Pension rights for all Samurdhi officers

Disna MUDALIGE

The government will grant pension rights for all Samurdhi officers by absorbing the Samurdhi Authority into a new department called Divi Neguma combined Rural Development, said Environment Minister Anura Priyadarshana Yapa.

Addressing the weekly Cabinet press briefing at the Information Department yesterday, he said that the Cabinet decided to establish this new department on a proposal made by Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapaksa to implement one million domestic economic units programme while empowering the rural economy in a combined manner.

He said that institutions such as the Samurdhi Commissioner General Department, Sri Lanka Samurdhi Authority, Upcountry Peasantry Rehabilitation Department, Sri Lanka Udarata Development Authority and Sri Lanka Southern Development Authority will be amalgamated to establish the new department.

"When the Samurdhi Authority staff is absorbed into this new department, all Samurdhi staff will be granted pensionable status from the date of their first appointment.

"A voluntary retirement scheme will be implemented for those not willing to come under this programme of converting all these institutions in to a single department," the minister said.

The head office of this department will be located out of Colombo while three regional offices will be set up in the Northern, Upcountry and Southern regions.

The minister said that Cabinet approval was granted to prepare and implement an annual transfer scheme for all public servants to whom there are no such transfer schemes.

This was a proposal made by Public Administration and Home Affairs Minister W.D.J. Seneviratne.