Thousands go to pick up Bonogas cards

SANTO DOMINGO.-Thousands of persons went to pick up their Solidarity and Bonogas cards, for RD$700 and RD$228 each, at the different centers that began to operate, and where the heat and the long wait made a lot of people forget about the benefits of the government's gifts and started to shout against the personnel working to distribute the cards.

Even though the distribution began all over the country, there were places where a greater number of persons went from the very early morning to form long lines to get the cards that will provide RD$700 in food and RD$228 in subsidized propane cooking gas every month.

Young women, pregnant or with children in their arms, 80 year old women created long lines with their "cédulas" in their hands and a little piece of paper that indicated their turn in the disbursal process, which seemed to have no end and that got more complicated as the day wore on and the hot summer sun played havoc under the white tents set up for the occasion, but could hardly cover the thousands of people that flocked to the fire house in Villa Mella.

People that were asked said that the personnel did not give any priority to the old, the sick or the pregnant women.

The goal is to get cards to 400,000 persons that will have to visit one of the 550 different posts all over the country.

There are distribution points in Villa Juana, Cristo Rey, Ensanche La Fe, Los Prados, Paraíso, Villa Consuelo, and Gualey. There are also posts in Los Guaricados, La Victoria, Los Alcarrizos, El Limón, Villa Mella, Sábana Perdida, Guerra, Boca Chica, La Caleta, Buenos Aires de Herrera, Los Mina Cancino and Mendoza.

Víctor Ramos, who coordinates the Villa Mella distribution point, told DL reporters that his objective was to give out some 7,000 cards in 18 days to residents of his sector.

The distribution process began yesterday and will end on 6 September.

Diario Libre