Leisure for the Officials and Hardship for People….

Saba Tsitsikashvili, Gori

Some inhabitants of the village of Plavi went Gori to ask for help from the Shida Kartli Regional Governor’s Office.

The villagers found very few officials in the office.  Most of them are on vacation. During this time Zurab Lomidze, a head of the Office Chancellery, is in charge of the Shida Kartli region.

The villagers accuse the regional administration of inattentiveness. They say the government is not interested in their fate; the government representatives do not visit the villages in the region to study the local problems and when they (people) go to the government, the government does not like this, and they meet the people with dissatisfaction and even insult them.

“We have very hard work to do and therefore our work might not be satisfactory to everyone,” said Zurab Lomidze to the Human Rights Centre. Our organization asked him to respond to the letters which we submitted at the beginning of August but we did not receive any response

The inhabitants of the villages of Plavi and Nikozi prefer to visit the Regional Governor’s Office rather than send letters.

“There is no point in writing letters. We receive an answer after a month or do not receive an answer at all. The official procedure is that when we send an application, the regional governor’s office must send a commission to the village to study the problem on site. But instead of the commission, they send a letter with an answer that our case is in the process of discussion. I wonder what they discuss when they have not studied the situation on the site,” wonders Marina Tsertsvadze, an inhabitant of village Plavi.

Ioseb Metreveli and his family from the village of Kvemo Nikozi live in a Gori kindergarten. Their house in the village is very close to so called “administrative border” of Georgia with South Ossetia and thereforeit is impossible to live there.

Ioseb Metreveli told the Human Rights Centre that it is planned to evict him and his family from the kindergarten but he has no place to go. They cannot live in Kvemo Nikozi first of all because the house needs to be renovated and secondly because there are no security guarantees there.

The Human Rights Centre applied to the Shida Kartli Regional Governor’s Office on August 3, 2009 in connection with the problems of Ioseb Metreveli. However, our organization has not received any answer so far. The reason is according to the claim of the regional administration representative isthat most of the office staff members are on vacation.

Marina Metreveli, Ioseb’s wife says that she hopes at least the President of Georgia will help her family. She has already prepared a letter for the President. In fact, most of the locals think that the President does not know about the deeds of the regional government:

“Mr. President, we greet you and send you our best wishes. Mr. Misha, you have done many good things for Georgians. May god bless you and make you strong,” this is how Marina and Ioseb Metrevelis begin their letter to the president to win the president’s sympathy.

“My house is much damaged. It is impossible to live there. It is very difficult to live in that village (Kvemo Nikozi) too. One can hear the sound of shootings in the village every day. We live in a kindergarten now. We live below poverty level. I receive only 125 GEL per month. The money was allotted to me in March, 2009. You know quite well that this amount is not enough to sustain the family. I have a husband and 3 minor children. They are 7, 6 and 3 years old. We are expecting the fourth child by October 2, 2009. One of my children does not have a kidney. I have applied to the governor but he neglected my appeal and my problems,” wrote Marina Metreveli in her letter.

The Metrevelis write about their house in Kvemo Nikozi in the letter. The house is not fit for living. The house was roofed but the ceiling was not made, windows are not in order. The walls are dissolving. The Metrevelis might face eviction from the kindergarten. Then they will have to return to Kvemo Nikozi and live in this house.

“I was promised health insurance but have not received it so far. My three-year-old child needs a surgery on tonsils. We cannot afford the operation,” complains Marina Metreveli.

The Shodi Kartli Regional Governor’s Office has studidthis issue (about insurance) since August 3, 2009.

 It is claimed that he regional governor and all his deputies are on vacation. The inhabitants of Plavi and Nikozi do not believe that the governor and his deputies are all on vacation. They demanded to see the chambers of Vardzelashvili, the Shida Kartli Regional Governor.  An angry secretary opened the toilet doors and told them, you can look for him in the toilet too….