Government’s “New Year Surprise” for Traders

Traders of the Borjomi Market have been holding demonstrations in front of the Administrative Board's building for a week already. They are demanding to open the market and criticize their transferring to a new market-building in the suburb. However, their demonstration has had no result yet.

The traders call the December the worst month in their life. One morning, they were not allowed into the market to trade. They were told to go to the suburb near Charkhistskali.

The demonstrators say that the government threatened them to beat with clubs to force them out of the building.

"The government made a great surprise for this New Year. They locked the market and forced us to the suburb. It means a death for us. The market has been here for many years and we wonder, who has decided to move it to the suburb," said one of the demonstrators, Dato Kareli.

"We want them to let us stay in the market for a while. We rely on this market and if they lock it we will die of starvation. We earn very little money even here and if we move in that distant place nobody will come there for shopping. Somebody should help us," said Lamzira Feradze, a trader.

The traders complain about the high fees in the new market too.

"Somebody has built a commercial market and estimated the higher fees than they were before. A trader, who stands in the market to earn some money, will not be able to pay such a high fee," said one of the demonstrators and a trader, Nazi Kapanadze.

Mevlud Talakvadze, the director of the new market, claims the opposite, "The building was built in high standards and the everyday fee has not been much changed either," he said.

The demonstrators think that local government does not care about their problems at all.

"We spoke with the new governor, but he was drunk and was getting on our nerves. He made us more furious," said Iamze Tutisani, the trader.

The new governor of the district, Temur Stefnadze says that, "The market will be moved to the suburb because Borjomi is a resort-town and we will have problems during the season. Thus, the area of the Charkhistskali was declared to be a shopping area and the Administrative Board ordered to move the market there. The government will not change its idea," the new governor is too categorical.

Local Government is going to start the Transit Centre on the place of the old market. From the next year, the workers of the tourist centre will be trained there and the professions regarding the resort area will be paid more attention. The traders' fate is not decided yet.
         
        

 Gulo Kokhodze, Borjomi