Nearly, 400,000 appeals have been received so far pertaining to the beneficiaries list of the ‘Aswesuma’ social security scheme, the Ministry of Finance said.

Accordingly, 383,232 appeals and 5,045 objections have already been received over the relevant beneficiaries list, according to the Finance Ministry.

On 25 June, State Minister of Finance Shehan Semasinghe announced that all relevant officials have been informed so that the people can hand over appeals and objections under the ‘Aswesuma’ social security scheme personally at the Divisional Secretariats across the island.

“The final beneficiary list of ‘Aswesuma’ Social Welfare Programme is not been published yet & after evaluating the appeals and objections received Government Agents (GAs) and Assistant GAs will publish the final beneficiary list. If further injustice is found, the Welfare Benefits Board will intervene”, he said in a Twitter statement dated 24 June.

Meanwhile, on 25 June, the President’s Media Division (PMD) noted that the Government is paying close attention to certain parties’ attempts to satisfy their political needs by giving the ‘Aswasuma’ program a political façade.

However, the Government assured that any shortcomings in the process of selecting the relevant candidates will be rectified immediately and plans are being made to discuss this with the district secretaries, divisional secretaries, and other parties involved in the program in the coming week.

Moreover, for any further inquiries regarding the program can be obtained through the hotline number ‘1924’ which is operational on weekdays from 8.00 a.m. to 5.00 p.m.