KULOB, May 15, 2010, Asia-Plus — We do not want to move to other places, a group of disaster-hit residents of the city of Kulob living at the Charmgaroni Poyon, Nonvoyi Poyon and Sugdiyon streets said at meeting with reporters in Kulob on May 14.
According to them, some 100 families living at the mentioned streets do not want to move to other places and want their houses to be restored. They say houses of many of them were damaged partially and they just need assistance to restore them.
They noted that the authorities were seeking to relocate them as part of the municipal redevelopment plan for Kulob that included the construction of supermarkets and entertainment complexes at the Charmgaroni Poyon.
“The authorities say that it is a dangerous place and it is impossible to live here. If so, why it is possible to construct supermarkets and entertainment complexes here, but we cannot live here,” said local journalist Ahmad Ibrohim, whose house was completely destroyed by mudflow.
They also noted that they have failed to find Deputy Prime Minister Murodali Alimardon, who heads the republican commission for removal of disaster effects, for already three days in order to present him a petition signed by more than 50 disaster-hit people.
Those gathered also noted that they did not trust the local authorities and the republic commission led by Alimardon and expressed wish that president’s executive office would take relocation process, allotment of lands for housing and especially construction of new houses under its control.
“We trust the president and ask him to order the relevant bodies to study the situation,” they said. They also established an initiative group to uphold rights.
We will recall that the Tebalay River breeched its banks on the night of May 6-7 in Kulob and people living in some parts of the city suffered severe damage to their homes.
The Kulob chief architect Ozod Hasanov told Asia-Plus on May 12 that specialists consider that some 40 percent of residential buildings at the Charmgaroni Poyon Street in Kulob are not suitable for living for their inhabitants. “Practically all 610 houses at this street are partially affected and it would be expedient to demolish all residential buildings at this street” Hasanov said.
