Epress.am News from Armenia
Vayots Dzor governor Harutyun Sargsyan again failed to ensure that the grape farmers of the village of Aghavnadzor are paid for the produce purchased from them last year. During a September 15 meeting with the grape-growers, the governor said that the country’s Prime Minister had recently changed and the villagers had to therefore wait “some more,” farmer Kostan Stepanyan said in conversation with Epress.am
On September 1, dozens of Aghavnadzor grape-growers blocked the entrance to the local school in protest against Vedi Alco winery’s continued failure to pay the money – a total of 140 million drams (nearly $295,000). Governor Sargsyan, along with Vedi Alco owner Manvel Ghazaryan, soon came to meet with the protesters and said that he would make sure the winery paid their money by September 15. The villagers agreed to temporarily stop boycotting classes but promised to resume their protest if the officials again failed to keep their word.
“The entire village had gathered to meet the governor because he had promised to resolve the issue by September 15. But he said nothing senseful; only that the government and the prime minister had changed so we had to wait some more time,” Kostan Stepanyan told our reporter. He added that the villagers intended to again boycott classes tomorrow. “We can’t take this any more. How much longer should we put up with their lies?”