The Grama Niladaris had not played any role in providing social welfare benefits to the people since 1994, President of Sri Lanka United Grama Niladhari Association (SLUGNA), W. G. Kamal Kithsiri said.

The Department of Samurdhi Development carried out that task, he said.

Kithsiri said the officials attached to the Department of Samurdhi Development had now withdrawn from the Aswesuma welfare scheme. .

“The government has decided to entrust the task of carrying out the Aswesuma programme to us. What it should do is to talk to officials attached to the Department of Samurdhi Development, redress their grievances and use the systems in place. What will happen if we also say we can’t get involved in this? This is becoming a mess,” he said.

“This is not a task for the Ministry of Home Affairs. Why should the government waste time and money to create an entirely new system to handle social welfare?” he said.

Welfare Benefits Act (No. 24 of 2002) specified guidelines for social welfare programmes, Kithsiri said. Section 20 of the act states Any person who furnishes a false or incorrect declaration or information shall be guilty of an offence and shall on conviction after summary trial before a magistrate be liable to a fine not exceeding five thousand rupees or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year or to both such fine and imprisonment.

The government must educate the people on the above mentioned section of the Social Benefits Act and punish the transgressors, he said

Section 21 of the act states, “Any public officer who in the exercise, performance or discharge of his powers, duties or functions under this Act, knowingly and willingly, acts on any information which is false or incorrect, shall be guilty of an offence and shall on conviction after summary trial before a Magistrate be liable to a fine not exceeding ten thousand rupees or to imprisonment to a term not exceeding one year or to both such fine and imprisonment.”

Grama Niladaris were worried about getting into trouble because of that particular section, Kithsiri said. “This will restrain people from providing false information to get benefits. We know some people lie to get benefits. How does a Grama Niladari find out if a person is not telling the truth,” he asked.

Kithsiri said that this is also a reason why Samurdhi officials refused to collect data for Aswesuma. The government ultimately used freelancers to collect data and paid them at the rate of Rs. 300 per application.

“However, now there are many appeals. The government is now forcing Grama Niladaris to deal with the appeals. You saw what happened when there were issues with Aswesuma selections? They stormed Divisional Secretariats. They will do the same if something goes wrong with appeals. We don’t want to get assaulted and harassed,” Kithsiri said.