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Samurdhi gives Rs. 11.6b relief

by Uditha Kumarasinghe

More than Rs.11.6 billion has been granted as Samurdhi relief to 1,920,820 families last year, Commissioner of Poor Relief M.L. Perera told the Daily News.

These 1,920,820 families included 1,876,740 general families receiving the Samurdhi subsidy and 44,080 families of Armed Forces and Police personnel in north-east operational areas.

Another Rs. 121 million has been spent last year to provide a nutrition subsidy to 109,202 lactating mothers belonging to Samurdhi families, he said.

Under the latter scheme a lactating mother gets Rs.150 monthly until her infant reaches the age of one year, he said.

Mr. Perera said this project aims to alleviate malnutrition among the children of Samurdhi families. On the directions of Samurdhi Minister R.A.D.Sirisena initiatives will be taken to grant this nutrition subsidy to each mother till the infant is 3 years old.

The Commissioner said 50,085 families who obtained Samurdhi relief fraudulently were struck off the register last year. This has resulted in a saving of Rs. 316 million which could be channelled to the Samurdhi nutrition project.

Arrangements have also been made to combine this program with the National Nutrition Project implemented by the Health and Plan Implementation Ministries to bring this program to the village level in a more productive manner, he said. 

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