Use Rs.40 bn for children’s nutrition not to fix MPs’ houses: Sajith
Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa said the sum of Rs.40 billion allocated to renovate the houses of MPs destroyed by fire should be utilized to implement an urgent nutrition programme for the 4.3 million of school children.
Speaking in Parliament yesterday (29), he made these remarks while commenting on the report released by UNICEF on child malnutrition in Sri Lanka and requested for a debate on the report.
The Opposition Leader also said: “A UNICEF report shows that Sri Lanka ranks sixth among countries with severe child malnutrition. Sri Lanka currently ranks second in South Asia in terms of child malnutrition. The Health Minister should make a statement to Parliament about this next week. The Cabinet approved Rs.40,000 million to build houses. Instead of allocating money to build houses, we should use the funds to launch a programme to provide lunch to 4.3 million of school children. Include such a proposal in the interim budget and we will give our support.”