EcoLur
Astghadzor Community residents from Gegharkounik Region have addressed letter to RA Nature Protection Minister Artsvik Minasyan and Health Minister Levon Altunyan, as we;; as to Gegharkounik Regional Head Karen Batoyan demanding to return their village water.
Astghadzor community has remained without water, as the water has completely been taken to neighbouring Zolaqar community. The water redistribution has been carried out by "Rural Areas Economic Development Programme Implementation Unit" of the Government Staff of the Republic of Armenia ("RAEDPIU" GS OF RA) State Agency in the frames of 'Infrastructure and Rural Finance Support Programme' funded by IFAD. Before the implementation of the project in 2016, the water of the Astghadzor River used to be provided to Zolaqar Village for 5 days and to Astghadzor for 2 days.
The Astghadzor residents’ letter addressed to RA Nature Protection Minister particularly says, “When issuing water usage permit, the fact that Astghadzor Village also uses the water drainage basin of the Astghadzor River hasn’t been taken into consideration. The interests of the village and the right to water have been violated. There wasn’t even a discussion held in Astghadzor Village on this water usage permit project and our needs of water haven’t been taken into consideration. We have applied to you with a demand to review this water usage permit, to recover the previous procedure of water usage for Astghadzor Village and Astghadzor villagers’ rights to water.”
The other respondent is RA Health Ministry, and the letter addressed to them says, “With the permission of “Rural Areas Economic Development Programme Implementation Unit" Zolaqar community has been selected based on the results of the continuous monitoring of the drinking water quality provided to the population, which is carried out by Health Ministry.”
We would like to provide the following information:
1. The copies of the continuous monitoring documents carried out in Zolaqar Village, Gegharkounik Region, by RA Health Ministry.
2. To clarify which indicator of the water quality necessitated the change in the water supply in Zolaqar.
3. The results of the continuous monitoring documents carried out in Zolaqar Village, Gegharkounik Region, by RA Health Ministry.
If such monitoring hasn’t been carried out, we would like to ask you to carry it out, as the water springs of Astghadzor and Zolaqar communities are very similar each other and are located in the same geological formation.”
The next respondent is Gegharkounik Regional Municipality: the letter addressed to the Regional head says, “We would like to ask you to provide those grounds, based on which the Regional Municipality had applied to "RAEDPIU" GS OF RA so as to reconstruct the water supply system in Zolaqar community. We would also like you to clarify why the water distribution between Zolaqar and Astghadzor Communities haven’t been discussed with the residents of Astghadzor Village. Whether the interests of Astghadzor Community have been taken into consideration while preparing an application? We ask you to take measures to eliminate this injustice around water resource usage and to support to recover our fundamental right to water.”
January 09, 2018 at 15:28