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| Tuesday, 22 February 2005 |
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| Payments for 99% of tsunami affected families completed - Dr. Sarath Amunugama by Uditha Kumarasinghe Finance and Planning Minister Dr. Sarath Amunugama yesterday said the Government has already granted Rs. 5,000 and Rs. 2,500 subsistence payment to nearly 99 per cent of the tsunami affected families as a start-up allowance. According to the Minister's directive to grant the Rs. 5,000 allowance the People's Bank has opened accounts for 139,944 tsunami hit families by February 16. Of them, 133,836 families have already received this subsistence payment. The Government has spent Rs. 6.5 billion for the subsistence payments. "These figures clearly indicate that the Government has already given relief assistance to nearly 99 per cent of families displaced by the tsunami disaster." The Minister has categorically denied the allegations made by certain media and politicians that the Government has not given this subsidy to a large number of deserving tsunami stricken families. Dr. Amunugama said People's Bank branches in tsunami stricken areas have opened bank accounts on behalf of each tsunami affected family. The Finance Ministry will provide accurate information to those who have complaints on this subsistence payments within half an hour by obtaining details from the People's Bank branches that function in the tsunami hit areas. "Each day the Finance Ministry gets an updated report about the actual disbursement of this allowance to the affected families," Dr. Amunugama said. The Minister said the Japanese Government representatives who held discussions with him stressed that even in Japan they did not have such an efficient system. "Therefore this is all in the public domain. I challenge the media if anybody has not received this allowance, to provide the particular tsunami affected area where that family lives so that the Ministry can settle his problem within 90 minutes." |
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