The National Insurance Trust Fund (NITF) Chairperson, attorney Sagala Abhayawickreme yesterday (1) said that the NITF has successfully managed to pay the overdue Agrahara insurance scheme payments to its beneficiaries.
Speaking to The Daily Morning, she also said that the NITF was able to successfully manage the situation as a result of the steps which were taken to expedite addressing the delay in paying insurance such as naming Monday as a public day as Agrahara beneficiaries can submit their issues with regard to the Agrahara insurance scheme to the Chairperson of the NITF personally on that day.
Abhayawickreme said that as per the details recorded in the NITF, two thirds of the complaints filed by the beneficiaries have been reviewed and those people have been provided with solutions. She said that the majority of the payments which have been delayed for some time due to many reasons, were settled, and that the rest of the payments will also be settled in the weeks to come. Abhayawickreme further noted that they are working on resuming their work which has been affected by the ongoing economic crisis, adding however that the NITF will not allow any inconvenience to be caused.
“There are a total of 1.8 million public servants in Sri Lanka. Except for the employees working in the armed forces, all the other public servants are entitled to benefit from the Agrahara insurance. There are challenges in operating within the prevailing financial difficulties, but we are making every possible effort to give the benefit to the public servants to the best of our capacity,” she added.
Before starting the programme, she told The Daily Morning that they receive around 1,500 requests from public servants all around the country but that around 750 requests are incomplete and that this is also a reason for this delay. She also noted that after understanding this situation, they took measures to name Monday as their public day where anyone can meet the Chairperson personally at the office on that day and present their issues.