The Hon. (Dr.) Hiniduma Sunil Senevi

¶ 01 Hon. Deputy Speaker, parts (6)(iii), (iv), (7) of the Question relate to art centres under Provincial Cultural Departments. As that is a matter for Provincial Councils, I did not include it in my answer.

¶ 02 (a) (i), (ii) For the National Competition held in 2024, the Government bore an expenditure of Rs. 6.74 million as a grant of Rs. 20,000.00 each to 337 Divisional Secretariats for divisional-level competitions.

¶ 03 (ii) It is observed that the amount is inadequate.

¶ 04 For some time, the Ministry has observed that this allocation is insufficient. In fact, this is a pittance. For such institutions existing across Sri Lanka, this amount is by no means sufficient.

¶ 05 (iv) The amount is inadequate. However, within the limits of the annual Treasury provisions allocated for this activity, the Department has taken steps to provide the maximum possible allocation to each Divisional Secretariat.

¶ 06 We are working hard on this. We believe we can take some steps forward this year. Compared to last year, a significantly larger expenditure head of Rs. 3.5 billion has been allocated to our Ministry. Under that, I hope to allocate a larger share for the development of cultural centres.