In next two decades:

Senior citizen ratio to rise

Shirley Wijesinghe

Sri Lanka's senior citizen ratio will increase up to one per four among the population within the next two decades and the Sri Lanka Social Security Board (SLSSB) has prepared pre-tailored pension schemes especially for non-pensionable citizens, Deputy General Manager (Operations) Dhammika Padukka said.

Padukka added that the Social Security Pension scheme's main objective is basically to enhance the value of the senior citizens without burdening either the country or the family.

He was speaking at a ceremony organised to distribute pension passbooks for beneficiaries of the Social Security Pension scheme of the Colombo Divisional Secretariat Division. The pension scheme will also ease the burden of parents especially in families whose members are employed abroad, Padukka said.

"It is really a problem for over 250, 000 people leaving for employment abroad annually to make arrangements to take care of their parents and close relatives", he said.

Although Colombo district consists of a higher population density, the rate of pension beneficiaries are not in proportion to the percentage of the population. The Government has paid special attention on this pension scheme and the promotion activities have been accelerated during the last two years. As a result, the SLSSB was able to enroll 325,000 beneficiaries to the scheme and there are about 6,000 pensioners under the scheme today.

Addressing the ceremony Colombo District Secretary G. A. Sylvester said the Government allocated Rs. 100 million initially to implement the proposed Social Security Pension Scheme in 1996.

A part payment of the pension contribution will be made by the Government to provide a subsidy for the beneficiaries as a payment installment, he said. "Our target is covering a majority of the non-pensionable people in the district through this pension scheme," he said.