Does government really save by having abolished social benefits?
According to Syarhey Yaromin, the head of social security for pensioners and disabled at the Pukhavichy district executive committee, 280 people applied for the targeted social aid in the first quarter of 2008.
“Around 45 percent of applicants are single mothers with many children. A total of Br 122,300,000 was earmarked by the state for this year. We already spent Br 128,300,000 in the first quarter. The Ministry of Finances has endorsed additional funds”.
Few applications are rejected. But there are cases when applicants deliberately try to conceal information about the extra housing space or a rich lover.
“There are of course cases when people apply for aid but should not be entitled. For example, they are those who went abroad for vacations 12 months before the date of application. Some owe more property than they claim. In spite of knowing about those restrictions, they still try to deceive. But when you open her passport and see that she went to Egypt and she cannot explain on what money she went there, you can naturally think that she has a lover who provides for her”, Yaromin says.
He also believes that the government does not save by abolishing social benefits.
“It would be logical to think that benefits are abolished in order to redistribute and save the money. However, what happens with the targeted assistance can hardly fit the sense of saving. This assistance rather seems to be a waste of state resources than a targeted social aid”.
Lawmaker Maryia Khudaya proposed to hold a meeting at the Ministry of Labor to discuss the issue of the targeted social assistance. In her view, the main thing is to offer incentives to able-bodies people so that they work.
“Generally, we have used everything what was allocated for the whole year. The government spends a lot, while people remain discontented. Every case of assistance should be studied more thoroughly”, Khudaya says.
Meanwhile, the problem is resolved by allocating additional funds from the state’s budget. Vasil Syomukha, the head of labor, employment and social security department at the Kletsk district executive committee, says:
“Br 89 million was allocated for the whole year. We have already spent Br 114 million. The government promises addition funds from the state budget”.
Photo by Yulia Darashkevich
