They claim that from 1980 onwards they contributed to the development of tourism in the area and that the municipality should not have thrown them out of the margins, in the way it did, with a monopoly and a vague legislative justification.
In their statements, they complained that the mayor and his Municipal Council, acting arbitrarily and arbitrarily, led 32 families, who lived from the management of beds and umbrellas and 11 who maintained water sports, to unemployment and financial disaster, due to the unjust with which they were expelled from their workplaces. Unorthodox way because, according to them, the opinion of the Prosecutor General's Office to regain the management of the beaches by the municipalities is not a decision but a suggestion of an official to the Attorney General and proof of this is that a number of municipalities did not take it into account, pending final decision of the Advocate General.
In addition, since the decision of the municipality has been challenged in the Court of Justice where lawsuits are pending against the municipality, the municipality should have expected to clarify the issue legally and not to create them by expelling them.
The water sports administrators complained in their statements that in various ways the mayor of Ayia Napa, even taking them out of his office, did not actually allow them to apply to re-claim their jobs even under the new regime. As a result, they have been inactive and unemployed for 15-16 months, unable to repay debts and running costs, and their equipment, worth hundreds of thousands of euros, rotting unused.
On the same side of the issue, former bed and umbrella managers said the reality of Ayia Napa mayor's public claim that he offered them employment under the new regime and compensation was different, but they refused.
As they reported, they were offered the ridiculous amount of 21 thousand euros in compensation, at a time when the value of their equipment was four times higher. In addition, they were offered a salary of 800 to a thousand euros for a semester, so that they are entitled to unemployment benefits for the rest of the year. With these data, which if they accepted their families would starve, the former managers of umbrellas and beach beds had no choice but to try to fight the issue legally, "since they were essentially proposed by the municipality to commit suicide," they said. also.
New complaints
In the last days, the complaints against the owners of kiosks on the beaches are added to the complaints against the Mayor of Ayia Napa. They criticize Mr. Karousos that when he tries to close them, he pretends not to see such booths of municipal councilors, but also of his own interests, reinforcing the feelings of the people of Ayia Napa for "mortals" and "non-mortals".
Statements on the issue were made by the following influential people in the Municipality of Ayia Napa: George Martis, Evangelos Georgiou, George Kallikas, Varnavas Kaikkis, Iakovos Tzortzis, Nikos Nikolaou, Andreas Zintilis and Antonis Kentrou.
Increased revenue
Regarding the reports of the Mayor of Ayia Napa about increased revenues that the Municipality is expected to have this year from the management of umbrellas and beds on its beaches, the former managers claimed that, according to the statements of Mr. Karousos, these revenue by October from about one and a half million to three to three and a half million.
It is hidden, however, they claimed, that the Municipality of Ayia Napa, after evicting them, proceeded to install, on average, three times the number of beds and umbrellas, at the expense of the quality of the tourist product. Furthermore, the Municipality overestimated, at a very high level, the hotel charging fees, which rent for their own account the municipal beds and umbrellas. With these data, it was logical next to increase revenues, they added, but insisting that on the beaches of the Municipality these species are numerous. This is very obvious and is detrimental to the quality of the tourism product.
The former managers also claimed that a game was played against them, which leads to "convenience of mothers" and victimizes themselves, but also 80-100 employees who had in their companies. The former managers of the beaches and water sports in Ayia Napa stressed that they ask the Mayor to respect their human rights and allow them to return to their jobs.
Source: Liberal