Samurdhi better than Aswesuma programme – Opposition Leader

Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa says that Aswesuma is a farce despite the propaganda of the blind supporters of the present Government.

The Opposition Leader said this in a discussion held yesterday (27) with the Podujana Samurdhi Officers’ Association and All Ceylon Samurdhi Development Officers’ Association at the Opposition Leader’s office.

The Leader of the Opposition said that the Samurdhi Movement is an important programme in the social sphere of Sri Lanka with 1.7 million families directly benefitting and four million families as clients. He further pointed out that it has very good qualities as well as minor shortcomings.

The Opposition Leader said that Samurdhi Movement was not properly studied when the Aswesuma was implemented through non-data-centric methods without any scientific research. He said that it was planned to provide relief to 20 million people with donations.

If he were the president of the country, the first thing he would do after the COVID situation is to conduct a socio-economic income expenditure survey of a household in the country and identify the poverty line, and through that, identify the real poor for poverty alleviation programmes, the Opposition Leader said here.