Government Aid for Displaced Persons should switch from Cash to Direct Deposit

The Deputy Minister on the Temporarily Occupied Territories and Internally Displaced Persons, Heorhiy Tuka, stated that the government should look into changing its policy of giving IDPs cash directly and should instead switch to using money transfers.

He did so while commenting on the situation of a power and water outage in a health resort in the Zhytomyr region where IDPs live.

“I have information that this situation now can ride a wave across the country. On the one hand there was an increase in the price of utilities. On the other, there are many cases of IDPs refusing to pay their utility bills. Internally displaced people receive targeted financial assistance from the state to pay for utilities. I consider it unacceptable that people who receive money to pay their electricity and water bills spend it on other needs,” he said.

“Perhaps we should consider the possibility of automatic transfer of these funds instead of issuing them in cash.”

Earlier, representatives of non-governmental organizations brought a large pair of glasses to the Cabinet of Ministers, calling on Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman to open his eyes to the problems faced by internally displaced persons.