The CAPITAL OF SERBIAN POVERTY

Kragujevac

AIM Belgrade, 10 May, 1998

According to the declaration of the Serbian Bureau of Statistics, Kragujevac ranks 123 among the total of 186 communities in the Republic of Serbia, with the average net salary of 539 dinars for February. Since the price of the consumer's basket (mean monthly price of food for a family of four) was 1578 dinars at the beginning of 1998, in Kragujevac one would need four average monthly salaries to feed one's family. One would need another, almost whole salary to cover the costs of housing and goods for hygiene. It comes out that according to the present pays, five salaries per month would be needed to cover the minimum costs of survival.

One can hardly survive nowadays in what used to be the elite industrial centre of Serbia. Two thirds of the employed citizens are now on forced leave, and the range of their income is from zero (workers in factory "Romanija", since three years ago), to about 200 dinars (11000 workers in "Zastava" car factory, "Filip Kljajic", "21.Oktobar" etc.), and up to 330 dinars (workers in the so-called Military factory). Every second of 25,000 mentioned workers is not needed, i.e. an economic or technological surplus.

The city of Kragujevac is the fourth in the region according to the average salaries. Judging by the average salary, workers in Sumadija region are among the least paid in Serbia. In all major Serbian cities, salaries are significantly higher than in this cuty: more than 1100 dinars in Belgrade and Novi Sad, 860 dinars in Pristina, almost 600 in Nis. To conclude, Serbia state nowadays exists with an average salary which amounts to between 100 and 200 German marks.

According to the evidence from the Employment Bureau, more than 21,000 inhabitants of Kragujevac are looking for a job, almost nine thousand of them are highly educated young people. This is probably one of the reasons why during last seven years, more than 11,000 thousand young people left Kragujevac and went to somewhat welthier communities like Kraljevo, Cacak, Krusevac or abroad to Canada and New Zealand.

Kragujevac is today a town of poverty, which did not even spare children: it is established by systematic health control that 38 percent of primary school children belong to the category of under nourished or badly nourished. As far as grown ups are concerned, the number of people received by old-people's homes significantly increased, although they were not really old but they had no place to stay and no means to live on.

The government does not pay regularly neither relief money nor children's allowance which are received with a delay of a year. In April this year, more than 20 thousand children from Kragujevac coming from 12,500 families did not receive children's allowance for April 1997. Thus the government owes about 2.5 million dinars for children's allowances. Malicious people would say this was exactly the price of the latest patriotic referendum.

The Republican authorities only formally meet their obligations concerning public welfare, more precisely it ignores them completely. The town budget is burdened with poverty allowances in total, although it can hardly cope with all its obligations. Since 25 percent of Kragujevac families have the right to receive social welfare, and another 60 per cent are left without the fundmental social support, the city is perishing because it cannot plug the impossible number of holes in the poverty boat which is unavoidably sinking very fast.

Judging by all the facts, the "luxury" of free meals in Kragujevac public kitchens is over. The food was distributed once per day on 5 - 8 locations in town. From March 1994 to March 1998, 1350 inhabitants of Kragujevac survived owing to this kind of aid provided by the Red Cross.

The extent of poverty can be illustrated by an event of illegal attempt of a family to move into the memorial house of Svetozar Markovic in the street bearing his name.

Poverty is visible everywhere in the city of the car factory. Huge business areas and numerous shopping centres remind of better times, only by their facades. The goods exhibited in them are almost the same as in flee markets, which is, maybe a more decent way, to survive. At the same time, the cheapest square meter of housing or business premises is in Kragujevac. The number of second hand shops increased recently, but after a short instant boom they hardly exist any more because there are no middle class customers who would buy in them. The poor are so poor that they cannot afford even the "second hand" goods.

The workers from military factory of the "Zastava" company are in the streets for days. They announced they would go on hunger strike as of tomorrow. What else, since they also receive no salaries.

Milan Milicevic