Residents of Georgia pointed to shortcomings in the law on mountaineers’ support

The allowances and benefits provided for by the law "On Development of Mountain Districts" are insignificant, residents of such districts of Georgia assert. They are confident that in the first place the authorities should grant them the land ownership.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that last July the Georgian parliament passed a bill, by which residents of mountainous districts of the country will receive higher pensions, and local entrepreneurs will enjoy tax benefits.

According to the Ministry of Regional Development and Infrastructure of Georgia, the above law comes into force on January 1, 2017, covering residents of 1682 dwelling settlements with allowances and benefits.

In particular, pensioners will get a monthly surcharge of 25% (216 laris = about 95 US dollars), and teachers – 35% to their salaries. It is assumed to pay monthly allowance of 100 laris (44 USD) to families on the first and second newborns, and twice as that – for the third and subsequent ones.

According to the census of 2014, there are about 300,000 mountaineers in the country.

This year, 35 million laris (about 15.4 million US dollars) have been allocated for the programme, said Tengiz Shergelashvili, a deputy head of the above ministry.

According to Paata Sheshelidze, an economist and the head of the NGO "New School of Economics", it would be reasonable to provide more independence to mountaineers.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.