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The main issue needing solution in Gyumri is homelessness. After Spitak disastrous earthquake there are still residents in the small houses: their number is about 2500.

On April 6, the members of the RA NA Standing Committee on Territorial Administration, Local Self-Government, Agriculture and Environment Protection visited Gyumri and got familiarized with the problems of Shirak Marz on the spot. The two-day visit has been held within the framework of the UN Development Project (UNDP) Modern Parliament for a Modern Armenia, which is implemented due to the support of the Swedish International Development and Cooperation Agency (SIDA). The Governor of the Shirak Marz Nazeli Baghdasaryan presented the existing problems and work done to the Committee members. The Deputies Governor of the Marz Karen Manukyan and Albert Ayvazyan took part in the meeting.

According to Nazeli Baghdasaryan, though the Government completely implemented the obligations, nevertheless there are people, who reside in the temporary lodgings. Most of them don’t have status of homeless because of the earthquake for some reasons. In some cases, the families replenished, in other cases stemming from social conditions, the citizens sold their flats and again returned to their temporary lodgings. The Governor of the Marz has said that the small houses are mainly in two large quarters.

“Based on the approaches of the Government, I am hopeful that in the format of the social flats or other programmes it will be possible to solve these people’s problems,” the Governor of the Marz noted.

The deputies were also informed that this year the irrigations works in the Marz began about one month ahead, stemming from the experience of the previous years. The construction of the Kaps reservoir also began. Those responsible for the Marz that operation of the reservoir would open new opportunities in the sphere of agriculture.

Afterwards the Committee members met with more than a dozen farmers, listened to the issues concerning them and gave clarifications, At the meeting the Deputy Minister of Economy Arman Khojoyan also attended the meeting.

Besides other issues, the farmers were also interested in the privatized, but not in the non-used plots of land. The Head of Meghrashen Rural Community, the Chairman of Shirak Farmers’ Association Hunan Petrosyan has required if there is an idea on the agenda of the Committee, which will enable to enlarge the naturally fragmented plots of land. According to him, it is difficult to carry out effective agricultural activities on them.

The Committee Chair Vahe Ghalumyan has clarified that their Committee studies this issue with the Ministry of Economy, consults with specialized international structures, tries to find ways to solve the problem. However, according to him, there is a problem related to the right to property, and they cannot take back their land.

“The RA legislation allows the community to take back the land that has not been used for three years, but in the RA practice you cannot take any piece of land anywhere, it is a constitutional law. In addition, no Community Head reserved the moral right to take back the land of his resident, as he had the problem of taking the vote of that villager from election to election. Now, what have we done? The proportional electoral system that we have introduced is very important. The Community Head is not directly elected, and there is a possibility of paying serious attention to such cases,” Vahe Ghalumyan said. He informed that now, the issue of raising the property tax on uncultivated lands is discussed.

At the end of the day, the Committee members met with the Mayor of Gyumri Vardges Samsonyan and the representatives of the City Municipality. They shared their problems with the deputies, highlighted the solution of the problem of homeless residents, touched upon the issue of sterilization of stray animals. It has been noted that although, stray animals are neutered or, if necessary, put to sleep, and complaints from the citizens and animal lovers have decreased, the problem has not been completely resolved, as stray animals are brought from other communities and released in Gyumri.

The Committee Chair Vahe Ghalumyan said that they would visit all marzes of the republic one by one to get acquainted with the problems and try to assist in their solution at the legislative level.