India’s High Commissioner to Sri Lanka Santosh Jha on Sunday (January 28, 2024) laid the foundation stone for the construction of  King Ashoka’s Pillar of Dharma at the Rajaguru Sri Subuthi Temple in Wadduwa town.

A tweet posted on the official Indian High Commission page read: "Reinforcement of the deep cultural connect! HC @santjha laid the Foundation Stone for the construction of King Ashoka's Pillar of Dharma at the sacred RajaGuru Sri Subuthi Waskaduwa Maha Viharaya. He also paid his respects at the sacred Kapilavastu Relics in the Temple."

Santosh Jha arrived in Colombo as High Commissioner of India to Sri Lanka on 20 December 2023.

Prior to this assignment, he was Ambassador of India to the European Union, Belgium & Luxembourg from July 2020 to December 2023; and Ambassador of India to Uzbekistan from July 2019 to July 2020. Earlier, from July 2017 to June 2019, he served as the Deputy Chief of Mission at the Indian Embassy in Washington DC with the personal rank of Ambassador.

High Commissioner Jha had served in Colombo from 2007 to 2010, as Counsellor at the High Commission, handling work related to commercial and economic matters. During this period, in particular, he helped build the architecture of India-Sri Lanka development cooperation following the end of civil conflict in Sri Lanka.