Special drive launched to restore elderly allowance

Colombo, June 28 (Daily Mirror) - The government has launched a special expedited programme to issue National Identity Cards (NICs) to elderly people from low-income families who have lost their monthly elderly allowance due to the absence of an NIC.

The initiative has been jointly launched by the National Secretariat for Elders, the Department for Registration of Persons and the Department of the Registrar General under the Ministry of Rural Development, Social Security and Community Empowerment.

The National Secretariat for Elders currently provides a monthly allowance of Rs. 5,000 to low-income senior citizens aged 70 years and above. The present government recently increased the allowance from Rs. 3,000 to Rs. 5,000 and expanded the number of beneficiaries to one million.

At present, 698,790 senior citizens receive the allowance through 'Aswesuma' bank accounts, while a further 232,496 receive payments through post offices. However, 76,716 eligible beneficiaries have been unable to receive the allowance due to the lack of a National Identity Card.

To address the issue, the authorities have introduced a special programme to facilitate the prompt issuance of NICs to affected senior citizens.

The National Secretariat for Elders has requested elderly persons who have lost their allowance due to the absence of an NIC to immediately contact their Grama Niladhari, Community Empowerment Officer or Elder Rights Promotion Officer.

The Secretariat said information on affected beneficiaries is also being collected through District Coordination Committees, Regional Coordination Committees, Community Shakthi organisations and Community Development Councils to ensure that eligible senior citizens are brought under the programme as quickly as possible.