State Minister for Finance Dr. Ranjith Siyambalapitiya says that the call for applications to increase the number of beneficiaries (2 million currently) by another 400,000 will be started on February 10th.
The minister stated this while speaking to the media today (01) in the Ruwanwella area.
He said that attention has also been focused on revising the criteria according to the suggestions received from various parties while selecting these beneficiaries.
The minister mentioned that if someone was unable to apply for this program during the weighting of the criteria, which happened during the selection of families, then they will also have the opportunity to apply.
He said that there is no need for the old beneficiaries who are currently entitled to the Aswasuma benefits to apply for this, and the government hopes to verify the information provided by those applicants.
The Minister of State said that even though the World Bank provided the money to distribute to the Aswasuma beneficiaries last year, this year the General Treasury will provide it.
Mr. Siyambalapitiya also emphasized that all the plans for increasing the state revenue have been prepared to reserve an amount of 205 billion rupees for this program.