The Hon. Gayantha Karunathilleka (on behalf of the Hon. Waruna Liyanage)
A question was raised to the Minister of Rural Development, Social Security and Community Empowerment regarding the suspension of pension payments to retired employees of the Department of Samurdhi Development, formerly the Sri Lanka Samurdhi Authority. It asked whether the Government accepts that the stoppage has caused hardship to retirees and dependents, noted a manifesto pledge to resolve the issue, and sought reasons for non-payment and details of measures for a permanent solution, including whether retirement gratuity could be withheld as a temporary arrangement.
Verbatim record (translated)
Machine-translated from Sinhala / Tamil / English¶ 01 asked the Minister of Rural Development, Social Security and Community Empowerment:
¶ 02 (a) Will he accept that the - (i) Sri Lanka Samurdhi Authority, established in 1995, was transformed into the Department of Samurdhi Development in 2013 and currently employs about 25,000 employees; (ii) payment of pensions to the employees who had retired from the aforesaid Department has been stopped for about a year and they and their dependents have been in great difficulty as a result; and (iii) election manifesto of the present Government has also assured that the aforesaid problem will be resolved expeditiously?
¶ 03 (b) Will he inform this House the - (i) reasons for not paying pensions to the aforesaid employees, be it by withholding the retirement gratuity amount as a temporary measure; and (ii) measures that will be taken to provide a permanent solution for aforesaid matter?
¶ 04 (c) If not, why?
Provenance
- Source
- Hansard, Tuesday, 8 April 2025 ·No. 1747715041076408 ·English daily/uncorrected Hansard
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Cite as: The Hon. Gayantha Karunathilleka (on behalf of the Hon. Waruna Liyanage). 10th Parliament, Parliament of Sri Lanka. Hansard, 8 April 2025. No. 1747715041076408. Politick, https://staging.politick.io/lk/speeches/15115