Pljevlja: The number of geronto housewives will increase

The municipality of Pljevlja will continue the implementation of the project "Care for the elderly" in the coming year, and in contrast to this year, in 2022, 16 gerontohomemakers will take care of the elderly citizens of Pljevlja, two more than this year.

85.000 euros will be allocated from the municipal budget for these purposes, seven and a half thousand more than the previous year.

In Democratic Montenegro, they claim that the increase in the number of housewives, i.e. the increase in budget allocations in 2022, for the payment of their benefits, is a pre-election attempt by the current local government, led by DPS, to buy peace in its ranks before the local elections that will be held in Pljevlja in the middle of next year. .

"Since they lost state power and resources at the state level, since in the previous 5-6 years they destroyed and overcrowded local companies so that now there is no room, the only thing left for them to do is to invent and oversize local administration in local self-government. While on the one hand, local government representatives brag about rationalization and severance pay, on the other hand, we have an increase in the number of employees, which some new local administration will face in the spring. To make matters worse, in this way, by increasing the number of geronto-housewives, the care of persons who need this type of assistance is not foreseen in rural areas, but only in the city. In this way, the representatives of the local administration, headed by the DPS, are buying peace in their ranks, trying to satisfy their own sympathizers before the local elections, in such a way that the next local administration will be burdened with an overburdened local apparatus, with local businesses in serious doubt," he said. is Bojan Krvavac.

The secretary of the Secretariat for Social Activities of the Municipality of Pljevlja, Emina Salihović, said that the main reason for the increase in the number of elderly housewives is the intention to expand the provision of this service to suburban settlements. She did not want to comment on the Democrats' claims.

The geronto-housekeepers will take care of 90 users of the service every day who are over 65 years old and in a state of social need.

At the moment, the service has 90 users, and considering that the interest of old people from the rural area to be included in the program is increasing, the municipality of Pljevlja planned funds in the amount of 2022 euros in the Budget for 85.000. The funds are intended for the payment of 16 gross wages to employed geronto housewives and for the costs of transportation and materials used by geronto housewives in their work", the local administration announced.

The geronto-homemakers work in pairs and visit three or four users a day, depending on whether it is a married couple.

According to statistical data, over 18 percent of the population in Pljevlja is over 65 years old. With an average population age of 41,8 years, Pljevlja is one of the four municipalities in Montenegro with the oldest population.

The project "Care of the elderly in the Municipality of Pljevlja" has been implemented since 2007, and the signatories of the first project were the Municipality of Pljevlja, the Employment Agency, the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare and the PiO Fund. The implementation of the project began as a public work through the Employment Office, and since 2011 the project has been financed only by the Municipality of Pljevlja.

Salihović said that gerontohomemakers are not accepted through a public competition because it is a one-year program and jobs that are not systematized in the Municipality of Pljevlja. She said that women who belong to the less employable category and who have work experience and work licenses are employed in those jobs.

According to Monstat data, every seventh inhabitant of the municipality of Pljevlja has difficulties in performing daily activities.

Out of 30.786 inhabitants, 4.467 of them claim that they have obstacles in performing their daily activities, which is 14,5 percent of the total population and is three and a half percent higher than the national figure.