Honorable Finance Minister Sarath Amunugama visited Sarvodaya Headquarters on February 1, 2005. He met Sarvodaya President and Founder Dr. A.T. Ariyaratne, staff, and about 100 volunteers working at the HQ sorting out dry rations, clothes, and making family packets.
The Minister said that he highly appreciated the pioneering role played by Sarvodaya from the very first day in bringing relief to the tsunami-affected people. He said government will do everything possible to facilitate the relief, rehab, and reconstruction work Sarvodaya will be doing in the future. If there were any problems encountered by Sarvodaya he asked Dr. Ari or the senior official to get in touch with immediately so that he can be of help. He also met the field staff organizing the cash-for-work programme and instructed them to develop projects pertaining to relief and reconstruction which he said he would personally forward to UNDP, Unicef, UNHCR and other other international agencies.