The Committee on Government Finance has also recommended that the National Identity Card should be made compulsory in the payment of welfare benefits.
The committee pointed out that it is not acceptable that every citizen cannot be given a national identity card in a background where technology is so advanced and it will be an important decision to stop fraudulent activities.
During the payment of Samurdhi benefits, it has been revealed in the recent (10) Government Finance Committee that a problematic situation has arisen in the refusal by Samurdhi officials to obtain data to prepare a document identifying those who should receive those benefits in a transparent manner.
Thus, it has been emphasized that it is a proposal of the International Monetary Fund to carry out the activities transparently without corruption in paying Samurdhi and other welfare benefits.
The responsibility for that is assigned to the Welfare Benefit Board.
Accordingly, orders were published in this gazette for the necessary arrangements for the data collection activities.
Accordingly, the Chairman of the Welfare Benefit Board Mr. B. Wijeratne said that if he goes to the homes of the registered applicants and obtains data and information related to the declaration made by the applicants according to the provisions of the Act, he may even lose his job as per Sections 21 and 22 of the Act, so it has been informed that Samurdhi, Village Officials, Economic Development Officers Unions will withdraw from all field duties related to this process until the said sections are amended.
He also pointed out that the officers who enter false data are also subject to punishment by this section 21 and 22, so they have refused to collect this data until those sections are amended.
Acceptance of initial applications to identify eligible individuals/families for receiving welfare benefit payments for receiving government welfare benefits had recently ended.
Also, the Chairman of the Welfare Benefits Board said that a mobile application software was also introduced to collect secondary information by going to the homes of the applicants who have applied for welfare benefits.
It is essential to prepare a document with accurate data to carry out these welfare benefit payments transparently.
Thus, the committee emphasized the need to solve this problem as soon as possible to create a culture free from corruption and fraud, as the delay in preparing this document may lead to a delay in obtaining the assistance of the International Monetary Fund.
Accordingly, the committee which approved this gazette advised the higher officials of the Ministry of Finance and the Chairman of the Welfare Benefits Board to discuss this matter urgently and arrive at a solution.
It was also recommended that the committee take decisions related to carrying out these data collection activities as soon as possible by following an alternative course of action.
These facts were revealed when the orders of Extraordinary Gazette No. 2302/23 under the Welfare Benefits Act No. 24 of 2002 were considered under the Chairmanship of the Government Finance Committee, Member of Parliament Dr. Harsha De Silva.
