The Government on Thursday, February 3 launched its islandwide development drive Gama Samaga Pilisandarak - Ayaweyen Weda Lakshayak project in 14,022 Grama Niladhari Divisions covering all 336 Divisional Secretariat Divisions to increase the income of the people and make Sri Lanka a prosperous country.
Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa outlined the Weda Lakshayak (100,000 tasks) initiative at a press conference in Colombo on Wednesday, February 2.
He said that a budgetary allocation of Rs. 85 billion has been made for this project. Another financial allocation of Rs. 15 billion has been made to launch 14,000 home shops with the participation of women in those villages. “Therefore, we have allocated Rs. 100 billion to implement these projects at villages countrywide.”
Minister Rajapaksa said, “This development drive will be launched within a year. Our sole intention is to seek public participation to make this program a success. A project selected by the people in the area will be launched under this program. The Government will only provide financial assistance to implement the projects. The responsibility of implementing and supervision will be handled by the people.
He said the project to be implemented in a particular village will be decided on with the participation of Grama Niladharis, Government officials, community leaders, religious leaders and people’s representatives in that area. “Our plan is to successfully implement these development projects selected under the Gama Samaga Pilisandarak program this year. We also seek the assistance of the media towards the success of the program.”
The Finance Minister said Budget 2022 for the first time has separately allocated funds to 25 districts by giving District Secretaries the financial authority. Therefore, power has been devolved among the districts under this program.
Minister Rajapaksa said, “The biggest challenge before us is to clearly identify suggestions from the village to meet the country’s national needs.
If some of the proposals from the villages don’t comply with the national level targets, it is our task to adjust them to suit national needs. We definitely need the assistance of the media in this regard.”
The Minister said the program will be implemented giving priority to four sectors, livelihood development, infrastructure development, environment protection and social development. However, priority will be given to increase production.
He said, “When a large amount of money is channelled to villages, the people’s demand for consumer goods will increase. If we fail to cater to the demand, the prices of goods will definitely go up. This is another challenge before us. We hope to successfully face this challenge as well under this program. Therefore, while allocating funds, steps will also be taken to increase production.”
“When these 100,000 projects are implemented, we will allocate a minimum of one million rupees for each project. The allocation of funds has been decentralised by giving the power to implement these projects to the people in the villages. A significant feature is that earlier the projects that were carried out by the people’s representatives have been brought under the direct supervision of the people,” the Minister added.