The absence of the government from the burned areas of Evia was denounced by the president of SYRIZA-Progressive Alliance, Alexis Tsipras, upon his arrival at the first stop of his tour, in Istiaia, Evia, expressing his concern for the serious delay in the flood defenses. as well as the lack of support for affected households.
Specifically, the leader of the official opposition described as “unthinkable” the fact that “three months after this catastrophe, Mr. Mitsotakis simply appointed a person to undertake the reconstruction and the long-term plans concerning procedures for after three years, they are about today, and he did not even come to shake a hand, to slap his back, to say a courage to the local government, to the mayors, to the people, to the citizens “.
During the meeting he had with stakeholders in Istiaia and the region, Mr. Tsipras stressed that his anxiety for today and tomorrow of the residents “was the reason why before the reconstruction and recovery plans, we proposed immediately after the disaster on August 25, to provide for an emergency income for those whose income is zero or radically reduced “.
He noted that “for the majority of residents, their income has fallen sharply, while for others it has zeroed, such as for resin growers, beekeepers, stockbreeders, olive growers, while liabilities are running and rising, while electricity tariffs are doubled. and prices are rising for all species. “
He reminded that the proposal of SYRIZA-PS provides 400 euros for the first adult of each family, 200 euros for every second and in addition of 100 euros for each child “so that these families can stand on their own two feet”, ringing the alarm bell so as not to “force whole families to become refugees in their own place”.
At the same time, as the second critical issue, he characterized the need “to proceed quickly with the anti-flood works”, because “after such a great disaster, the next one that follows is that of the floods”. He stressed that not only have the required flood defenses not been carried out after the catastrophic fire three months ago and contrasting that in Cyprus during the same period they were implemented in similar cases, but “flood defenses have not yet been carried out after the deadly floods of summer 2020 that we had 8 dead in Evia “.
“Even this bureaucratic state machine can run faster if there is political will,” Tsipras said, referring to the chronic pathogenesis of the state mechanism.
The third critical issue, underlined the president of SYRIZA PS that is the utilization of the local workforce in rehabilitation projects, something that so far does not happen as he said, since in the only projects that have been done, those of logging, has not been utilized. In this context, he proposed “the creation of a program of community service similar to what we did as a government”, which will involve five-year recruitment of foresters, resin producers from the affected areas, necessary work in the burned forests.
He described as “self-evident” the need to convert the repayable advance into a non-repayable one for the local businessmen, while calling for its immediate legislation along with tax relief, while calling for the immediate payment of compensation “which has not yet been paid in full” to victims .
Finally, he called on the residents to join forces so that northern Evia is not forgotten, as he estimated “the coming winter is a critical and difficult winter”. “It will be hard for all of Greece, it will be even harder for the people of Evia,” he said.
Following his tour, Mr. Tsipras will have a meeting at noon with local bodies in Achladi, in the Municipality of Mantoudi -Limni- Agia Anna, while at 7 in the afternoon he will give a keynote address in Chalkida.
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