DUSHANBE, June 22, 2013, Asia-Plus — Tajik parliamentarians call on their Uzbek counterparts to give up the position of unsubstantiated accusation of each other.
Tajik parliament’s environmental commission has begun studying environmental impact of Uzbek industrial enterprises on the Tajik northern province of Sughd.
Speaking at the meeting of Tajik parliament’s environmental commission, Amirsho Miraliyev, the first deputy head of Tajikistan’s lower house (Majlisi Namoyandagon) of parliament, noted on June 20 that in recent years, Uzbek public institutions and non-governmental organizations have repeatedly applied to the United Nations, the European Parliament as well as the parliaments of Belgium, Latvia, the Netherlands, Indonesia regarding the environmental damage that allegedly comes from Tajik aluminum smelter.
“We have repeatedly called on the Uzbek side to give up the position of unsubstantiated accusation of each other and take specific steps towards cooperation and exchange of information on the environmental protection issue,” said Tajik deputy parliament speaker. “The Tajik side could also present the facts of environmental damage from Uzbek industrial enterprises to border areas in northern Tajikistan.”
“Relaying on data of the Committee for Environmental Protection alone, we could present scientifically substantiated facts of environmental damage caused by Uzbek enterprises to border districts of northern Tajikistan. Large metallurgical works, heating and power stations as well as cement plants located in Bekabad and Almalyk districts of Uzbekistan have polluted air atmosphere and water resources in northern districts of Tajikistan for more than fifty. More than 600,000 people live in the territories undergoing the environmental damage from Uzbek industrial enterprises – Spitamen, Jabborasoulov, Mastchoh, Bobojonghafurov, Asht and Zafarobod districts in Sughd province; experts estimate the environmental damage from the Uzbek enterprises at hundreds of millions of U.S. dollars, but the main thing is that they seriously affect population’s health,” Miraliyev stressed.
He further noted that for the purpose of giving unbiased assessment of the environmental situation in the problem areas and developing concerted approach to seeking solution to existing disagreements between the sides the Tajik side considered it expedient to set up inter-parliamentary commission for cooperation on the environmental protection issues with inviting independent international experts.
Tajik MPs and senior representatives of the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Land Reclamation and Water Resources, the Agency for Land Management, Geodesy and Cartography, the Committee for Environmental Protection and the Academy of Sciences attended the meeting.
We will recall that Tajik parliament speaker Shukurjon Zuhurov on June 11 sent a message with similar content to his Uzbek counterpart, Ms. Diloram Tashmukhamedova, over Uzbekistan’s appeal to the United Nations.
Permanent Representative of Uzbekistan to the UN Dilyor Khakimov in early June sent a letter to the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, which was disseminated as a document of the UN General Assembly. The UN News Center said on June 7 that the letter draws attention to deterioration of the environmental situation in northern districts of Uzbekistan’s Surkhandaryo region, which borders Tajikistan and environmental damage caused to the area by Tajik aluminum plant.
It is not the first appeal by Uzbekistan to the United Nations over the alleged environmental damage from Tajik aluminum plant. In 2011, Uzbekistan has sent a protest letter to the United Nations complaining of the environmental damage from Tajik aluminum smelter. On September 6, 2011, the Uzbek Environmental Movement (UEM) handed over an appeal by residents of Uzbekistan’s Surkhandaryo region to the United Nations General Assembly to the UNDP CO in Uzbekistan.
The appeal that was reportedly signed by more than 757,000 residents of the Surkhandaryo region, in particular, says that people have experienced the catastrophic effects of pollution of the environment by the aluminum smelter in the neighboring Tajikistan for thirty-five years.
Besides, the Uzbek Environmental Movement, which has 15 seats in the Uzbek parliament, said in March 2010 that it has calculated the environmental damage from Talco to Uzbekistan”s Surkhandaryo region on the basis of research by Uzbek scientists. It claimed Talco is responsible for some $228 million in damage to four districts in the region.
TALCO, however, denied those statements as unfounded. TALCO top managers noted that they paid proper attention to investment in environment-friendly technology and implementation of environmental projects.
