Pipoyan on the suspension of recreational component in social packages: Not a proper way to protect consumers’ rights
The suspension of recreational component of social packages proposed to state employees violate latters’ rights, Chairman of “Well-Informed and Protected Consumer” NGO Babken Pipoyan says, adding with regret, the move may not stir public outcry.
“Our citizens will likely escape raising their voices out of fear to lose the job,” Pipoyan told Panorama.am.
According to him, large number of employees benefited from the vacations proposed by the social packages, otherwise would have no opportunity to spend for that from their miserable salaries.
“Additionally, the program contributed to the hotel business and tourism development,” he said, drawing an attention to justifications which were brought in connection with suspending the benefits.
“This is the most negative process we often witness in our state. Instead of combating abuses, we eliminate positive things. This is not a proper way to fight abuses,” Pipoyan stressed, suggesting a mechanism of oversight to create a healthy business environment, differentiate between conscientious and unconscientious entities to ensure the transparency of the process without depriving people of the opportunity.
“In the above mentioned scenario, unconscientious entities would have been left out of the process, while the conscientious ones would have increased financial flows and appreciated the state assistance. In the situation occurred entities who have been working honestly are the primary sufferers,” Pipoyan maintained.
“Imagine, we notice a curable decease in a greenhouse. Instead of preventing and or curing it, farmers choose to burn down the whole greenhouse,” Pipoyan exemplified the case.
He said that civil servants prefer to sell their packages at lower prices not out of choice but of necessity. “One may only guess in what an extreme condition a person lives when prefers to exchange 70 thousand AMD worth vacation for the cash worth half of that”
To remind, earlier Armenian government approved state medium-term expenses program for 2017-2019 at its session today, which aimed at improving the state financial means’ management. State medium-term expenses program will become a basis for elaborating the draft state budget for 2017. Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamyan reflected on the cases of abuses in the recreational component of social package, asking the competent state bodies to supplement the component in the relative legislation to minimize possible abuses. By that time the head of the government proposed to suspend the recreational component.