State Minister of Finance Shehan Semasinghe says that the Cabinet has approved the proposal to continue with the Samurdhi welfare payments to 393,094 Samurdhi recipients who were disqualified for the ‘Aswesuma’ welfare benefit programme.
The State Minister points out that 1,280,000 families which are currently receiving the Samurdhi benefits have applied for Aswasuma welfare benefits, of which 887,653 families have qualified.
The relevant proposal submitted by the President has been approved by the Cabinet of Ministers, Semasinghe added, mentioning that the process of considering the appeals and objections received against the beneficiaries list are expeditiously underway at present, which will be followed by the calling of new applications, once the procedures are completed.
Semasinghe highlighted that currently 1,792,265 families are eligible to receive the ‘Aswesuma’ welfare benefits, whilst 9,046,612 of them have been newly admitted to the welfare beneficiaries list. He also said that it has been decided to provide the ‘Aswesuma’ welfare benefit for 02 million families adding that the goal will possibly be reached after considering the appeals and objections.
In addition, he claimed that the related payments for the elderly, sick and disabled people will be made in the same way which had previously prevailed.
Accordingly, the elderly’s allowances can be obtained through post offices as usual while kidney patients and disability allowances will be delivered through regional secretariats.
The 11,660 individuals who are currently living in elderly homes, children’s homes and disability centers and the clergy will also receive their welfare benefits as usual, according to the state minister.
Moreover, the required accounts details of around 01 million people have been received so far, Semasinghe said, urging the others who were included in the beneficiaries list to open the relevant bank accounts as soon as possible in order to receive the payments.
Thus, the State banks will remain opened tomorrow (Aug 01), despite it being a Poya Day, for people to open ‘Aswesuma’ bank accounts, the State Minister expressed.
