Abolishing Samurdhi only a dream - Mangala

Minister Mangala Samaraweera, the SLFP Chief Campaign coordinator for the Presidential Election, yesterday responded to a public statement by UNP MP Sajith Premadasa that after UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe becomes the next President, the existing Samurdhi Movement will be abolished to be replaced by the former Janasaviya Programme.

Minister Samaraweera states that in the first instance Premadasa should realise this is a dream, that will never come true. Wickremesinghe is destined to lose not only the forthcoming Presidential election but also all future elections, he added.

Samaraweera said: "The People's Alliance Government after coming in to power in 1994 allocated Rs.11,000 million to assist the poor. More than 1.8 million poor families are benefitting. The UNP after capturing power in 2001 cut of Rs.3000 million out of that amount by pruning the number of beneficiary families by 25 per cent.

They made use Rs.2000 million out of this fund to provide a tax amnesty to business tycoons. When the United People's Freedom Alliance formed the Government in 2004 the Rs.3,000 million withdrawn by the UNP Government was restored to the Samurdhi Fund and the pruning of Samurdhi beneficiary families was suspended.

"The Samurdhi Movement is not a mere relief programme but a part of the Government's development programme of implementing one development project in each Divisional Secretariat Division. The Samurdhi Bank is the main centre of strengthening the economy of Samurdhi beneficiaries. There are 1,035 Samurdhi Banks with total deposits of Rs.14,000 million.

"The Samurdhi movement is acclaimed by the international community as a highly developed welfare system. It is a movement to alleviate poverty and generate employment to youth. Unlike the Janasaviya Programme, the Samurdhi Programme has created thousands of self employment enterprises."