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New whetting procedure for Samurdhi beneficiaries to prevent political bias
New applications for the Samurdhi subsidy programme will be evaluated by a team under the respective Divisional Secretaries in order to minimise allegations of political bias, the Department of Samurdhi Development states.
Jinasiri Dadallage, the Department’s Director General, said the move would ensure that a local Samurdhi officer would not be able to arbitrarily chose or exclude families based on political or other biases. “There have been accusations in the past that people have been either included or excluded from the programme due to such biases. We believe having the assessments done by a team headed by the local DS will minimise such complaints,” he added.
Mr. Dadallage was speaking on the government’s decision to add another 150, 000 families to the Samurdhi subsidy programme in accordance with Cabinet approval.
Over 1.4 million families currently come under the programme but Mr Dadallage stated that about 150, 000 families who are no longer eligible to receive Samurdhi benefits have also been identified. A significant number of families have actually removed themselves voluntarily from the programme. Mr Dadallage however, said it was not appropriate to suddenly stop a large number of people from the programme as the government attempted to do earlier, resulting in a furious public outcry and politicians getting involved.
The best model would be to educate the beneficiaries and Samurdhi Officers on the need for people to move out from receiving Samurdhi benefits rather than continuing to depend on it, he opined. “There are many families who do that voluntarily, so we must encourage others to do so too. This would enable us to identify and provide the benefit to new applicants who do need it.”
Mr Dadallage also stated that there had been no proper mechanism to improve the livelihoods of people to enable them to move out of the programme, consequently, compelling them to stay within the system. As such, poverty hasn’t been reduced to the extent it should be.
The head of household should submit an application to the respective DS giving his or her name, address, National Identity Card number, telephone number, age current income source and other relevant information.
The government states that accurate applications from eligible families seeking to be included in the Samurdhi programme which had been submitted on or before July 31, would be included in a first priority list prepared by the Divisional Secretariat.