Căușeni’s elderly struggle with loss of subsidized bread
Elderly people in the town of Căușeni no longer receive subsidized bread from the Town Hall. Since January 1, senior citizens have had to pay 15 lei for bread that they used to buy for just one leu, with the price difference being subsidized by the local budget.
The authorities explain the delay by stating that the results of the tender to select the contractor responsible for delivering the bread have been contested.
People believe that the local authorities should do everything they can to bring social bread back to the tables of the elderly and ensure that it remains subsidized by the local budget.
"Elderly people come to the Town Hall asking where our bread is. I don’t need it anymore, I can give it to someone else, but there are elderly people who receive a meager pension of 1,000 lei (~€50.00) and are grateful for the bread provided by the Town Hall," one local resident says.
"Do the calculations and give people this bread. It’s eaten with a cup of tea with sugar or milk. You must give everyone a piece of bread, please, good people," another resident adds.
At one of the local stores, the saleswoman says she hasn’t sold any social bread since December last year: "We don’t have social bread. Since when has it been gone? Since last year, December. The elderly come and ask why there’s no social bread, and I tell them to go to the Town Hall; that’s where the problem lies. They used to bring it twice a week, on Tuesdays and Fridays, over 400 loaves just at our store."
"We used to pay one leu, but the market bread costs five, seven, or eight leu. But this way, we only paid one leu and they gave it to us," she adds.
Local authorities say the funds have been allocated, but the process stalled at the tender stage. "The funds are available, but the problem lies with the tender process, which was delayed. Now, the tender is being disputed. There were two participants, and the bid was contested on the grounds that one was higher, and the bread was of lower quality," said Tatiana Dragulea, town councilor in Căușeni.
"We hope to have an answer by next week and start the distribution. The budget will remain the same; we won’t exceed the number of beneficiaries. However, we may increase the number of beneficiaries to make up for the two months without bread," said Alexandru Donțu, mayor of Căușeni.
The social bread program was launched in 2016, and the beneficiaries are people aged 68 and over. Beneficiaries receive eight vouchers each month from the Town Hall, for which they pay eight lei. The bread is available at several stores in the town on Tuesdays and Fridays.
Translation by Iurie Tataru
