Donetsk, Jul 25 - DAN. DPR head Alexander Zakharchenko ordered to begin lumpsum Miner’s Day payments to certain groups of mining industry personnel and individuals for their skills and commitment to the profession.

“On the eve of the celebration of Miner’s Day, a major holiday for our region, a DPR leader’s decree envisions, in pursuance of the Donbass people reunification programme, one-time payment of subsidies to certain categories of coal-mining industry personnel and individuals for meritorious labour,” the republic’s Labour and Social Policy Minister Larisa Tolstykina told a news briefing in Donetsk on Tuesday.

The payments are intended for miners with 1st group disability resulting from accident at work or occupational disease. The second group eligible for Miner’s Day payments comprises Heroes of Socialist Labour, Full Cavaliers of the Order of Labour Glory, the holders of three classes of Miner’s Glory breast badges and abled-bodies citizens (women under 55 years of age and men under 60 years of age) who have been awarded Miner’s Glory breast badge.

Depending on the recipient's category, payments amount to 6,000 rubles (3,000 hryvnas) and 8,000 rubles (4,000 hryvnas), respectively.

“The citizens belonging to either of the above categories should contact welfare and government services centres at the crossing points,” the minister added.

The package of documents required for collecting the payment is available on the websites of the Labour and Social Policy Ministry and the Humanitarian Programme Centre. Tolstykina said the payments are intended for residents living in the territory of former Donetsk Region.

On February 17, DPR and LPR Heads Alexander Zakharchenko and Igor Plotnitskiy launched the Donbass people reunification programme. It provides for medical and financial assistance, quotas for higher and vocational education, sport events and measures to preserve spiritual and cultural values in which residents of Kiev-held territories are welcome to participate.*jk