The Hon. M.S. Abthul Wazeeth
Hon. M.S. Abthul Wazeeth urged the Government to expedite review and payment issues under the Aswesuma welfare programme in the Pottuvil DS Division, including about 5,000 pending applications and 19 delayed payments, and requested revisions to the points-based selection criteria to better cover poor families. He also called for graduates employed in lower public service posts to be regularized onto appropriate MN salary scales and assigned work relevant to their qualifications. He requested that Eastern Province volunteer teachers appointed under Cabinet Decision No. 19/0314/127/009 have their 2005–2019 volunteer service counted for pension purposes, and asked authorities to upgrade lower-tier Muslim religious education institutions so their qualifications are recognized.
Verbatim record (translated)
Machine-translated from Sinhala / Tamil / English¶ 01 Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim.
¶ 02 Hon. Presiding Member, the Government continues various supports for low-income people. In Pottuvil DS Division, 10,021 families benefitted in Aswesuma Phase I and 2,733 families in Phase II. Around 5,000 applications remain to be reviewed, and payments to 19 families are delayed due to lack of technical verification. Please resolve these quickly and release payments.
¶ 03 As beneficiaries are selected on a points system—currently 20 indicators and six dimensions—please increase indicators and dimensions so that all deserving families receive Aswesuma. People in Pottuvil DS are truly under the poverty line. I also thank the officer handling Aswesuma there, Mr. Abdur Rahman.
¶ 04 Further, about 1,200 graduates in public service work in lower, non-equivalent positions. Although they should be on the MN salary structure (1111 scale), many are paid on lower scales. Please regularize their appointments to MN scales.
¶ 05 When providing jobs to graduates, consider degree relevance. Often, their jobs are unrelated to qualifications, preventing optimal service delivery.
¶ 06 Volunteer teachers in the Eastern Province who received SLTS 3-2 II appointments under Cabinet Decision No. 19/0314/127/009 of 28.06.2019 are over 45 and face inadequate service for pension. Please count their volunteer service from 2005–2019 towards pensionable service.
¶ 07 Muslim religious education institutions are in three tiers: Quran Madarasa, Primary Arabic College and Arabic College. Only Arabic College certificates are recognized for further studies. Post-Sahran, lower tiers were not upgraded. Hon. Minister and Deputy Minister, please take steps to upgrade these institutions appropriately.
¶ 08 I thank those working hard in Pottuvil for these causes: M.C. Nasurdeen, K. Kaiyoom, Akbar Hassan, I. Irfan, S.M. Sabry, A.L. Irzath, A. Haque, M.N. Mifra, S.M. Mahdhoom, M.L. Nagoorthamby, A. Majeed, Zainulabdeen Moulavi, Lebbeithamby Moulavi, Salahudeen Moulavi, Mohammed Hanifa Hajiyar, Hithayathullah Moulavi, A.L.M. Mouzoom and Nizardeen Moulavi.
Provenance
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- Hansard, Tuesday, 20 January 2026 ·No. 23200 ·English daily/uncorrected Hansard
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/lk/speeches/9094
Cite as: The Hon. M.S. Abthul Wazeeth. 10th Parliament, Parliament of Sri Lanka. Hansard, 20 January 2026. No. 23200. Politick, https://staging.politick.io/lk/speeches/9094