Mr. Gevorgyan places this field as the first of many fields because the people working in this field must know how to serve the people. The law on Trade and Services was passed in December 2004 and is applied since January 1, 2006. According to Karen Gevorgyan, this one year gap for applying the law was so that traders get well-informed about the requirements. The municipality has handed out the booklets about the law on trade and services to the Local Authority Bodies (LAB) so that they can inform store owners about the prohibitions stated in the law. Mr. Gevorgyan said that there are going to be check-ups on LABs and the corresponding ministries starting from February 1st. The officials of the Ministries of Agriculture, Health, Trade and Economic Development have the right to do check-ups.
“Whereas the fine for violating administrative laws used to be 300 drams, now the fine has been increased thanks to the law reforms made by the National Assembly. Starting from January 1, people that violate the law will be fined 10,000-20,000 drams,” said K. Gevorgyan.
According to him, the law does not state anything about street trade, so this means that street trade is forbidden by law. Selling circulated gas is also forbidden by law because that goes against security regulations. As a matter of fact, the mayor has ordered the Police of Armenia to follow up on street trade along with the Local Authority Bodies. Throughout the year of 2006, all stores and markets will be listed and regulated.
“It’s time for us to regulate each store and market and teach each one a lesson. Some stores will be destructed and other will be constructed. These regulations will help regulate street trade as a whole,” said Mr.Gevorgyan.
Funeral items will be sold near the cemeteries
Last year, the budget helped make some reforms at the cemeteries. The money provided was also used to build 2 new cemeteries-a model cemetery and a pantheon-cemetery. The land of the model cemetery located in the Spandaryan community will be provided in 2 sizes: family (3 by 4, which is 12 square meters) and individual (1.2 by 2 meters where monuments will be installed). In the upcoming months, 135 million drams will be provided for improving the cemeteries. After the “Law on Funerals” is adopted, funeral items will no longer be sold on the streets, but rather near the cemeteries.
Animals will take shots
The municipality’s trade service department also coordinates the injections on animals. Judging from the numerous phone calls, Mr. Gevorgyan has come to the conclusion that our people are split in two.
“One side wants us to hunt, catch the animals and inject them to remove any bacteria, while the other side wants us to be more humanitarian by following the European requirements; basically, according to them, we can’t inject animals; we have to have the corresponding clinics, take the animals there, sterilize them and then inject the patients. As for the healthy people, we simply have to let them go. Last year, we announced two contests for these kinds of injections but received no reply. On August 20 of last year, we announced another contest-this time for both types,” said Mr. Gevorgyan. So, the results of the contest will show how to treat the animals.