One third of the details in the intercity travel declarations prove to be false

The labour inspectorate officials in Sofia established that about a third of those who had arrived in Sofia on Saturday, April 25, officially declared they were coming for work reasons, but they had not told the truth.

On that same day, the labour inspectorate teams took part, jointly with the Ministry of interior officials, in the checks at the check points on the routes into and out of Sofia and gathered the details from the intercity travel declarations filled in by 350 people. From them, 100 declared they were travelling to Sofia because they were going to work, but the officials found the persons did not even have contacts of employment. For 45 people, the check was done at the time when they were at the checkpoint. They were turned back because they did not have valid reasons for the travel and were not let through the checkpoint to Sofia.

Some declarations pointed workplaces, which when checked , it turned out they do not exist. Some people were not found at the workplaces they declared. For 21 people, the employers cited in the declarations said that they had never known them or heard of them. Some declarations pointed non-operational or non-existing companies.

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Bulgaria’s Health Minister Kiril Ananiev on April 21 issued an amendment to his order regarding the traffic ban on entry into and exit out of Sofia. According to the initial order, issued with effect from April 17, and which was in place for four days during the Orthodox Easter holidays, there was a time window twice a day for two hours for people travelling to work. The entry schedule was from 6:00 am to 8:00 am and the return was from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm. After these hours, traffic of people with private cars who go to work was not allowed.

According to the amended order in effect as of April 21, people travelling for work were allowed to enter or leave Sofia at any time of day, provided that they submit a formal declaration, in which they were required to fill in details of the workplace and the telephone number of the employer.