Pressure caused by processing applications for COVID-19 financial aid has caused at least one civil servant at a local district office to consider resigning their post, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) New Taipei City Councilor Chiang I-chen (江怡臻) said yesterday.
Long lines have been forming daily outside local district and township offices following Premier Su Tseng-chang’s (蘇貞昌) announcement on Monday last week that the central government would pay a NT$10,000 grant to qualifying workers who are not enrolled in a social insurance program.
Personnel at local district and township offices and at the Ministry of Health and Welfare worked overtime during the weekend to handle the applications, Chiang, also a party spokeswoman, told a news conference at the KMT’s headquarters in Taipei.
Photo: Tu Chien-jung, Taipei Times
Many women spent a “very unhappy” Mother’s Day, she added.
Chiang said that in New Taipei City, where she serves as a city councilor for the seventh electoral district — which comprises Shulin (樹林), Yingge (鶯歌), Tucheng (土城) and Sansia (三峽) districts — frontline government employees have been struggling due to a lack of clarity about the aid scheme, difficulty accessing and verifying required data, and overtime work.
There is confusion among civil servants and the public over how to file applications, she said.
Civil servants at local district offices were initially unable to access people’s household savings and income data from this year — information required to determine eligibility — Chiang added.
A civil servant working at a district office in one of the districts she serves has told the head of the office that they want to quit, she said, adding that emotional responses from people seeking to apply were among the reasons that contributed to their decision.
In the first two days of the aid program, Sanchong (三重), Tucheng, Banciao (板橋) and Tamsui (淡水) districts received about 1,800, 375, 1,200 and 800 applications respectively, Chiang said.
Similar scenes also played out outside of New Taipei City, KMT Culture and Communications Committee chair Alicia Wang (王育敏) said.
District and township offices in all of the nation’s 22 cities and counties are facing similar difficulties, she said, adding that Su has a responsibility to help local civil servants solve the problems they are dealing with.
Su on Thursday apologized for the confusion, saying that he did not make his instructions clear enough when he made the announcement, and promised improvements.
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