Tibetannet

Recently, in an interview with reporters, Gungdrak Quwang said, “Since I became deputy mayor of Lhasa City, Tibet Autonomous Region in 2016, civil affairs work has been an important part of my job. Civil affairs work is directly related people’s living standards and happy index. We must make efforts to do a good job for the masses, especially the elderly, young children, and the disabled.”

Gungdrak Quwang is receiving interview form China Tibet Online.

Elderly are taken care of   

According to Gungdrak Quwang, right now, elderly residents in Lhasa over the age of 60 can receive longevity health subsidies. Each person can receive between 50 yuan and 300 yuan per month, and the older they are, the higher the subsidy they receive.   

It is reported that over the years, Tibet has increased construction of social welfare homes, rural nursing homes, and elderly nursing homes, improving conditions for adopting elderly people. At the same time, on the foundation of the original social welfare institutions, Tibet has renovated and newly built 95 centralized support institutions for five-guarantees households (whose food, clothes, housing, health care and funeral after passing away are guaranteed by the government), focusing on supporting more than 10,000 elderly people who receive the five guarantees.   

Children have what they need  

Since 2015, Lhasa has achieved the goal in adopting all the orphans. At present, there are more than 300 orphans living in two welfare homes in Lhasa.  

“The Lhasa Children’s Welfare Institute is very well equipped with canteens, laundry rooms, children’s dormitories, and multi-purpose rooms. They also have heating and 24-hour hot water supply, which is comparable to the facilities in large cities in inland areas.” Gungdrak Quwang said.  

Disabled have assistance  

“The government attaches great importance to work for disabled people in Tibet. Not only do they receive subsidies (100 yuan per person per month in living allowances for the disabled and 200 yuan per person per month for severely disabled people), and they are also provided with a large space and platform for their employment and entrepreneurship,” Gungdrak Quwang  said.  

“One of my friends who is disabled recruited 20 or 30 people like him to train in a cooperative and help them make money,” Gungdrak Quwang said. “They make mostly ethnic handicraft products, and they have a wide variety. They have Tibetan writing pens, engraving and weaving, chemar boxes for Tibetan New Year, and other products. They have even applied for patents for some of their products, such as a foldable writing board for writing Tibetan calligraphy and an audio-visual textbook for Tibetan. They’re very well designed. When they showed their products at the Tibet Expo, they were well received by consumers, and many tourists were very interested in them. Right now, they can earn a monthly salary of 3,000 yuan.”