ArmInfo. Checks will be conducted in all the water user unions . On March 28, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said from the rostrum of the parliament, answering to the question of the NA MP Srbuhi Grigoryan.
The lawmaker noted that members of the unions have not received wages for a long time, and for this reason they are boycotting the supply of irrigation water to consumers. As a result, 80% of the harvest of villagers in the community of Brnakot, Syunik Region, was lost.
In response, the Prime Minister recalled that work in unions is elective, and their staff receive a salary based on the amount of collected funds from consumers. And if the funds are not collected, this indicates a bad management, and if collected, but the salaries are not paid, it means that the funds were stolen. Nikol Pashinyan noted that the irrigation sector is one of the most plundered. The law enforcement agencies of the country opened a criminal case on the fact of accumulating artificial debt of 1 billion drams. "They have plundered all the funds and then declare strikes and demand money from the government?" the Prime Minister wondered, adding that full-scale inspections will be conducted in all unions. "We will check not only their economic and financial activities, but also see what houses they live in, and what cars they drvve. And then don't let them say that we fill the prisons," the head of government threatened. Nikol Pashinyan also noted that the villagers themselves should ponder over the question of who they elected as the village headman or head of the water consumer council, who, mainly being representatives of the former ruling Republican Party, used the methods of the old government. In particular, they ensured the necessary result for the RPA during elections by bribes in the form of debt for the irrigation water supplied.
The prime minister also recalled that to solve problems with infrastructures, including irrigation, last year the government allocated 10 billion drams of subventions, of which only 1.6 billion drams were used by local governments. "We need to go beyond framework of the old way of thinking, and improve the level of management ", - stated the head of the government, pointing to the need to revise the entire existing irrigation system.