Paphos rats get eviction order

PAPHOS MUNICIPALITY has launched a clean up of one of the town’s most rundown areas after it was reported that an eight-year-old boy was bitten by a rodent last week.

The area which is a combination of residences, shops and small industries has been a nagging headache for municipality councillors who admit the situation has reached a state of complete chaos.

Paphos municipal councillor Tefkros Koulountis, who is also president of the municipality’s health and cleanliness committee which is behind the cleanup campaign, said the rodent bite had brought the matter to a head.

“Residents have complained about the situation several times in the past…We had wanted to clean up the area for quite some time and this was the breaking point,” he told the Cyprus Mail yesterday.

According to Koulountis the specific area, which he did not name, was in a state of total disarray.
“Unfortunately measures were not taken sooner and the area is completely run down,” he said.
“People have abandoned cars in fields, there are metal rods strewn about and it has been left to the mercy of who knows what. There are also some empty fields which have been become completely out of hand, with people just using them as a dumping ground for their garbage and other people have taken over the pavements to display their merchandise.”

In an effort to clamp down on the problem, the committee has suggested reporting individuals who contributed to the problem such as the merchants who use the pavements to peddle their goods and people who used the abandoned fields as their personal dumping ground.

Koulountis said the municipality was discussing how to clear the fields belonging to Turkish Cypriots with the help of the Guardian of Turkish Cypriot properties.

“The area needs to be cleaned up. It’s out of control… Where people fail to comply with our instructions they will face prosecutions,” he warned.

He added: “This could have happened anywhere because of the disorder which has been allowed to prevail, but we are taking action and the issue will be dealt with.”
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The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.