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Firewood is Inaccessible for People Living near the Forest

November 26, 2007

Three months ago it started to become cold in Abastumani, a resort town. The population remained without firewood all this time. They have to collect the firewood in the snow. The reason for this is that the assigned amounts of firewood for each family can only be found in remote places. In addition the distribution of vouchers for firewood was late this year.

The Abastumani population claims that 80 % of them have not received any firewood.

“We brought tree branches from the forest and warmed ourselves with them. This winter, many people have not had any wood,” - said Maia Tuskadze from Abastumani.

A week ago it snowed in Abastumani. One part of the population has finally received voucher for firewood. Local people have stated that the snow comes up to the knees in the forest and the transportation of firewood has become practically impossible; the vouchers will expire within 24 hours.

“I took a voucher but they assigned inaccessible areas for the collection of firewood and not a single car can reach the destination, even in summer. And If I fail to collect the firewood within time limit my vouchers will lose their validity,” - states Abastumani dweller Rezo Okromelidze.

Resort dwellers express their dissatisfaction about the amount of firewood assigned to them. According to Giorgi Tatiashvili in Abastumani, the winter continues until the end of April and more than 10 cubic meters of firewood is necessary for a single family. The amount assigned to a family is ranging from 5 to 8 cubic meters. ”The firewood which we collected is not enough because the winter lasts for six months here. We are always in trouble. 1 Cubic meter costs 70 lari and we do not have money to purchase firewood.”

Zurab Chilingarishvili, the governor of the Adigeni municipality, considers this year successful with regard to the provision of firewood.” This is the only year when we started firewood distribution in August and those who wished to get vouchers managed to collect firewood. So we cannot force the others to take vouchers.”

We failed to find a family in Abastumani which did not wish to collect firewood. Some people are dissatisfied because they did not receive a voucher, others because of a lack of firewood.

“Wood-funds should have been available earlier which would have enabled the population to fetch the firewood. I have collected 8 cubic meters in heavy snow and mud. For us even 20 cubic meters would not be enough and I cannot imagine how we will survive this winter. We use chips as well. It never happened before that wood-funds were launched in October. We have to walk approximately 10 km into the woods in this horrible weather. People are suffering,” - told one of the dwellers who was about to cut down snow-covered wood.

The governor denies being late in handing out the vouchers and accusess the Abastumani dwellers of carelessness: “All of them wanted to take vouchers for Borjom-Kharagauli Park because it is nearby. The Park administration assigned only 1500 cubic meters. More than 700 families live in Abastumani. How much would be enough for all of them? They expected to get vouchers for nearby territories, but when they found out that the decision would not be changed they started to solve this problem.”

Resort Abastumani is not exception. The other villages in the Adigeni district and its population also have problems.

77-Year-old Sandre Aprimashvili, who lives in the village of Arali, has not fetched any firewood yet: “I cannot do it. I am ill. If I hire a worker I will have to pay him 10 lari a day. The cost of a car and fuel will amount to 80 lari and I cannot afford to pay such a large sum. My monthly income is my pension - 38 lari. How I will survive this winter I do not know.”

Omar Maisuradze, living in the village of Benari in the Adigeni district, has decided to warm himself with apple trees or its branches cut from his orchard. He collects it by using a two-wheel barrel and a horse. ”Otherwise we will freeze?!”

Irakli Gelashvili, the head of the regional department of Samtskhe-Javakheti, states that serious problems do not exist in the region and the population is supplied with firewood.

“We only had some problems during this process. We have started the tender two weeks later than usual and the winner of the tender should have to mark the trees which can be cut down. Autumn works are finished, when people harvested their crops and started to collect firewood it started snowing and the roads were blocked. We are checking the on-going situation in the villages of the region,” - said the head of the forest department, although the problems existing in Abastuamni was surprising news to him.   

According to him, the vouchers will remain valid and the 24 hours term should not harm the population : “The vouchers will be taken when everything is arranged. If some problems appear they will have to inform a ranger and they will prolong the time.”

Notwithstanding the controversial statements of local population and the representatives of the governmental bodies the fact remains that people are facing a severe winter without firewood.


Gulo Kokhodze, Abastumani.   

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