Almost 500 secondhand bicycles as well as used sowing machines, crash helmets and wheels brought from the U.S. will be donated to families on low incomes from Grozesti village of Nisporeni district. The goods to the value of over US$6,000 were provided free by the New Jersey-based organization Pedals for Progress, IPN reports.

In a letter to Parliament, asking exempting these goods from the import tax, the mayor of Grozesti says the goal of the donation is to improve the lives of the villagers who have to daily cover long distances to their farmland for cultivating it.

A number of MPs expressed their indignation, saying it is a shame to bring in secondhand bicycles that cost about US$10 a unit. The Communist MPs and Liberal-Democratic lawmaker Maria Ciobanu said that this bill is electoral in character.