The 118th birth anniversary of Prof. Evan A. Hardy was commemorated on October 1st of 2009. He was the founder of the Technical Training Institute, Ampara (Now known as "Hardy Advanced Technological Institute").

Prof. Evan A. Hardy arrived in Ceylon in 1955 as an expert in dry zone agriculture, provided by the FAO of the United Nations.

At a time then Ceylon (Now Sri Lanka) had begun to feel the need for agricultural development as an important aspect of her economic development, professor immediately identified the acute shortage of trained technical personnel to man the projects. As such in his efforts, he left an indelible mark in the soil of Mother Lanka by setting up a technical training institute at Ampara, now known as the Hardy Advanced Technological Institute to conduct two year residential courses in all engineering fields such as computer, irrigation, soil science, agriculture, mechanical, civil, electrical and Surveying and Leveling not only for training of students from Sri Lanka, but also for the students of other South East Asian countries.