Unity and discipline essential for Samurdhi movement - PM

Dayaratne Kumarasinghe, Kalutara District Group Correspondent

HORANA : Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickramanayake said unity, mutual trust and discipline should be infused into the Samurdhi movement to bring forward its programmes to eradicate poverty.

Despite the majority of people forwarding their demands, they do not emphasise on their duties to be fulfilled to the society, he said.

The Premier made these remarks at the ninth convention of the Horana Samurdhi Federation held at the Taxila Central College Auditorium, Horana recently.

He said people are key shareholders who invest and manage money within the Samurdhi movement. Therefore people should be the owners of any kind of public movement formed in this country.

When attempts are being made by the Samurdhi movement to produce people who love their nation, it should make collaborative attempts with the temple and other religious places in each respective area. The Samurdhi movement should able to overcome its challenges successfully moving forward in accordance with Mahinda Chintana, he said.

The Premier said various projects implemented by the Samurdhi movement throughout the country are being conducted in a successful manner. It is important to commence projects by identifying the resources in that respective area.

"If there is no society upholding moral values, the efforts made by Samurdhi movement to alleviate poverty will be unsuccessful. Therefore, people should be equipped with good ideas to turn the objectives of the Government into reality to transform the Samurdhi programme into a people's movement," the Premier added.

Samurdhi and Poverty Alleviation Minister Pavithra Wanniarachchi said the Samurdhi movement is not managed by the Minister or officers.

This is a movement which is being entirely managed by the country's people. Samurdhi beneficiaries are the owners of the Samurdhi Bank. Samurdhi is a people's movement which is not connected to any political party.

In order to provide more relief to Samurdhi beneficiaries, the 18 per cent interest rate of the Jana Pubudu loan scheme has been reduced to 14 per cent.

The Ministry has already provided credit facilities to 400,000 Samurdhi beneficiaries under the Jana Pubudu loan scheme. A new programme will also be formulated to sell Samurdhi beneficiaries' products.

" If we can uplift the economic conditions of 100000 low income families per year, poverty can be eradicated from this country," the Minister said.

Horana SLFP Organiser Vidura Wickramanayake also spoke.