The minimum Samurdhi payment will be increased to Rs.1, 000 while Rs.1, 500 will be paid to every child in a Samurdhi family bellow the age of three, reported Daily News.

A low interest loan of Rs.100, 000 will also be provided to Samurdhi families to run a business. Special low interest loan of Rs.200, 000 will be provided to all female victims of the 87- 89 violence and for war widows, said Media Minister Lakshman Yapa Abeywardena, the report added.

The Minister said that relief will be granted under the election manifesto presented by the Government and apart from the low interest loan, women will be given the ownership of a land. A vocational training scholarship worth of Rs.400, 000 will be provided for each child in Samurdhi families.

The Divisional Secretaries will provide proof for the granted benefits such as bicycles for Samurdhi recipients, mid day meal payment for schools and the Nutrition Sack, the Minister added.

The families which are entitled to receive Samurdhi benefits but excluded in the scheme will be given an opportunity to enroll in the programme. Jana Sabha Secretariats will be set up and around four Samurdhi animators will be appointed for one secretariat in order to detect the eligible families and to enroll them in the Samurdhi program, the Minister further stated.