(LANKAPUVATH | COLOMBO) –State Minister of Finance Shehan Semasinghe says that the allegations made by some trade unions, that an additional amount of 1000 crorerupees has been spent for the survey work to identify the beneficiaries of unemployment benefits, are baseless. The State Minister points out that the Cabinet Paper dated 16th January 2023 presented by the President as the Minister of Finance has approved the payment of Rs.300/= to obtain a statement from one applicant.
Accordingly, the relevant payment was available to any party that participate in the said enumeration process.
In par, State MinisterSemasinghe says that about 15,000 government officials who contributed to this work were entitled to this allowance. He points out that, if the Gramasewaka andandSamurdhi Officers participated without skipping these responsible tasks, they would also be entitled to this allowance.
Meanwhile, State Minister of FinanceShehanSemasinghe points out of the Samurdhi beneficiaries, 70% of the applicants of Aswesuma are included in the programme, and that 2,000,000 families will be provided relief through “Aswesuma”, exceeding the number of 1,680,000 Samurdhibenefitted families.
1,280,747 of Samurdhi beneficiary families have applied “Aswesuma” and 70% or 887,653 families are eligible for it. In addition to this, the State Minister also mentions that about 500,000 people are entitled to disability, kidney and elderly allowances.
The State Minister pointed out that the investigation of 980,000 appeals and 60,000 objections received regarding the “Aswesuma” is underway and the first installment of the compensation can be paid in the month of July. However, he further mentions that if the payment of installments to a family unit is delayed due to appeals or objections, both the July and August installments will be paid at the same time.
