IDPs Settled in Berbuki Village

Tea Tedliashvili, Gori

The government is boasting about the cottages built for IDPs and the plots that were assigned to the internally displaced people as private properties. However, as yet nobody has registered the cottages and the plots t. Although, the IDPs have been requesting to be employed most of them still are unemployed.

The government assigned a 50 sq. plot to each IDP family but they have not yet been able to find jobs. The residents of the village of Berbuki, Gori district, who were trained by a non-governmental organization, request to open enterprises in their village where they can be employed.

Avtandil Okropiridze is a village-head of Berbuki. He is an IDP too and an administrator of the collective center of the Ministry of Refugees and Accommodation. His family was internally displaced for the second time already; initially he was forced out of Tskhinvali and then from Disevi.

The president promised the students from the so-called buffer zone and for IDPs that their studies would be free. Lela Okropiridze, daughter of Avtandil Okropiridze, entered the Master degree course of Gori State University in January of 2009. However, she cannot attend the lectures because she has not yet been funded by the government. The IDP family cannot pay the registration fee of 250 GEL to the university. The Okropiridzes applied to the Ministry of the Education for help. They petitioned to Badri Basishvili, MP from Liakhvi Valley, who could not assist them and suggested the family to petition to the Ministry of Education. Officials from the Shida Kartli regional administration, however, stated that deadline for submitting applications of IDP students finished three weeks ago and the final version has already been sent to the Ministry of Education. So, they cannot make any changes to the list now.

Natia Omadze, spokesperson of the Regional Governor, said: “This program was working for IDP students from the so called buffer zone for students studying for a Master Degree as well as for the students studying for a Bachelor Degree. If this person had applied to us on time, we would have assisted her by all means but now we cannot do anything.”

Ana Jebisashvili, chief specialist of the regional development service department of Shida Kartli, created the list of students and stated that President is going to fund those students studying for q Master Degree who entered the course through National Exams. She said: “People were mistaken when thinking that they would be funded by the state IDP students and students from the villages in the buffer zone, as well as students living in Sukhishvili and Khakhutashvili streets in Gori, were funded by the state, both those studying for a bachelor degree and those studying for a master degree; if they entered the institute in August or September. Other students were not funded because this program envisaged the funding of studies for 2008-2009. How could those who passed exams in 2009 be funded in 2008? Consequently, these students were not on the list who entered the institute in August-September because all students should have been funded from the budget in August.”

Many IDPs, like Lela Okropiridze, misunderstood the situation. They entered the Master Course hoping the state would assist them. However, since they could not pay the fee themselves they cannot attend the lectures. The population which is internally displaced from the place of their residence is demanding assistance from the government.