She said local authorities could not abolish the cash payments of welfare benefits and replace them with special tickets designed for the purchase of foodstuffs. They can only do so in concrete cases and on the basis of the assessment of the behaviour Bohemian National Hall set to become centre of Czech New York once again ...
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AOL acquires Bebo social network ... of each benefit receiver, she said. The authorities of many Czech towns and villages have recently abolished the standard practice of welfare benefit payments and replaced the money with foodstuffs tickets. They point out that the receivers abuse the benefits by purchasing alcohol and cigarettes for the money, instead of food, or they even spend it on gambling. Under the new practice, the social benefit receivers can only buy food and goods in special shops selected by the local authorities. "This form of financial assistance (tickets) does not allow the receivers to freely decide on the covering of their needs and to freely choose shops and goods," Seitlova said. At present, not only people who are considered troublesome and unadaptable but also citizens who have not been able to find jobs regardless of all efforts receive tickets. They are, for instance, people close to the retirement age or mothers of small children. The new practice has brought many problems.
People often have to buy goods in the most expensive shops and in addition they are obliged to spend the whole amount of money singled out on the ticket because no cash is returned. The receivers cannot pay rent or electricity charges with the tickets and cannot use them for visits to doctors and the purchase of medicines. Citizens of the north Bohemian town of Litvinov sent a letter to Seitlova, complaining that the town hall pays them 70 percent of the amount of welfare benefits in the form of tickets and only 30 percent in money. Seitlova sent her statement on the problem to the Litvinov Town Hall and called on it to immediately redress the situation. She has informed the Interior Ministry and the Labour and Social Affairs Ministry on the problem and asked them to provide town halls with the information. The Litvinov authorities received Seitlova's statement. "We are cooperating with the Most labour office and with the Usti nad Labem regional authorities in the solution to the problem. All three institutions have asked for a legal analysis of Seitlova's position and we will react to it next week," Litvinov Deputy Mayor Martin Klika (senior opposition Social Democrats, CSSD) told CTK today.
(Ceske Noviny)
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