State Minister of Samurdhi, Household Economy, Micro Finance, Self Employment and Business Development Shehan Semasinghe said the Government has given Rs.5,000 cash allowance to over two million families by the end of Thursday (April 15) spending nearly Rs.10 billion.
“We are planning to give Rs.5,000 allowance 2. 8 million to three million families depending on the requests which come. There is still space for those who are qualified to have this cash allowance from the Samurdhi Banks within early this week, the State Minister told the Sunday Observer yesterday.
He said at present we are successfully continuing this program. There are certain unions who were driven by political motives. Though they stepped down, we were successful in providing this cash allowance to the most vulnerable people in Sri Lanka.
Semasinghe said: “I am very sorry to say the union leaders went against the most vulnerable people. That is not a fair enough decision they took. However, we managed to give the Rs.5, 000 in a more organised manner than the union leaders thought.”
Actually, we cannot say the exact amount of families that will be given this cash allowance. It depends on the calculation of the AGAs in their respective divisions. We don’t have any financial issue of granting this Rs.5, 000 cash allowance to deserving families.
Following a circular issued by the Prime Minister’s office, Rs.5, 000 allowance is given for Samurdhi beneficiary families, low-income earning families, families comprising of recipients of the Elders Allowance, families comprising kidney patients who receive allowances, families comprising centenarians who receive the Elders Allowance and families that have filed appeals and are eligible under any of the aforementioned categories.