been continuously growing and has done a great service to the country for over 30 years. The GSSL brings all Sri Lankan geologists onto a common floor and has organized many annual events for dissemination of knowledge, popularization of geosciences among general public and giving recognition to the geologists with many more activities. In the year 1996, GSSL was registered as a nonprofitable organization under the Registrar of Companies. Later, the executive committee of GSSL made some initiatives for the establishment of a fully-recognized institute for geologist in Sri Lanka similar to the Institute of Engineers, Institute of Chemists, Institute of Architects, etc. Then a brief constitution was drafted with the help of very senior experienced geologists in the country. However this process has continued for several years. In 2009, the executive committee of the GSSL decided to take action and to establish the IGSL. And, executive committee of the GSSL appointed a Care Taker council and called for applications for membership. They also drafted the IGSL bill and rules. The first AGM of IGSL was held on 6th November 2009 at the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute (SLFI) in Colombo and the first council for the institute was appointed. The main task of the council was to incorporate the IGSL through a Parliamentary Act to get legal recognition. The IGSL Act had to be submitted to the Parliament according the Standing Order No. 48 of the Parliament as a Private bill. Then we need an honourable member of parliament to make the submission. As you can remember, the parliament was so busy in early 2010 and there were many elections and the parliament was dissolved. Thus we had to wait for the new parliament. Dear Sir, Professor Rajiva Wijesinha, we were so lucky that you became a Member of Parliament. The council unanimously decided to make the request to you for the submission of our bill. I am indeed pleased to report that Professor Rajiva Wijesinha, Hon MP, kindly accepted our request and made all arrangements for submission of the bill to parliament without any hesitation. On the 27th August 2010, we were able to notice the relevant bill in the newspapers and the gazette. Then, the bill was tabled in the parliament on 15th November 2010. Subsequently, the draft bill was redrafted by Legal Draftsmen and it was referred to the Ministry of Environment for necessary clearance. Then the bill was examined by the Attorney General. After all these preliminarily activities, the bill was submitted to the cabinet for approval. Then with all comments from Cabinet subcommittee on Legislation and Senior Ministers Committee, our bill was approved by the Cabinet of Sri Lanka on 19th September 2013. As you can understand, after this lengthy process, the bill for the establishment of Institute of Geology, Sri Lanka was passed on 3rd March 2014. I am very proud to announce that the IGSL was incorporated by the Act no 03 of 2014 by the Parliament of Sri Lanka. This is not our individual effort. I would so gratefully acknowledge here that we built only the structure, but the strong foundation for the IGSL was laid by our senior eminent geologists in Sri Lanka. I greatly honour them and appreciate their contribution on behalf of the IGSL council, as its General Secretary. Finally, I am indeed happy to note here, Dear Sir, Hon MP Professor Rajiva Wijesinha, without your untiring effort and support we may not be celebrating this event today. Thank you for all who supported and encouraged us and gave their hands to build up this institute. I record our utmost gratitude to the Ministry of Environment. Dr. Ranjith Premasiri Secretary General of the IGSL Colombo, Sri Lanka