In the battle of "lifting support": Damascus breaks the back of its citizens and increases their disability.

PARIS - As a result of "the ownership of the head of the family is a commercial record", the Damascus government excluded the Abu Muhammad family from government support packages, through "the smart card", to deepen his suffering and force him to "more austerity than I was living previously."

The decision to exclude the support, the son of the 45 -year -old Damascus countryside, his wife and his four daughters, despite the suspension of his commercial record in the year 2010, which belongs to an individual institution in the field of exporting vegetables and fruits to Iraq, opened by Abu Muhammad in the year 2007, stoppedAbout work three years later, but he did not close the record in the state departments, as he told "Syria along".

And the family of Abu Muhammad, one of about 600,000 families, was excluded by Damascus from the government support package, in early February, on the pretext that "the state is no longer able to continue with the same support pattern that has been in the past decades," according to the Prime Minister in a governmentThe regime, Hussein Arnous, before returning part of the excluded who were excluded "by mistake."

In 2019, the regime government implemented the support policy via the electronic or "smart" card, as it is called, through which a group of commodities and basic services are distributed, such as sugar, rice and heating fuel in specific quantities at reduced prices.The free price offered in the markets.

Although government support is not commensurate with the economic deficit of the Syrian citizen, and does not cover its needs, especially since the quantities are not sufficient, and are not distributed on a regular monthly basis, but rather according to their availability in the branches of the Syrian Trade Corporation, which is a governmental institution approved for the distribution of supplies supported in all areas locatedUnder the control of the regime.

A screenshot of the "Smart Card" application shows that the role of one of the families in obtaining the amount allocated to it from sugar after 2798 people benefiting from the center itself, and rice after 2769 people benefiting.

Glory be toles

The family of journalist Amal Al -Dimashqi, residing in the Syrian capital, excluded from government support "for the family to have a trade record and two cars," according to Damascene, and in fact that the family owns one car "2006 model, and its engine is less than 995 CC, meaning that it identifies the support of support."

However, the problem is that the commercial registry “returns to a commercial store that my husband opened in the year 2006 and closed it after three years”, without closing the commercial registry to the original.It added the Damascene.

Accordingly, the Damascene husband closed the commercial registry "officially", and then the family objected to the decision to raise the support through the platform designated for that, the introduction to "the necessary evidence", but "the request was also rejected."

A screenshot sent by the Damascene shows its exclusion from government support, 2/17/2022 (Syria along)

In another case, Umm Qasim, 66, was excluded from government support, a woman from Damascus countryside, who lives with the wife of her deceased son in a traffic accident early in 2020, and her three grandchildren, the oldest of whom are 11 years old, and the reason for lifting support from her “the presence of more than one carIn the name of my deceased son, the support card is still in his name, "she said to" Syria along ".

Umm Qasim confirmed that what the family owns is a “one car of Hyundai type, identical to the conditions of support, which is in the name of my deceased son”, and the family rents it to a person for a monthly fare of 150 thousand Syrian pounds (39 US dollars, according to the current exchange rate on the black market,Advance 3,820 pounds per dollar).

After the support was interrupted, the sixty lady submitted an official complaint to the integration center, which is the operating company for the smart card, confirming that “the claim addressed to us has more than one invalid car.” But they asked her to attach a statement issued by a government institution, confirming her son’s ownership of only one car with mentioningIts specifications, with the objection request, to "integrate" "study the case, and respond either by accepting or rejecting the appeal."

Before the interruption of government support, Umm Qasim obtained 200 liters per month of subsidized gasoline for the car, at a price of 1,100 pounds ($ 0.28), and sells her share on the black market at a price ranging between 2,500 and 2,800 pounds (0.65 and 0.73 dollars), to make profitsMonthly of 280 to 340 thousand pounds (73 to 89 dollars) per month.This amount, in addition to the car fare, "used to meet the simplest family needs of basic materials, food and drink."

Random in implementation?

On the first of last February, the Minister of Communications and Technology for Digital Transformation Affairs, Fadia Suleiman, said that the number of excluded people reached 596,628 cards, with a rate of 15% of the total families who obtain support, explaining that the study took into account the multiple real estate properties of the family inThe same province, and taking into account the monarchy areas in terms of the most expensive.

But the process of selecting families excluded from support was marred by errors that led to the exclusion of people who are not covered by the decision according to the criteria set by the government of the system, which was recognized by the Minister of Trade and Consumer Protection, Amr Salem, indicating that what happened as a result of "technical errors" and not a decision, and accordingly it was determinedThe Ministry of Communications is a mechanism for receiving citizens' objections, who have lost support.

In addition, it appears that Damascus was not clear in the mechanisms of implementing the decision to raise support, which prompted it after the start of the work to issue a number of illustrative decisions for those excluded from the support and those who are not excluded.For example, the Ministry of Internal Trade and Consumer Protection made it clear that the decision does not include everyone who has a trade record.

In this context, the Presidency of the Council of Ministers published an illustrated publication on its official Facebook page, in which she said that raising support affects the owners of commercial records starting from the excellent category to the third, while holders of the fourth category commercial registry are not covered by the decision to exclude.

In response to a demonstration of the Minister of Internal Trade and Consumer Protection, Omar Salem, on his personal page on Facebook, one of the commentators confirmed that he has a fourth -class commercial record that is excluded from exclusion, and has been suspended for 10 years, and he has no bank balances, yet he was excluded from support,Another replied to him, "I am like you, the commercial registry has been suspended for 15 years, and they lifted support for me."

Also, the Damascus government lifted support for people under various items, including excluding people on the pretext that they were outside Syria, although they did not leave the country, or being employees in government institutions, despite the assertion of the Minister of Internal Trade and Consumer Protection that the lifting of support will not include employees.

The mistake that the Damascus government signed to exclude families despite their support, was repeated in dealing with complaints as well, as the journalist’s husband, Amal Al -Dimashqi, failed to restore support, despite the suspension of the commercial registry in assets and the provision of the necessary evidence.

On the other hand, Muhammad al -Qasim, 28, from Daraa Governorate, in southern Syria, succeeded in restoring support to his family, after providing an objection proves that he does not possess a commercial record, which is the reason for his exclusion from support, as stated in the text of the message that he received from the government of the regime.

Immediately after the exclusion of Al -Qasim, the father of three children, he submitted to the "Takammal" center in the city of Jassim in Daraa Governorate, and presented an objection, explaining that he does not have a commercial record, but rather "my name is included as a worker in an institution, and I presented a copy of the Foundation's commercial registry that proves this," he said, as he said.For "Syria along", to be supported by "four days after the objection."

As for Abu Muhammad, who was excluded from the support to possess a commercial record, the decision to appeal the decision to "stop my commercial and submit what is proven," as the complaints receptionist in the "Takamal" company told him, but that requires him to pay fines for 12 years, according toHis saying, explaining that "stopping the commercial registry will cost me a fee ranging from 750 thousand to one million pounds", which is worth 196 to 251 USD.

What does loss of support mean?

The exclusion of citizens from government support, means that they will receive basic goods and services at their prices in the markets or at their global prices, while government salaries in Syria are up to 90 thousand pounds, equivalent to only 23.3 dollars.

This means that the excluded citizen will buy a bundle of bread at 1300 Syrian pounds ($ 0.34), which is the unintended price, rather than buying it at the subsidized price specified at 200 pounds (0.052 dollars) for the tie.

The effect of raising support was doubled on the journalist family, Amal Al -Dimashqi, for obtaining two smart cards, and lifting support from both.The family performed an annual calculation to find out "the effect of the family's support for the family", as the Damascene said.

The Damascene family was paying annually for obtaining the materials covered by the smart card, such as diesel, gasoline, rice, sugar, and gas, 1.65 million Syrian pounds ($ 431), but they will now have to buy the same quantities with a value of 5.9 million pounds (1544 dollars).

The Damascene explained that she was getting the supported sugar for 1,000 pounds (0.28 dollars) per kilogram, while its price in the market is about 3,000 pounds (0.78 dollars), and the price of a liter of vegetable oil supported is 7,500 pounds (1.96 dollars) compared to 10 to 12 thousand pounds (2.6 to3.1 dollars) for the non -subsidized, as well as tea, where the price of a kilogram on the "smart card" is about 20 thousand pounds ($ 5.2) compared to approximately 30 thousand pounds ($ 7.8) for the non -subsidized.

As for fuel, the Damascene got a gas jar every 70 to 90 days, at 10,500 pounds ($ 2.7), while the price on the black market reaches 31,000 pounds ($ 8.1).

As for the heating allocations of diesel, which is estimated at 50 liters per card, the price of one liter is supported 500 pounds (0.13 dollars), while the price per liter in the black market is about 3,000 pounds (0.78 dollars), and the Damascene bought 20 liters of diesel from the black market,Last week, at a value of 60 thousand pounds (15.7 dollars), confirming that it was "ran out within five days only."

The Damascene allocations of gasoline via the smart card is 25 liters every 7 days, at a price of 1,100 pounds (0.28 dollars) per liter, while its price on the black market is 2,500 pounds (0.65 dollars), which forced it since the support was raised to stop its car.

The Damascene was using her own car to connect her two daughters to school, explaining that she “costs me about 100,000 pounds [26.1 dollars] per month the price of the subsidized gasoline”, but she will have to “pay 300 thousand pounds [78.5 dollars] to obtain the same amount without support.”On the other hand, she cannot participate in a bus to transport students, because that "will cost me 150 thousand pounds [39.2 dollars] per month for every girl."

Hafez al -Assad's red line exceeded

Against the background of the economic crisis that the Syrian citizen suffers from due to the lifting of support, the regime’s loyalty recently re -said to Hafez al -Assad, which is: “A loaf of bread is more than a red line, and if the citizen goes out in a demonstration against the government, I will be the first to go to the street”, inNoting that the son of the son exceeded his father's line.

The allocations of the Abu Muhammad family from the subsidized bread are two links daily, at a price of 225 pounds (0.059 dollars) per tie, meaning that the family was spending 13,500 pounds (3.53 dollars) to purchase the subsidized bread, but with the support of support, the family with a quantity buy daily at a price of 3,000 pounds (0.78 dollars), which means that the family will pay a monthly 90,000 ($ 23.5) for baking only

While the income of the Abu Muhammad family reaches 600 thousand pounds (157 dollars) per month, it will spend 15% to buy bread only, after the percentage of its spending on bread from the total monthly income was 2.25%.

With the decline in the income of the Umm Qasim family, as a result of lifting the support from it, and the loss of what it earned from selling its gasoline allocations to 150 thousand pounds (39 dollars), which is the amount she gets from renting her car, it must pay 90 thousand pounds (23.5 dollars) In exchange for buying two breads daily, which is the same amount allocated through the smart card, which means that it will pay 60% of its monthly income to buy bread only.