site.btaPrime Minister, Other Cabinet Members Visit Disaster Areas

Prime Minister, Other Cabinet Members Visit Disaster Areas

Smolyan, Southern Bulgaria, March 14 (BTA) - The central government will compensate
local authorities for the additional expenses they have incurred
 in mitigating the effects of several days of heavy snow, Prime
Minister Boyko Borissov said on Saturday, speaking at a news
conference in Smolyan, which is at the heart of one of the
worst-hit areas. Borissov expects that by the time the Council
of Ministers holds its next meeting on Wednesday, mayors in
Smolyan Region will have informed him about the damage caused by
 the disaster, so that the central government can help them.

Borissov was in Smolyan with Regional Development and Public
Works Minister Liliyana Pavlova and Defence Minister Nikolay
Nenchev for a meeting of the regional emergency centre in
connection with the week-long state of disaster proclaimed there
 on account of the disruptions caused by unusually abundant
snow.

Borissov said he will demand the most severe penalties for cell
phone companies after many of their cells in Smolyan Region were
 switched off following snow-induced failures in the power grid,
 leaving dozens of communities cut off from the rest of the
country.

The government will propose new legislation concerning the
status of roads and power transmission lines in order to ensure
adequate forest clearings in vulnerable areas. The step comes
after snow-knocked trees broke many power lines in the
highlands. According to Borissov, the disaster has revealed
decades-old problems, such as roads in Smolyan Region which do
not meet official standards.

Environment and Water Minister Ivelina Vassileva and Agriculture
 and Food Minister Dessislava Taneva travelled to Malo Konare in
 the southwestern Pazardjik Region to examine the disaster
situation there firsthand. Hundreds of houses in this and other
villages in the area (Hadjievo, Ognyanovo and Dobrovnitsa) have
been flooded.

Vassileva said that the level of underground water has risen
considerably and this is the main reason for the flooding.
According to Taneva, farmers whose fields have been flooded can
receive compensation.