The arbitrary way in which the Uzbek authorities are tearing down shops and
cafes which they say were built without permission has angered traders in the
eastern Uzbekistan city of Namangan.
Many of these small trade outlets - some of them self-standing structures and
others built as extensions to apartment blocks - were put up not in accordance
with planning rules, yet they have existed over many years, and their owners
say the sudden wave of demolitions is unfair and deprives them of their income
source.
The municipal authorities launched the demolition campaign after President
Islam Karimov visited Namangan, a city of nearly half a million people, in
July, during which he remarked that he did not like the look of the place.
Cafes, bakeries and other outlets set up as small-scale business to meet the
demand for local services, while other do-it-yourself
structures - mainly built onto first-floor apartments - serve as housing.
One person in Namangan said demolition teams had razed 160 businesses outlets
so far, and estimated that this had put more than 1,000 people out of work.
"The city looks like there's been a war," said the source.
A man who gave his name as Alisher said his brother's shop had recently been
destroyed.
"The city administration said this was done to improve the appearance of the
city, and claimed his shop was an eyesore," he said. "The shop was providing
for my brother's family and now he doesn't have the money to build another one
somewhere else."
An official from the mayor's office, speaking on condition of anonymity, said a
decision was taken to take down buildings where owners had failed to comply
with regulations.
"There were cafes with the wrong documentation, and shops that fell below the
required standards," he said. "We did warn them, but they didn't heed us. So
the city government was forced into taking these buildings down."
Alisher is left feeling that the real motive for the demolitions may have been
a desire to seek favor with Karimov.
"I sometimes think that bureaucrats will stop at nothing to please the
president," he said. "The president didn't like the shops, so they got
demolished, and no one cares what the shop owner will do now."
Namangan is not the first town in Uzbekistan to undergo a forcible makeover.
Andijan, 60 kilometers further up the Fergana Valley, has gone through a
similar process. One of the city's suburban districts was cleared of makeshift
structures in 2006, and the trees planted in their place soon died.
Even now, says one local observer, "It's as if a huge tank has rolled through
the city crushing everything in its path."
A new wave of demolitions targeting Andijan's remaining suburban areas started
this spring.
In the far northwest of Uzbekistan, numerous shops and apartment extensions
were destroyed in Urgench over the summer. Even those that had received
planning permission were not exempt, and their owners were told things had now
changed.
In the historic city of Samarkand in the west of the country, shopkeepers on
one of the main central streets received letters in July telling them the
buildings were scheduled for clearance, although in this case they were
promised land elsewhere by way of compensation.
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