Mayor of Ignalina J.Rasikas: it is unpleasant to see his city in the background, but at least there is something to resist

For many, Ignalina is associated with lakes and forests: This image of this city is seen most often in advertising photos, which many people remember.

In the Lake District, there are several hundred, many more remote or public places to bathe, the coasts are determined by farms, bridges or simply covered in trees. However, the area, endowed with natural resources, is struggling to get out of the economic stagnation pit.

It occupies the last place

In the 2019 ranking of municipalities compiled by the Lithuanian Free Market Institute, the municipality of the Ignalina district remained the last among the small municipalities.

It can be seen that an area better than the average is not classified here, economic activity remains low, there is a great lack of investment, the number of unemployed reaches 14.8% and social benefits are received at 7.5%. population, with an average of only 3.8% among small municipalities. population.

In December, the Vilnius Institute for Policy Analysis also published the Municipal Well-Being Index, in which the Municipality of Neringa was in first place, and the Ignalina District was rated the worst.

The mayor of the Ignalina district admits that this municipality is certainly not prosperous. He assumed leadership of the city last spring, when he won the elections, defeating the former mayor of the district, the “peasant” Henrik Šiaudinis.

“It just came to our attention then. As you have seen in many publications, Ignalina is portrayed as a backward country, and we are also the 60th ranked municipality.

It is definitely not the most pleasant thing to see his municipality in the background, although some say he is grateful to be able to resist from the bottom. But the bottom has not yet been reached, we are still drooling, laughing and so far we are only trying to stick past those invisible walls.

It is very difficult to demonstrate that the earth is still alive, many people think that we are closed to business, people come. That is what you feel when you invite entrepreneurs to invest in our country, ”said J.Rasikas.

According to the mayor, he often hears from businessmen the question of why no one has built here, say, a sanitarium for so many years. Everyone understands that the place is ideal for recreation, health and sport.

“The answer is simple and extraordinary. Apparently, people were not welcome. That impression comes from those years and a half that I have to lead. Everyone is very closed, and the attitude of people towards the entrepreneur is like going back to the 1990s. Now we are doing things that should have been done 20 or more years ago: an investment promotion program, incentives for entrepreneurs, etc., “J.Rasikas spared no criticism from his predecessors.

Strange statistics

The Ignalina region is famous for its rural tourism: there are more than a dozen of these farms, they are completely full, so you may not have a place to stay at any time. However, according to official statistics from the Department of Statistics, Ignalina is not brilliant here either, since only 9 thousand people are counted per year. tourists

“It just caught our eye then. Last year, the number of people who visited Palūšė beach was calculated, that is, more than 900 per day, and only in Palūšė, although there are also many lakes, in Ignalina. We are missing hotels, this is one of those things where we try to invite people to invest in hotels, well-being. We have plots suitable for investment, near Lake Gavi in ​​the city. We also have mineral water there, it was specially sought for us to have the state of a resort, “said the mayor.

Marija Garejeva, director of the Ignalina Tourist Information Center (TIC), also supported the mayor regarding the calculation of tourists. According to her, there are around 60 lodgings and 14 campsites in the area.

“About fifteen hundred people can spend the night under the roof in Ignalina at the same time, with all the camps, another five thousand. We estimate that our district is visited by approximately 80-85 thousand people a year. Tourists,” said the director. ICT.

The official figures are almost ten times lower, which, according to M. Garejeva, is due to an incorrect calculation system and the whole of Lithuania faces it.

The image of the old Great Hall trembles

There is a lot of competition between tourist cities in Lithuania, nobody wants it, so even mayors who belong to the same party (J.Rasikas is a Social Democrat) fight each other: tourist centers receive more funds, for example, for roads , etc. However, the requirements for them are often different, as J.Rasikas named one of them as a bypass: Ignalina would have to be built at least by water. However, Ignalina can certainly restrict heavy traffic through the city.

For many years, the district itself was famous for the Big Island, a city that was flooded at the same time with undesirable, often antisocial people from big cities, who lost their homes there due to debt.

But now, J.Rasikas says, it is not at all the kind of settlement recently shown on all channels – several apartment buildings stand there with wrought iron windows, but only because no one lives in them anymore. The city itself is orderly, it has a good school, sports fields, which Vilnius can envy.

“It just caught our eye then. They are the same blocks, sidewalks, gym, kindergarten, store, everything is there,” said the mayor, recalling that there are even three Great Islands in the area.

M. Garejeva says that the part of the Ignalina district located in the Aukštaitija National Park is widely known, therefore the Tourist Information Center is trying to direct visitors to another part of the district, where there are not so many lakes, but much historical memory.

These include ancient towns (Mėčionys, Kukutėliai, Katinautiškė), monuments to famous compatriots (Augustinas Voldemaras, professors Zigmas Žemaitis, Česlovas Kudaba), beautiful and unique churches (Mielagėnai, Tverečius, Vosiūnai, Paringis). The pearl of this region is the Paliesius mansion, which was recognized as the most attractive health area in Lithuania last year.

“Ignalina is the furthest to the east and Vosiūnai is the settlement near the Belarusian border, they are the first minutes before all of Lithuania meets the sun, so it may be the first to do so here,” said M. Garejeva intrigued by the curiosities of the district.

Few young

The birth rate in the municipality of Ignalina district is extremely low, only up to a hundred children are born each year and around 300 die. Young people go to school, return on weekends, but choose to live permanently in Vilnius or elsewhere. big city.

It is true that there are examples of young people returning to Ignalina, the city even has in the municipality itself, of which IT specialist Karolis Petrukonis is one of them. The basketball player, who has played for more than one team and graduated from the United States, lives today in Ignalina with his wife and young son and, as he says, is happy with what he has here.

“I have been going to Ignalina for a long time, my wife is from here. When I was younger, maybe I was lacking entertainment: going somewhere, doing something, but now the priorities have changed, it is no longer necessary. I like the Ignalina’s nature: forests, lakes, trails. I left many of them with my son during the quarantine, especially at that time I discovered many things that I had not seen before, “said Karolis, who had moved to different cities and even countries many times. before.

According to the mayor, at Ignalina Karolis he not only plays basketball and involves others who want to play on the team, but also creates a community: children not only need a coach, but also an example of how basketball can help achieve other life goals K. Petrukonis and leads this association.

“That association will go from kindergarten to senior. I cannot say that they will play, they will participate faster, because the activities are much more extensive: the children from the orphanage will also come. There will be around 60 people “, – J.Rasikas said about the association led by Karolis.

He already considers himself a real local: the mayor is now 38 years old and the parents bought the farm here 31 years ago. She has lived here permanently since 2011, having moved from Vilnius.

Does the official salary not reflect reality?

The average salary in the Ignalina district is currently around 600 euros, but J.Rasikas admits that it probably does not correspond to the real income of the people, which is allegedly shown in conversations with the owners of the local plots.

Many times they ask for a thousand euros a year for the lease of a hectare of land, because it is only a little more than what the income from that plot generally receives for the crops that grow on it.

And rural tourism, according to the mayor, does not always declare its activities, because, although unemployment in the municipality is high, finding unemployed people is very tiring: the unemployed do not have time to work.

“We contacted an investor, he invited us to come to the city of Dūkštas with a very simple business. He would need about 70 employees, working with metal structures. These entrepreneurs are afraid that there are no employees. And it is real. Almost a year ago We found a sewing shop, a company that works quite well in Vilnius, their salary is a little higher than in the sewing companies in our county, about 70 tailors were also needed there.

We think: everything will be fine here, we can open it, we find suitable premises, which should not have been, because the clothes are sewn in France, etc. For fashion houses, representatives come before the opening, they appreciate, because there must also be lounges, kitchens, etc.

And what do you think of them, our seamstresses are scattered, go to Visaginas, Švenčionis, Švenčionėliai, Zarasai, Utena. And here, as they wanted, they asked me to find someone to open the company, they could work on the spot. Unable to gather so many people, there were only 14 potential tailors. That high unemployment seems interesting in all that context, ”said the mayor.

What can Ignalina offer? The mayor says above all the wonderful nature. In addition to 11 plots suitable for business development, they would be completely sufficient for the district’s needs if a sanitarium-type medical institution were to appear there.

The vision of the district, according to the mayor, is sports and recreational tourism. Athletes still love to organize camps here, the city is preparing a beach soccer field, where the competition should take place in early August. Nature is also suitable for MTB (mountain) cyclists.

Another sports facility that the Municipality of the Ignalina District intends to take over is the Winter Sports Center. Rebuilt and fixed, it is not used, for example, nobody has used the sauna and has never used it.