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.