The founder Chairman of LAUGFS Holdings, Mr. W.K.H. Wegapitiya, was recently honoured with the Deshabandu title at the National Honours 2017 Ceremony. The event held at the Nelum Pokuna Theatre, bestowed honours on select distinguished Sri Lankans, for their outstanding contributions to the advancement of the nation. The ceremonious proceedings, which were held under the patronage of President Maithripala Sirisena, was marked by a large gathering to celebrate these distinguished honours conferred to extraordinary individuals from various fields.
The Deshabandu title is bestowed in recognition of a distinguished service of a meritorious nature to Sri Lanka, and is an extremely rare lifetime national honour, held by not more than 150 living title holders at any given time. It is conferred with a citation, and a Silver Medal with a symbol of a peacock, and is a highly prestigious honour to receive during the lifetime of a Sri Lankan. This year’s National Honours ceremony was held after 12 years, and only 89 outstanding individuals were conferred with honours at the ceremony.
