The Comptroller’s Office prohibited the Municipality of Paillaco from continuing to issue gas vouchers, after verifying that the program was not adjust to right According to the organization, the communal administration exceeded its powers of social aid, since only the most vulnerable people can receive the benefit.
Nearly 6,000 gas vouchers were delivered by the Municipality of Paillaco during the winter months, allowing all the inhabitants of the commune to access the benefit to buy refills at a lower price.
The idea was to cover more than 10,600 households and favor 100% of the people in the Social Registry of Households, although with differentiated discounts according to the range of vulnerability.
However, the program called “Paillaco Gasta Menos” was analyzed by the Comptroller of Los Ríos, determining that the Municipality exceeded its powers of social aid, since the benefit can only be delivered to people with greater economic deprivations and therefore “does not fit the law.”
Far from wanting to abandon the initiative, the mayor of Paillaco, Miguel Ángel Carrasco, assured that although the agency asks them not to issue more vouchers, it also leaves the door open to make changes.
“We took the opinion, we began to analyze it with our legal professionals in order to abide by it and with that same opinion, start working on the gas modifications. Taking into consideration the Comptroller’s observations”, indicated the community chief.
Gas vouchers
For Eduardo Ramírez, from the Association of Consumers and Users of Los Ríos, the Comptroller’s opinion is disconcerting.
“Clearly puzzling. Broad sectors of the citizenry await these programs that have been announced by the regional municipalities. In that sense, this setback delays that implementation,” said Ramírez.
An initiative that according to the mayor of Paillco, was inspired by the gas voucher program carried out by the commune of Pelarco, in the Maule region.
In the Los Ríos region, other communes also deliver these aids to the community, so that they can purchase refills at a lower price. In any case, there are municipalities that have focused on the elderly and others, such as Valdivia, that despite having approved the resources have not yet defined the form of delivery of the benefit.