Sri Lankan government issues gazette notification to declare essential public services 

COLOMBO: The Sri Lankan government has declared several sectors, including fuel and electricity supply, as essential services to make sure that normal life in the crisis-hit country is not affected.

An extraordinary gazette notification issued by President's Secretary Saman Ekanayake on Wednesday declared that services provided by any public corporation, government department, local authority, cooperative society, or any such branch were essential to the life of the community.

The notification as per the order of President Ranil Wickremesinghe said that the supply of electricity, distribution of petroleum products and fuel, as well as the maintenance, reception, care feeding, and treatment of patients in hospitals and dispensaries, were declared essential public service, media reported.

Meanwhile, economists from the Verite Research Sri Lanka Economic Policy Group (SLEPG) called on authorities to steer away from using Samurdhi as a determinant of eligibility for welfare benefits and instead consider electricity consumption for targeting vulnerable groups as the latter was a superior method.

The recommendation, put forward by leading economists of the policy group, asserted that given the poor performance of the Samurdhi programme and a large number of citizens made vulnerable by the crisis, ensuring efficient targeting must be a key priority for any new social protection measures, media reported.

The latest policy note hence recommended that a household electricity use threshold of 60 kWh per month as a determinant of eligibility for welfare benefits.

This is one of several indicators previously identified by the Sri Lankan government through a gazette notification in 2019 as the potential components of a proxy means test to identify low-income families for welfare benefit payments.

Sri Lanka has seen months of mass unrest over the worst economic crisis and many blame the former government led by Rajapaksa and his family for mishandling the island nation's economy.

The government declared bankruptcy in mid-April by refusing to honour its international debt.

The island nation of 22 million people, is under the grip of an unprecedented economic turmoil, the worst in seven decades, leaving millions struggling to buy food, medicine, fuel, and other essentials.

COLOMBO: The Sri Lankan government has declared several sectors, including fuel and electricity supply, as essential services to make sure that normal life in the crisis-hit country is not affected. An extraordinary gazette notification issued by President's Secretary Saman Ekanayake on Wednesday declared that services provided by any public corporation, government department, local authority, cooperative society, or any such branch were essential to the life of the community. The notification as per the order of President Ranil Wickremesinghe said that the supply of electricity, distribution of petroleum products and fuel, as well as the maintenance, reception, care feeding, and treatment of patients in hospitals and dispensaries, were declared essential public service, media reported. Meanwhile, economists from the Verite Research Sri Lanka Economic Policy Group (SLEPG) called on authorities to steer away from using Samurdhi as a determinant of eligibility for welfare benefits and instead consider electricity consumption for targeting vulnerable groups as the latter was a superior method. ALSO READ | Sri Lanka committed to 'one-China' policy: President Wickremesinghe says after Pelosi's Taiwan visit The recommendation, put forward by leading economists of the policy group, asserted that given the poor performance of the Samurdhi programme and a large number of citizens made vulnerable by the crisis, ensuring efficient targeting must be a key priority for any new social protection measures, media reported. The latest policy note hence recommended that a household electricity use threshold of 60 kWh per month as a determinant of eligibility for welfare benefits. This is one of several indicators previously identified by the Sri Lankan government through a gazette notification in 2019 as the potential components of a proxy means test to identify low-income families for welfare benefit payments. Sri Lanka has seen months of mass unrest over the worst economic crisis and many blame the former government led by Rajapaksa and his family for mishandling the island nation's economy. ALSO READ | International human rights body claim government harassed, intimidated Sri Lankan protesters The government declared bankruptcy in mid-April by refusing to honour its international debt. The island nation of 22 million people, is under the grip of an unprecedented economic turmoil, the worst in seven decades, leaving millions struggling to buy food, medicine, fuel, and other essentials.