Inga Gvasalia, Samegrelo
By the government’s strategy, the IDPs are going to be placed in new residence homes. With this intention, special high storied apartment buildings are being built in Poti. Before the exploitation of the new homes, the city government provided residence places for several families. It is one of the high storied apartment buildings at Gorgasali St. #5/38, the building of which started during the communist period when it was called a cooperative apartment. This house has been in the form of carcase without an owner for years now. The communist era finished without the completion of the house.
Recently, Poti administration renovated the house and accommodated 37 families of IDPs without studying the suitability of the building. The IDPs are dissatisfied with the house conditions where water is leaking and the walls are cracked.
These families of IDPs were selected according to the lists created by the representatives of the Ministry of IDPs and Accommodation in Samegrelo Region and Abkhazia government. As the representative of Abkhazian government in Poti, Tengiz Shonia told us, they included 22 families of IDPs in the list – families without a bread-winner, invalids and war veterans who are still living under rent.
Generally, accommodation of 45 families is envisaged. 6 families in the building are not provided with the electricity. The reason is said to be their illegal accommodation. Back then, two months ago, all the families were satisfied with the residence homes by the decision of commission. But now, the accommodation of six families is under question mark. New mayor of Poti Vakhtang Lemonjava assures that because of accommodation of these six families, other IDPs claim the same. As they say, these families already have the residence apartments under their ownership and at this phase they don’t deserve the provision with apartments.
One of the above mentioned six families is the family of 24-year-old Keti Kikaleishvili with three children. Her father was supposed to receive an apartment as a veteran of Abkhazian war, but, unfortunately, he died before receiving the apartment and as to the sole heir, plus mother of many children, her father’s apartment was given to her ownership. Currently, she is under the threat of eviction: “For 18 years, I’ve been living under rent. I changed several apartments during this time. I lost my parents throughout 4 months. My father, as a veteran of war, was in the list. And now I’m disputed. I’m a mother of three children with no job, divorced. I don’t have resources to live under rent and take care of my children. It is not my fault that I am internally displaced and that I live in similar conditions. What have I done wrong?! The situation is terrible in this flat too. It is raining and the water is leaking from the walls. The walls are cracked but I cannot pay rent of the better flat and this flat is a great relief for me. I have not been supplied with electricity for a long time. We lived in similar conditions during the heat of this summer. I am sorry for my children. I cannot make proper food for them. I am an IDP, descendant of the veteran of the war and I have many children; after all these, do not I deserve at least this humble flat? I will not leave this flat! I have nowhere to go!”
Unlike Kikaleishvili Lemonjava claims that she has not divorced her husband; she has disagreement with the relatives of her husband. “It is not enough grounds to shelter her into the flat for IDPs,” said Poti City Mayor.
Another IDP who might be also evicted is Tamaz Nadaraia. He claims that he rents the flat but nobody believes him either because he is renovating the flat where he lives. Nadaraia insists that he is renovating the flat with the money he had to pay to the landlord according to the landlord’s request. “My two children study in Tbilisi and both of them rent flat there like I do here. I can confirm it by the notifications from the bank. Besides that, I do not know whether it is simple coincidence or it happened on purpose – the landlord evicted my children from the flat too. I was rebuked at my work too. I do not believe in similar coincidences. If I do not deserve it, I do not need the flat but I have already petitioned to the chief prosecutor’s office to study my case.”
Violeta Jghamadze – the head of the Poti department of the healthcare, social welfare and IDPs: “Our department was not involved in the eviction process. On the day when the flats were distributed, vice-mayor called me and I went there too but I did not know what was going on. At the place, I saw the IDPs were being lodged into the flats. We had sent the lists of the IDPs who are renting the flats to the ministry but during the distribution different list was used. I cannot say who changed it. Maybe, it was the decision of the commission. The government resoluted to give accommodations to every IDP but it will happen gradually. As far as I know, 5 IDP families willfully sheltered into this house. The law enforcement officers will evict them from the building.”
IDPs, who might be evicted, suppose that their eviction is the result of the controversy between the ministry of IDPs and the government of Adjara autonomous republic. These two institutions have their own IDPs and try to satisfy their favorites first of all.
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