(COLOMBO, LANKAPUVATH) – The Western Province Steering Committee meeting of Gramashakthi People’s Movement, conducted by the President’s office under the direction of the President Task Force on poverty alleviation will be held under the patronage of President Maithripala Sirisena today in Henegama, Gampaha.
The Gramashakthi People’s Movement, a brainchild of President Sirisena, is the flagship development program launched in line with the vision of the President for a Sustainable Sri Lanka with a robust economy free of all forms of poverty by the year 2030.
The Program is being implemented island-wide while giving priority for the districts where the population of low-income families are high. Initially 1,000 villages were to be covered and by the year 2020 it will be expanded to 5,000 villages.
In 2018, grants amounting to Rs. 47 million were provided to Gramashakthi societies in the Colombo District while Rs. 39 million has been provided for the Gampaha district and Rs. 42 million for the Kalutara district.
Colombo District has a poverty index of 0.9% of the total population of 2,343,000. The Gampaha District of which the population is 2,372,000, there is a poverty index of 2.0% and the poverty index of the Kalutara district with a population of 1,281,000 is 2.9%.
The progress of the programs and their future plans will be discussed at the steering committee meeting today President’s Media Division said.
The meeting will be held with the participation of the political authorities of the province and public officials. It is planned to provide immediate solutions to the problems faced by the people in the Western Province.
Also, several new agreements will be signed today between the Gramashakthi society and several private companies of the Western Province, for the purchase of new products in the village societies.
The Western Province Gramashakthi program will be held in the Walaramba Production Village in Dompe, Gampaha.
