DUSHANBE, September 6, 2012, Asia-Plus – Dushanbe Mayor Mahmadsaid Ubaidulloyev today met merchants running shops at Dushanbe’s biggest merchandise market, Korvon.
He noted that a special commission would be set up to assess the actual loss caused to merchants by Wednesday’s fire. He also offered to include representatives of the market merchants on the commission.
The mayor promised that the investigation would be fair and transparent. He also noted that merchants did not know their rights and no one of them had concluded a contract with the market administration.
Ubaidulloyev also promised that the terms of repayment of loans that had been taken by merchants for developing their businesses would be extended for two years. According to him, the market will be rebuilt, but not at merchants’ own charge.
We will recall that a fire broke out at the Korvon market Wednesday evening, at a little after five. Witnesses say the fire started in several places. At first, guards and merchants attempted to extinguish the fire on their own, but when the fire spread to several dozen shops the market guards called out the firemen.
Some 30 fire crews were involved in extinguishing the fire at the Korvon market. They managed to put out the fire only in four hours.
Merchants running shops at the market say the wholesale storages of the market were practically destroyed completely.
According to unconfirmed information, at least three persons – two men and one woman – were killed in the fire while salvaging their properties.
In the meantime, the Russian news agency Itar-Tass quoted Tajik Interior Minister Ramazon Rahimov as saying on September 6 that one person was killed and three others injured in the fire at the Korvon market.
A spontaneous rally began near the Korvon market Thursday morning. Several thousand people reportedly gathered near the market administration demanding meeting with the market administrators. The Asia-Plus’s correspondent said people gave way to despair because many of them incurred many thousands of dollars in losses.
Several hundred people later went along the Nemat Qaraboyev and Saadi Sherozi streets. They were going to the center of the city when they were stooped near Tojiktekstil (Dushanbe-based textile plant) and Dushanbe Mayor Mahmadsaid Ubaidulloyev came out to meet with the demonstrators. The demonstrators, however, did not want to listen to the mayor and were going to go to the center of the city but police officers stopped them. Police officers put the demonstrators on the buses and returned to the Korvon market, where Mayor Ubaidulloyev met with them.
The Interior Ministry sent additional forces to the market area Thursday morning to prevent possible disorders.
