Relief paid through Samurdhi Fund : Jagath

COLOMBO (News1st): Funds to pay the Rs 5000 relief allowance during the COVID-19 pandemic were obtained from the Samurdhi Fund, government lawmaker Jagath Kumara has said. "The government promised that they would reimburse these funds," Kumara noted during the Satana discussion programme on Sirasa TV. However, opposition lawmaker Vijitha Herath, responding to queries from journalists, said there were other sources from which the money could have been obtained. "There were funds collected for this purpose. It was called the COVID-19 Fund. It had funds amounting to about 300 million rupees," Herath noted. He pointed out that the people of this country have not been informed about how the fund had been used.