“THE GOVERNMENT IS NOT OUR ENEMY, IS IT?”

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Residents of Gyumri’s Hanesoghlyan Street live in constant fear lest the shaky walls and roofs of their flats may fall down on them.

The walls started falling down since 2004. Today ten out of twenty families have moved to another neighbourhood. The other ten have nowhere to go. The houses are in bad need of repairs.

The city authorities are well aware of the problem. The city hall has instructed to study the site thoroughly. Specialists of local seismic service say the building should be evacuated as the conditions are life-threatening.

“People should be moved out. You cannot put their lives at stake and promise to tackle the issue as soon as possible,” says the head of the Department of Housing and Urban Development Hrayr Karapetyan.

Three years ago the city hall registered dilapidated buildings in the city, all except this one. Hrayr Karapetyan is surprised why the committee didn’t involve the homes at 8 Hanesoghlyan on the list. Then he adds that most rundown houses are on main streets.

Karapetyan sees two solutions to the problem. First, the inhabitants of the disputed building should be recognised as homeless and given shelters. Then the building can be given a benefactor to start a business and fill the city budget. Second, the ten families can write a letter to the government, more precisely to the prime minister, depicting their hopeless state. “The government will likely help them. The government is not our enemy and it will realise the inhabitants’ grave state.”

Nevertheless, the families think that their voice will hardly be made audible, and it will take the officials long to address the issue.

Tsayg TV, Gyumri