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Friday, January 25, 2013
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‘Somebody needs to care about them’ Fifty of the 250 poor families in Paphos have had electricity cut off, councillor says By Bejay Browne
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ORE than 50 of the 250 families in the outlying areas of Paphos who volunteers say need urgent help, have had their electricity cut as they are unable to pay their bills, it emerged yesterday. The volunteer group headed by local businesswoman Pavlina Patsalou and Paphos councillor, George Sofokleous, who also owns a hairdressing salon, issued an urgent plea earlier in the week to help the families involved but they can only do so much. Sofokleous, said: “I spend most of my time trying to find food and clothing for about 250 families in Paphos who have big problems. Somebody needs to care about these people- at the moment it’s only us.” The volunteers started the programme around 18 months ago, helping around 20 families. This number has now mushroomed to more than 250 and is increasing on an almost daily basis. The councillor said most are without work, some have large families with five children or more, some are without homes and others without electricity. He said that one of the families has been living without electricity for more than two weeks. “If you don’t have mon-
ey it’s not possible to pay the bills. There are about 50 families who are trying and failing- every month to pay these bills. The electricity authority often says ‘pay half now and half next month’ but it’s impossible for these people to find any money if they don’t have work. We are trying to do whatever we can to helpbut it’s very hard and the electricity board can’t help at the moment.” A spokesman at the Electricity Authority in Paphos said yesterday he was unable to comment and the EAC spokesman in Nicosia was unavailable. A growing number of families and individuals, who have become victims of the economic crisis, live outside the boundaries of Paphos municipality and therefore don’t qualify for help from the social welfare fund, or they are receiving a small amount of benefits, which isn’t enough to cover even the basic needs, yet disqualifies them for help from the municipality. Due to the growing numbers of people desperate for help, and the amounts of money which the group needs to raise, they are opening a dedicated bank account next week and filing all of the relevant documents with the state to ensure it’s all legal and transparent. “Some people are donating food or clothes and some are giving money.
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A €150-MILLION BOOST FOR THE ECONOMY
The government sealed a deal yesterday granting an Italian-Korean joint venture a concession to drill for hydrocarbons in three offshore blocks off Cyprus. Commerce Minister Neoclis Sylikiotis (left) shakes on the deal with representatives of the consortium (Photo: Christos Theodorides) SEE STORY PAGE 4
Thousands of crocodiles on the loose after South Africa floods By Peroshni Govender SOME 15,000 crocodiles escaped from a South African reptile farm in flood waters this week and were on the loose in and around one of southern Africa’s biggest rivers, a newspaper reported yesterday. “There used to be only a few crocodiles in the Limpopo River. Now there are a lot,” Zane Langman, whose in-laws own the farm in the northern part of the country told Beeld newspaper. Langman said only half the escaped crocodiles from the
Rakwena Crocodile Farm close to the Botswana border had been recaptured, the report said. Langman added that farm gates were opened out of fear that the rushing flood water would crush the crocodiles. Officials from the farm were not immediately available for comment. One crocodile apparently from the farm was captured about 120 km (75 miles) away at a school rugby field, the report said. Heavy rains and flooding have claimed at least 20 lives in Mozambique and South Africa and led to the evacuations of thousands.