Until Tuesday, Residents of Aragatsavan Can Water Their Fields

Residents of Aragatsavan community in Aragatsotn Province have opened the Artani-Aragats main road. This was reported today, May 10, during a conversation with NEWS.am by the village mayor Andranik Papikyan.

Since morning, community residents had kept the Artani-Aragats main road blocked. They demanded a meeting with the head of the Water Committee, Vardan Melkonyan, to discuss the reduction of irrigation water tariffs.

The mayor stated that the head of the Water Committee came today to meet with the protesters. After an hour and a half of discussion, it was decided that residents could irrigate their fields free of charge until Tuesday.

“We agreed that our questions will be heard on Tuesday,” he said.

The irrigation water cost has risen to 57,000 drams per hectare, which is excessively expensive. Fields need to be watered 5-6 times during one season. Until Tuesday, residents can water their fields without restrictions,” the mayor added, noting that representatives from the Water Committee would come again to discuss the irrigation water tariff issues with the residents.

“With the commission, we will go to the fields, we will see whether the irrigation water tariff will be revised or not,” he stated.

It’s worth mentioning that on May 8, residents of Aragatsavan had blocked the Yerevan-Gyumri highway and demanded a meeting with the head of the Water Committee. The committee had promised to come in two days to hear their demands. Today, May 10, residents again blocked the Artani-Aragats main road, awaiting the arrival of the Water Committee chairman.