Thursday, November 8 2018 17:05

ArmInfo. The issue of cancellation of the contract with the Russian Railways company, which carries out concession management of SCR - the railway of Armenia -  is not currently on the agenda. "At the moment, there is no  cancellation agreement on our agenda.

In the future, if such a question arises, we will inform about it," Acting Minister of  Transport, Communications and Information Technologies of Armenia  Hakob Arshakyan told journalists on November 8 after the government  meeting concerned the strike of SCR employees and a criminal case on  the fact that the company did not pay taxes.

Employees of the Armenian railway are protesting on several routes.  On November 5, SCR employees blocked the Yerevan-Shorzha (Sevan)  railways in the section of the village of Tsovagyuh. They were  unhappy with the deprivation of their premiums. Yesterday the  engine-drivers blocked the road to the second most important city of  Armenia Gyumri, trains do not run, in Ayrum Tbilisi train was  stopped, passengers were taken by buses.

"I hope that a solution will be found soon and the work of the  railway will be relaunched," he said. He called the question of a  possible "unfair" distribution of the bonus fund according to the  scheme < everything to management, and pennies to the workers> the  internal business of the company, namely "the relationship between  employer and employees", "Under the concession agreement, the company  undertakes to invest in the development and ensure the normal  operation of the railways. However, what internal procedures,  methods, and which bonus system the company is guided by is its  corporate policy. The main thing is that the railway should work  normally, "said Arshakyan. As for the criminal case in connection  with possible abuses in the SCR,  the Acting Minister of Transport  called to appeal to law enforcement agencies on this issue, since the  issue is within their competence. Meanwhile, Spokesman for SCR Ruben  Grdzelyan told ArmInfo that the company's management is currently  negotiating with a view to returning to normal work "given that the  employee's accusation of bonus accruals is currently being revised  (since September)." Nevertheless, according to ArmInfo sources, the  reduction in the size of bonus payments in SCR is due to the decline  in freight traffic.  To recall, in the middle of August searches were  conducted at South Caucasus Railways. Employees of the RA State  Revenue Committee accompanied by special forces searched the  headquarters of the South- Caucasian Railway CJSC (a 100% subsidiary  of the Russian Railways OJSC and carries out the concession  management of the Armenian railways). During searches, documents were  seized, personal belongings of employees were inspected, and a  criminal case was initiated against SCR for non-payment of VAT in the  amount of 9.7 million drams. As reported, one of the directions of  inspections can be allocations of the budget of Armenia to SCR in  order to compensate the rates of tariffs for passenger  transportation.  Meanwhile, as the Russian newspaper Kommersant  reported, during the latest Pashinyan-Putin meeting in Moscow, the  Armenian Prime Minister said that the Armenian "daughter" of the  Russian Railways - SCR committed abuses amounting to $ 60 million.  The Armenian PM stated that his words can be considered as official  information.