Polonnaruwa District

This article is about the district in Sri Lanka. For the town, see Polonnaruwa.

Polonnaruwa District (Sinhala: පොළොන්නරුව දිස්ත්‍රික්කය; Tamil: பொலன்னறுவை மாவட்டம்) is one of the 25 districts of Sri Lanka, the second level administrative division of the country. It is also one of the two districts of North Central Province and has an area of 3,293 km².^[7]

Polonnaruwa District පොළොන්නරුව දිස්ත්‍රික්කය பொலன்னறுவை மாவட்டம்
Administrative District
Map of Sri Lanka with Polonnaruwa District highlighted
Coordinates: 8°00′N 81°00′E
Country	Sri Lanka
Province	North Central Province
Largest Town	Polonnaruwa
DS Division[1]	List Dimbulagala Elahera Hingurakgoda Lankapura Medirigiriya Thamankaduwa Welikanda
Government
• District Secretary	W. A. Dharmasiri
• MPs	List Maithripala Sirisena Roshan Ranasinghe Siripala Gamalath Amarakeerthi Athukorala Kins Nelson
• MPCs[2]	List Peshala Jayarathne H.B. Semasinghe K.H. Nandasena R.M.P.B. Rathnayake S.M. Ranjith
Area [3]
• Total	3,293 km2 (1,271 sq mi)
• Land	3,077 km2 (1,188 sq mi)
• Water	216 km2 (83 sq mi)  6.55%
• Rank	5th (5.01% of total area)
Population  (2012)[4]
• Total	403,335
• Density	120/km2 (320/sq mi)
Ethnicity [5]
• Sinhalese	365,476 (90.6%)
• Moors	29,060 (7.2%)
• Sri Lankan Tamil	7,356 (1.8%)
• Indian Tamil	1,190 (0.3%)
• Other	253 (0.06%)
Religion [6]
• Buddhist	361,920 (89.7%)
• Muslim	30,427 (7.5%)
• Hindu	6,835 (1.7%)
• Christian	4,090 (1.00%)
• Other	63 (0.01%)
Time zone	UTC+05:30 (Sri Lanka)
Post Codes	51000
Telephone Codes	027
ISO 3166 code	LK-72
Vehicle registration	NC
Official Languages	Sinhala, Tamil

The district is administered by a District Secretariat headed by a District Secretary (previously known as a Government Agent) appointed by the central government of Sri Lanka. The capital of the district is the city of Polonnaruwa.

Administrative Units

DS Division	Main Town	Divisional Secretary	GN Divisions	Area (km2)	Population
Thamankaduwa	Polonnaruwa	Mr.H.S.K.J Bandara	55	468.78	94254
Hingurakgoda	Hingurakgoda	Mr.H.S.K.J Bandara(Acting)	53	709.04	77202
Medirigiriya	Medirigiriya	Mr.W.M.I Karunarathne	45	574.04	78654
Lankapura	Thalpotha	Miss.R.W.R.M.C Ranawarna	27	184	43365
Welikanda	Welikanda	Mrs.M.M Hairunnisha	29	548	42700
Dimbulagala	Manampitiya	Mr.P.T.M Irfan	56	581.83	95807
Elahera	Bakamuna	Mr.C.M Karunarathne	28	227.31	49924

Demographics

Ethnicity

The majority of the population are Sinhalese with a minority Sri Lankan Moor and Sri Lankan Tamil population.^[8]

Ethnicity in Polonnaruwa District[9]
Population			Percent
Sinhalese			90.6%
Sri Lankan Moor			7.2%
Sri Lankan Tamil			1.8%
Indian Tamils			0.3%

Religion

Religion in Polonnaruwa District (2011)[10]
Population			Percent
Buddhism			89.7%
Islam			7.5%
Hinduism			1.7%
Christianity			1.0%

According to the 2011 census^[10] 89.7% of the population were Buddhists, 7.5% Muslim, 1.7% Hindu and 1% Christian.

Politics and government

Local government

Local Authority	Registered Electors	Elected Members
		SLPP	SLFP	UNP	JVP	Other	Total
Dimbulagala Divisional Council	64142	7	7	6	1	0	21
Elahera Divisional Council	36567	9	4	4	0	1	18
Hingurakgoda Divisional Council	50546	13	10	8	2	0	33
Lankapura Divisional Council	28369	6	8	7	1	2	24
Medirigiriya Divisional Council	52530	14	9	9	2	0	34
Polonnaruwa Divisional Council	38459	5	8	3	1	0	17
Polonnaruwa Municipal Council	24809	3	5	2	1	0	11
Welikanda Divisional Council	21182	5	6	5	0	0	16
Total	316604	62	57	44	8	3	174

Education

Following are some of the schools in the Polonnaruwa District.

• Royal Central College, Polonnaruwa
• Thopawewa National School, Polonnaruwa
• Polonnaruwa Muslim Central College,Kaduruwela
• Ananda Balika National School, Hingurakgoda
• Minneriya National School, Minneriya
• Medirigiriya National School, Medirigiriya
• Diulankadawala Central College, Diulankadawala
• Mahasen National School, Bakamuna
• Vilayaya Nationala School, Aralaganwila
• Polonnaruwa Sungavil Muslim Maha Vidyalaya
• PL/Onegama Muslim Kanista Vidayala

Towns

• Kaduruwela
• Hingurakgoda
• Minneriya
• Bakamuna
• Aralaganwila
• Medirigiriya
• Giritale
• Elahera
• Jayantipura
• Galamuna
• Lankapura
• Sungavila
• Manampitiya
• Siripura
• Welikanda
• Dimbulagala
• Thambala
• Pulastigama