State to help fire affected shop owners with banks

Tbilisi Mayor’s Office has made a statement in which they said that they will mediate with banks to ease the burden of those shop owners who were affected by a fire in the capital city on July 2.

The statement came after the affected shop owners demanded the state budget to cover their losses.

More than 15 shops were burnt after a powerful fire occurred inside a construction, repair and auto-parts shop at the so-called Eliava market.

Up to 150 firefighters tried to put out the fire in Didube district.

It is estimated that a total of 2,300 m2 caught fire.

Four people, including one firefighter, suffered minor injuries.

Three of them were provided medical care on-site while one was taken to hospital.

Tbilisi Mayor David Narmania said that most of the businesses at the market did not have their goods insured.

Tbilisi City Hall issued a statement saying that after the total amount of losses is assessed, the Revenue Service would free the shopkeepers from the financial burden for the goods that have been burnt.

Now Tbilisi Mayor’s Office says that the only thing they can do is to mediate with banks and somehow ease the burden of the affected people, as many of them face obligations and debts to the banks.

Freeing the shopkeepers from the financial burden for the goods that have been burnt also remains as one of the supporting measures.

The opposition, meanwhile, commented on the frequent fires which break out at such markets, in central parts of Tbilisi, and suspect that the fires were deliberate, aimed at providing opportunities for other business projects.

Of course, this is a matter for the official investigation.

There is also the issue that almost all the people affected by such occasions generally hold protest rallies and demand from the government to pay for their damage, but many of the people do not have their products insured.

The role of the government is to maintain safety standards in the country.

However, the people must also think about the safety norms and also use insurance schemes.

It is impossible and wrong to demand compensations from the state budget, because the shop keepers themselves ignored civilized ways of insuring the goods and thus survive the disaster.