Press release
Pejë, July 20- The initiating group against the demolition of the school for the blind in Pejë, consisting of the NGO Syri i Vizioni, the Association of the Blind of Kosovo and the CBMK Xheladin Deda, on Friday held a press conference in which it expressed its opposition to the plans for the demolition of this building for the needs of building a building for the Court of Peja.
They have asked the initiating parties to give up this idea and look for another destination for the object in question, without having to destroy something of value to Pejas, to build something else.
Daut Tishuki, president of the Association of the Blind, said that “the blind of Kosovo are worried and sad about this decision”. He has said that there is a continuous history of the deportation of blind people from one institution to another since the 70s of the last century, therefore this time they are ready and organized to oppose this plan in any way .
Xhavit Kastrati, director of CBMK Xheladin Deda, has said that the school for the blind is impossible to move since many investments have been made in the internal and external space of the facility and they are very specific for this category. Any other type of location makes it impossible to access both physically and in transport for blind people who come from all municipalities of Kosovo and abroad.
Whereas Veton Mujaj from the NGO Syri i Vizioni has estimated that the logic of the ruins must be put to an end and for this there will be a strong and continuous reaction since dozens of organizations have already joined the initiating group determined to oppose.
The initiating group from the conference has distributed a call to all organizations, institutions and citizens to support this opposition in an organized manner until the initiators give up this project and find more adequate choices.
Three ministries, the Ministry of Social Welfare, the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Public Administration, together with the Municipality of Peja, have selected this space to build the Court of Peja, without informing the school or the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology in advance. This decision has also irritated the citizens of Peja, civil society, etc. as the building is one of the symbols of Peja’s heritage, built by the Austro-Hungarians not only for infrastructure, but also served as Peja’s Hospital and in other functions.
Peja, July 20, 2018
The initiator group:
Eye of Vision, Veton Mujaj- executive director; tel. 044 111 408
Association of the Blind of Kosovo, Daut Tishuki, chairman; tel. 045 534 622
QBMK “Xheladin Deda”, Xhavit Kastrati, director; tel. 049 273 418
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