Mountainous Regions Left Without Benefits

Mountainous Regions Left Without Benefits

Inhabitants of the mountainous parts of Georgia are complaining about a lack of attention from the government and plead for help. If their problems are not resolved within a short period of time, they threaten to abolish the local government and paralyze the ‘Kavkasioni’ electric cable and central gas pipeline. The main problem, the inhabitants face is the cancellation of the so called “mountain law”, which bestows various benefits upon them.

According to the law, which is no longer in effect, inhabitants of mountainous regions had certain privileges. These were: different pensions; higher salaries; special social guarantees and bonuses for teachers; lower taxes and so on.

Because these benefits were stopped by a decision of the Parliament, the villages in the mountains continue to empty catastrophically. Because of the lack of teachers, schools are closing. Imereti, Racha-Lechkhumi, Guria, Achara, Samtskhe-Javakheti, Svaneti, Pshav-Khevsureti, Mtiuleti and Tusheti are all regions that have incurred losses by this decision of the Parliament.

According to inhabitants, if the benefits are not received, the mountainous regions will empty completely. “We are forced to protest! Nobody can prove that Sachkhere is not mountainous zone. When they needed it, in 1999, they used us; we were forced to write several letters, to receive benefits for the mountainous region. What has happened now? Why have the benefits been cancelled? Are we not living in a mountainous zone any more or has the sea level changed? Maybe we are making millions, what has happened? We demand our benefits back, otherwise we will cause problems!” declare the inhabitants of Sachkhere.

The same problem exists in Svaneti too. According to local inhabitants, the most important benefit was the free medical operations. “I do not know if there is a higher place than Svaneti. What do they want? If they set benefits for us, why are they cancelling them now? Is this the reason that reforms were made to Shevardnadze’s presidency? One of the benefits was free medical operations. It was a big help for us. Today we do not have that possibility, as we do not have money. What should we do? Die?”

Racha also has the same problem. According to teachers, if the benefits are cancelled, they will leave their houses. The representatives of the regional government of the mountainous region also recognize this problem. According to Victor Japaridze, an MP from the Mestia region, his region has so many problems, that he cannot focus on any of them. “Nobody is interested in Svaneti. Nobody is concerned that there is no drinking water in the villages, that the schools are closing, and that there are no medical centers. Schools are suffering from a lack of teachers. They had different benefits before, their salaries were higher and the teachers were coming from different districts. Today nobody comes to Svaneti for a 30-40 GEL salary. If the teachers do not come here, how can a child from Ushguli compete with a child from Tbilisi?  Many problems exist in the health system as well”.

MP Valeri Gelbakhiani agrees, according to him, the ‘mountain law’ has not been working for more than three years, which is why the population is in such a terrible condition.

Representatives of the Parliamentary Committee of the Regional and Mountainous Administration say that the law has not been abolished; it has merely been temporarily suspended.

“When the law was approved, the main criteria were the height of the regions, productivity, and the amount of land and so on. Unfortunately, when the law was approved, people were very poor. In the list of mountainous regions, Tkhneti and Mtatsminda were also included. That is why we decided to research new laws to determine whom the beneficiaries should be. The law has been suspended until a new proposal is approved. According to the new law, the most important criteria will be the height – only places above one thousand meters will be included on the list,” says the member of the Committee Marina Molodini.

They say in the Committee, that many areas will now be struck off the list, including the Borjomi gorge. The population is waiting for the new laws to come into force and if this happens, they threaten to hold protests in the capital.

Eka Gulua