Samurdhi upped by 50 per cent

Uditha Kumarasinghe

COLOMBO: The Government will grant a 50 per cent increase in the Samurdhi subsidy from this month.

The 50 per cent increase of the Samurdhi subsidy will be granted in three stages. The first stage has already been implemented earmarking 113 Divisional Secretariat divisions targeting the poorest of the poor, Samurdhi and Poverty Alleviation Minister Pavithra Wanniarachchi told a media briefing in Colombo yesterday.

The second stage is scheduled to be implemented in 105 Divisional Secretariat divisions in July this year.

Under the third stage, the Government will provide the 50 per cent rise in the Samurdhi subsidy to all other Samurdhi beneficiaries from January next year, the Minister said.

The Government has allocated Rs. 3,000 million this year to meet the 50 per cent increase of the Samurdhi subsidy and also provide Samurdhi benefits to the most deserving low income families who have yet to receive the Samurdhi subsidy, she said.

The Government has also allocated another Rs. 2,800 million to increase the monthly income of Samurdhi beneficiary families up to Rs.5,000 during this year.

This will be done by employing the beneficiaries in infrastructure development projects implemented by the Ministry under the first stage.

According to the Minister, the Samurdhi movement has progressed during the past four months and moving forward along the lines of Mahinda Chintana.

The Government has granted the highest ever allocation of Rs.5,009 million to the Samurdhi programme this year.

" This is the highest ever financial allocation made by a Government to the Samurdhi movement to implement a series of projects to uplift the economic conditions of the poor," the Minister said.