Minister of Rural Development, Social Security and Community Empowerment Upali Pannilage has dismissed media reports claiming that Aswesuma welfare benefits provided to nearly 1.4 million people have been suspended, describing the reports as factually incorrect.Speaking at an awareness program for Samurdhi officers in Anuradhapura yesterday (29), the Minister said that only 1,206,000 people currently receive Aswesuma benefits, and no reduction in the number of beneficiaries has taken place following the ongoing review.

He explained that the revised list of 991,000 beneficiaries selected under the first phase of the review has already been published. Of them, approximately 989,000 people are currently receiving benefits, indicating an increase of around 2,000 beneficiaries under the revised list.Meanwhile, approximately 215,000 beneficiaries are covered under the second phase of the program, which is scheduled to undergo a review next year.The Minister stressed that claims suggesting benefits provided to 1.4 million people had been discontinued were therefore misleading.