During a meeting with journalists in Kapan a member of “Guides from the South” NGO, David Hakobyan, said that mining industry is one of the three most important problems of Syunik region.
“Recently, I came across with some statistics, where Armenia was mentioned as the second country with the number of cancer patients in the world. This is perhaps the worst consequence of mining industry. I don’t think there is any healthy person among the mining sector employees, even though they think it is a job, and they need to work to afford their families, to pay the interests of their loans. However, the manufacturers who receive super-profits, do not support the health programs with any amounts of money. They say there are packages for their employees who receive free treatment. But in my opinion, it is better to pay normal salaries, I don’t think they pay their employees normally. The salary of 300 or 400 thousand drams which is being praised is too little. In fact, the employees should receive a salary of 5-6 thousand euros, since the manufacturers actually have these capabilities”, he said.
Ami CHICHAKYAN
