(AFP File Photo / Peter Macdiarmid)
In coordination with the National Council for Care of the Martyrs’ Families and Injured of the Revolution, the government has approved the issuance of ration cards to the wounded and families of martyrs of the 25 January Revolution, according to a statement from the Ministry of Supply.
This decision came after a meeting between Minister of Supply Mohamed Abu Shady and Secretary General of the council Mohamed El-Shafie on Sunday.
Abu Shady was quoted in the statement as saying that this initiative comes on the occasion of the third memorial of the 25 January Revolution “to honour those who have sacrificed [for the revolutionary cause]”.
Around 670 of martyrs’ families and 3,200 of the injured have received compensations, said former Prime Minister Kamal El-Ganzoury in January 2012, promising that the rest will also be compensated.
Meanwhile, the Administrative Court called on the government in January 2012 to give those who had been injured an urgent exceptional monthly pension specified according to their needs.
The dissolved People’s Assembly had approved a law that would increase compensations for the families of martyrs from EGP 30,000 to EGP 100,000 before it was disbanded. Then Minister of Finance Momtaz El-Saeed condemned this law, saying that this would require an additional EGP 400m from the ministry.
Ration cards allow their holders access to commodities at a subsidised price.
The government sought to improve the ration card system in September. The ministries of Finance, Petroleum, Communication and Information Technology, Industry and Interior have agreed to cooperate in the development of a unified database for the beneficiaries of all types of subsidies and the smartcard programme.
In an attempt to control the prices of food commodities and alleviate burdens on low-income citizens, the supply ministry dispatched trucks in November to sell vegetables, fruits and legumes at discounted prices throughout Cairo.
The ministry said that there are inspectors tasked with ensuring that commodities continue to be sold at reduced prices, providing additional quantities of commodities in case of depletion and receiving citizen complaints.
