SOCIAL WORK CENTRES OPERATING IN CRO DANUBE RIVER REGION ( Editorial: --> 9968 )

( Editorial: --> 9968 ) TENJA, 11 Nov (Hina) - The Osijek Centre for Social Work has been operating in 16 towns and villages in the U.N.-administered area some two weeks since the signing of an agreement between the Labour and Social Welfare Ministry and the U.N. Transitional Administration in Eastern Slavonia (UNTAES) on the reintegration of the social care system in the Croatian Danube river region, Apart from caring for children and old and feeble people, the Centre is paying non-recurring allowances to those residents who before 1991 enjoyed the right to welfare. "So far, some 600 citizens have receives allowances. Those are citizens who have submitted requests for pension or disability insurance and have not received pension allowances yet", said Jelica Klobucar, head of the Osijek Centre for Social Work, in Tenja on Tuesday, where the Centre gave non-recurrable allowances to 186 Tenja residents. Klobucar called on all citizens who have the right to welfare, amounting to the minimum salary of 350 kuna (around US $58), to apply with some of the social welfare centres in the area. According to the Centre for Reconstruction and Development of the Croatian Danube river region, there are 3,000 - 3,500 citizens in the area who have the right to social welfare. Half of them have received non-recurring financial aid. Social work centres in the Danube river region have distributed about 200,000 kuna (around US $33,000) to date. Citizens who seek social welfare have to have Croatian documents. (hina) jn rm 111817 MET nov 97