Ghalibaf’s Decision to Change How Kalabarg Is Paid: Will Cash Transfers Stop?

A dispute over how to increase the electronic Kalabarg credit has reached parliament, and the method of implementing this support is set to be reviewed in a meeting attended by Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and government officials.

A member of the Social Committee of the Parliament criticized the decision of the Program and Budget Organization to pay support resources in cash instead of the electronic Kalaberg, and emphasized: a meeting is scheduled to be held today with the presence of the Speaker of the Parliament and other relevant officials in this field, because the Kalaberg is intended to preserve the purchasing power of all Iranian people, and its implementation should not be limited to cash payments to a part of the society.

Ahmed Begdali, the representative of the people of Zanjan in the Islamic Council, referring to the entry of the social commission of the parliament into the implementation of the electronic Kalaberg law, said: the social commission has requested to hold a meeting in order to investigate the deviations created in the implementation of the Kalaberg law; Because the program and budget organization has acted against the law and instead of implementing the support through the electronic catalog, it seeks to pay the resources in cash to the people.

Criticism of the change in the implementation of the Kalaberg law

He further stated: Parliament and Social Commission are against this approach. According to the law, the support should be done through an electronic invoice, but the Program and Budget Organization plans to transfer the relevant resources to the Subsidy Targeting Organization to pay the people in cash. It means that Kalaberg has one million tomans in his possession and wants to pay the rest of the increase in cash. The parliament is against this issue.

Referring to the other objections raised in this regard, the member of the social commission of the parliament stated: In the current situation, the amount of one million tomans is paid to more than 80 million people, the plan and budget organization plans to limit this increase to about 40 million people.

Bigdely continued: Based on the considered indicators, approximately the first three to four deciles of the society are supposed to be covered by this support; While such an approach is against the law of electronic goods.

Qalibaf intervened to investigate disputes about Kalaberg

Referring to the follow-ups carried out to improve the law enforcement process, he stated: Based on the request of the social commission of the parliament, with the arrival of Mr. Qalibaf, the chairman of the Islamic Council, a meeting has been scheduled this afternoon with the presence of Mr. Qalibaf, the program and budget organization, the minister of cooperation, labor and social welfare, and the heads of one or two related commissions, in order to review this issue and determine the task.

This member of the Social Committee of the Parliament expressed his hope that in the meeting scheduled for this afternoon, if the conditions are available, a suitable decision will be taken to amend the implementation process of the Kalaberg Law.

Kalaberg should not be limited to self-declaration and cash payment

Referring to the issue of self-declaration of households in order to receive government support, Bigdeli said: One of the requests raised is that if the opportunity for self-declaration is considered, people should be given more than two months to do so.

Referring to some indicators proposed to identify the beneficiaries of the support, including not having a house and the amount of income of the households, he added: From our point of view, there is no need for self-declaration because the information of the people is available. Based on the mentioned indicators, the monthly income is 20 million Tomans for a family of three, 27 million Tomans for a family of four and 34 million Tomans for a family of five.

The member of the social commission of the parliament emphasized: the issue of electronic catalog is fundamentally different from this type of indexing and self-expression; Because the purpose of implementing this law was to preserve the purchasing power of all Iranian people.

In the end, Bigdely noted: In the implementation of the Kalaberg law, the issue of self-declaration should not be applied in this way, nor should support be limited to cash payments; Instead, Kalaberg should be paid according to the law and for all people. We hope that the correct decision will be taken in today's meeting with the presence of the speaker of the parliament and the officials of the relevant institutions.