COPA: 33% of Samurdhi recipients ineligible for social benefits

Deserving families left out

The Committee on Public Accounts (COPA) has disclosed that almost 33 percent of the families receiving the Samurdhi benefit are ineligible for the benefit.

A survey commissioned by the COPA has also found that a similar number of families eligible for Samurdhi benefits have been left out.

The survey, which covered the entire country from 2015 to 2017, has found that 449,979 families should be stripped of Samurdhi benefit.

The COPA reviewed the matters included in the reports of the Auditor General for the years 2019, 2020 and 2021, and the current performance of the Department of Samurdhi Development.

It was also disclosed that some of the Samurdhi beneficiaries, who received the monthly benefits remitted to the Prajamula Banks, kept them in their bank accounts for long periods.

The meeting chaired by COPA Lasantha Alagiyawanna was also attended by State Ministers Mohan Priyadarshana de Silva, Prasanna Ranaweera, and MPs Tissa Attanayake, Isuru Dodangoda, Dr Harini Amarasuriya, Muditha Prishanthi, Dr Major Pradeep Undugoda, Dr Sarath Weerasekera, Manjula Dissanayake, Wimalaweera Dissanayake, Weerasumana Weerasinghe, D Weerasingha, Ashok Abeysinghe, Kader Mastan and A.L.M. Athaullah.