SJB Parliamentarian Dr. Harsha De Silva says that the government has allocated only 19 billion rupees to give five thousand rupees every four months to the people who have become destitute and ended up on the streets due to the callous disregard of the rulers in the country.

Dr. Harsha de Silva said today (15) that although the number of poor people in the country has doubled and tripled in the last two years, the funds allocated for social security programmes for the new poor people in this country should be doubled in the budget presented yesterday. He pointed it out in Parliament.

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Speaking on behalf of the opposition during today’s budget debate, Dr. Harsha de Silva said that 353 billion rupees had been allocated for social security in 2022, but it had been reduced by 85 billion to 268 billion in 2023. However, although this amount was increased to 311 billion in the budget presented yesterday, it has decreased by 42 billion compared to last year. Although the President spoke with great interest about social security, the Member of Parliament who expressed his surprise at the reduction of expenses for it compared to last year said that during the period from January to April, an additional allowance of Rs 300 was received by the Samurdhi recipients. Others in poverty received Rs. 5,000 per month for three months.

Dr. Harsha MP, who further said:

“The World Bank, which recently came to the Parliament and held a workshop, informed the entire Parliament that poverty, which was 13 percent, has increased to 26 percent.” According to the team led by Prof. Wasantha Athukorala of Peradeniya University, the poverty rate in Sri Lanka is 40 percent. That means it has tripled from 2.88 million to 5.8 or 9.6 million.

Inflation in the country is still rising. The rate of its increase has been somewhat reduced, which means that we will have to face an increase in the price of goods in the future. When Gotama assumed office, inflation in 2019 was less than 5 percent. Even at that time, they said that the people could not afford the price of goods. What a joke to say you can live now! 9.6 million people in this country cannot afford to have one proper meal a day. They don’t eat properly. In this situation, the social security benefits should be doubled or tripled. But what has happened is that we have lost everything.

I agree that there are some good things about social security in this budget; there has been some increase in things like the school feeding program, which gives triposha to pregnant mothers, etc.

What will happen to the government employees who think about burning their homes? In 2022, 740 billion will be allocated, with 420 billion for salaries and 320 billion for overtime limits. But in 2023, government employee salaries will be cut from 420 billion to 382 billion. It will be reduced to $702 billion in 2023. The price of coconut, bread, and lentils is unaffordable. As the government itself assumes, there is at least 30 percent inflation.

While the government is reducing their social security spending, $200 billion is being used to build roads. increases defence spending on security forces such as the army, police, and special forces, he added.