EcoLur
Despite the currently operating mining enterprise – Akhtala Ore Dressing Combine (AODC), the population in Shamlukh Town has reduced by 4-5 times. If over 5000 people used to live in Shamlugh before the collapse of the USSR, their current number is about 1000 people, out of whom 100 people are employed in the production, they work in Shamlugh copper and molybdenum mine and AODC. Several people are employed at Dilijan forestry enterprise. There is a school, post office and a shop in the town. The rest earn their living in orchards and farms and forests dealing with cattle breeding. Women are most unemployed ones. “I always say, if men don’t work here, it means they don’t want to,” said Lendrush Bejanyan, Head of Rural Administration. In reply to the question whether migration still continues, he said, “The migration was in the 90’s. Whoever left at those times, the rest remained. People arrived here because of mining industry, machinery, workers and engineers. We used to have rich forests and good conditions. Then the migration started, which has stopped for now.”
According to the Mayor, the town doesn’t get anything from Akhtala Combine. During the meeting with ENPI EAST FLEG 2 working group, Shamlugh residents demonstrated a clear understanding of their rights, “The Law on Local Government Bodies says that 15% of environmental fees should have been paid to the communities plus 20% of the income, but we don’t get anything. All the money flows to the budget, Yerevan…We have applied to different bodies, but to no avail.”
For our part we would like to mention that Akhtala Ore Dressing Combine is among the list of the companies, which makes targeted environmental fee payments to the community budget, which is considered to be Akhtala, and it’s unclear why Shamlugh located nearby has been deprived of the money from the AODC.
Though all the houses in Shamlugh are of urban type, they heat it with wood, “Even in the Soviet time we didn’t have any gas, while the central heating is on the fuel oil, while now we have only wood.”
Dilijan forestry enterprise is included in the administrative territory of Shamlugh. This forestry enterprise is focused, as it has also access from Georgia. Several years ago the question was raised that the trees were felled down from the “other” side, while the border with Armenia, which passes through the forest, has changed. “Nothing like that,” Lendrush Bejanyan said, who used to head Dilijan forestry enterprise several years ago. “People write about something they don’t have any idea about. From the Georgian side the forest is protected so nobody dares to cut down even a tree, you may face heavy sanctions. We use very little wood, maybe 10-12 cum per year.” In reply to the question how it turns out that neighboring Shnogh village speaks about 15-20 cum Mayor replied, “We have many single people, one cum of wood costs 6000-7000 AMD.” “We buy wood from Teghout,” the residents said.
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September 02, 2015 at 14:11