An adjournment debate on pensioners took place in Parliament yesterday.
Commencing the debate, Parliamentarian JC Alawathuwala said nearly 13,000 pensioners are affected by the issue related to their allowances.
MP JC Alawathuwala pointed out that retired State Sector workers had to be put in a wait list to receive their pension allowances.
He stressed that many retired employees are unable to claim their social security payments from the government for more than a year.
Therefore the MP called on the government to correct these inefficiencies which are unfair to the retired employees.
Parliamentarian Premnath Dolawatte pointed out that the process, which is supposed to take 34 days, is extended due to problems in documentation.
He commented that state workers at the relevant institutions must do their work efficiently, if they want to receive the same efficient service in return when they retire.
MP Hector Appuhamy, joining the debate, said the government has succeeded in spreading a negative perception of the state mechanism in the minds of the people.
The Parliamentarian claimed the government wanted to privatize a majority of the State mechanism as well.
State Minister Roshan Ranasinghe in response said the government has taken necessary steps to address the issue surrounding pensioners.
State Minister Ranasinghe added that supplementary payments have been paid for those that submitted complete documents, adding that 13,317 employees are yet to receive supplementary payments amounting to Rs.14,435 million.
He assured to address the issue at the earliest.
