Van Sewerage and Water Administration (VASKİ), run by the trustee mayor, billed the city’s shopkeepers for the road maintenance work carried out on the streets.

Trustee mayor M. Emin Bilmez told the complaining shopkeepers that “VASKİ is in financial difficulty, you can help us by paying for it.”

Last month, VASKİ, affiliated with the Van Metropolitan Municipality governed by the trustee, renovated the water pipes that were damaged due to the pavement and cobblestone works on Yüzbaşıoğlu Street.

During the renovation, the shopkeepers on Yüzbaşıoğlu Street had to close their shops for a week. However, the final blow to the local shopkeepers came from VASKİ.

VASKİ charged the shopkeepers for the renovation work carried out by the Van Metropolitan Civil Works Department. A 600 TL invoice was issued to each shopkeeper.

The shopkeepers on the street complained about the invoices to trustee mayor Bilmez. However, Bilmez designated VASKİ as the injured party instead of the shopkeepers, saying that “VASKİ is in financial difficulty, you can help us by paying for it.”

‘WE WERE MISTREATED AGAIN’

“I was charged 1,400 TL. We levelled a charge against the bills, but they charged us 600 TL as a service fee. We are already suffering from the pandemic restrictions. During the infrastructure work on our street, our shops were closed for a week, our water was cut off, and we were charged for this, too. I have been a shopkeeper here for years and this is the first time I have faced such mistreatment. We want this wrong to be reversed,” Faruk Demir, a local shopkeeper, said.

LIKE AN APARTMENT BUILDING MANAGER

“We are shopkeepers here. Road maintenance works were carried out on our street, but we were asked a fee of 1,600 TL as a service fee. The municipality has just done a service it is supposed to do. They started asking for money from us, like an apartment building manager. The shopkeepers were all mistreated,” Orhan Yavuz, another local shopkeeper, expressed his reaction.