(COLOMBO, LANKAPUVATH) – The government has decided to provide the Rs. 5000 allowance to or 72,345 low income families in Minuwangoda, Divulapitiya and Veyangoda police areas in the Gampaha district where the curfew has been imposed due to the spread of COVID-19.
The Ministry of Finance has allocated Rs. 400 million for this purpose with the intervention of President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa and Basil Rajapaksa, Chairman of the Presidential Task Force on Economic Revival and Poverty Alleviation, Tourism Minister Prasanna Ranatunga said.
Under the first phase of this program, the Rs. 5,000 allowance will be given to 72,345 families in five villages where the curfew was initially imposed and mobility is restricted in the Minuwangoda, Divulapitiya, and Veyangoda police divisions of the Minuwangoda, Divulapitiya, Attanagalla and Mirigama Divisional Secretariats, the Minister said.
Gampaha District Secretary Sunil Jayalath said that the payment will be made under the coordination of the Samurdhi Development Department as was followed in COVID Phase 1 and 2.
The District Secretary said that a request has been made to the Ministry of Finance on the instructions of Mr. Basil Rajapaksa and Minister Prasanna Ranatunga to provide the necessary funds to the people living in the other 16 police areas in the Gampaha District where the curfew has been imposed under the second phase.
The Minister of Tourism and the Gampaha District Leader of the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna Prasanna Ranatunga had requested the President at the Cabinet meeting last week to provide the Rs. 5,000 allowance for people in Gampaha District who lost their livelihood due to the imposition of curfew to control COVID-19.
