Are cows more important than people?

Residents of some villages in the Yovon district claim that for the authorities, the cows of a relative of Emomali Rahmon are more important than people.

Residents of the Obshoron rural community in the Yovon district told Azda TV that over the past two years, residents of the villages of Obimuki, Anoriston, and several other villages in this community, particularly labor migrants from these villages, have struggled to raise about 200,000 somoni to build a medical point and repair the village school. However, residents complain that the authorities confiscated this money.

Sources from Azda TV reported that the district leadership is well aware of the condition of the medical point and school in the village of Obimuki. Residents have repeatedly appealed to the authorities to repair the village school and medical point, but their requests have not been responded to so far. A week earlier, the district chairman visited this village but did not inspect either the medical point or the village school.

According to residents, the district chairman, during his visit to the village, pursued two goals: first, to promote himself at the expense of the residents’ money and their khashara (voluntary communal work), and second, to show loyalty to the owner of the cattle farm that was built in the village of Anoriston.

Residents reported that recently one of Emomali Rahmon’s relatives built a cattle farm for 2,000 heads in the village of Anoriston. The distance from the main road to the village of Anoriston is about 3 kilometers. Since the road was built in the 1970s, it has not been repaired in the last 50 years.

The district authorities learned that the residents of this rural community were collecting money for the repair of the village school and medical point and other public works. After planning the repair of the village school and medical point, the district administration forced the chairmen of the rural community, villages, and mahallas to hand over all the collected money for the repair and reconstruction of the destroyed road to the farm.

Meanwhile, last week the state television channel “TV Tajikistan” reported that this road had been repaired “around the clock through efforts and diligence” and “care” of Emomali Rahmon for the residents. Of course, not through the efforts of road service employees, but through the efforts of the youth of these villages.

The chairman of the village of Anoriston, Zikrullo Eshonkulov, told a journalist from “TV Tajikistan” that the road was reconstructed in honor of the 35th anniversary of the country’s independence at the expense of entrepreneurs and local residents.

However, no one is asking why no one thought about this road until one of President Rahmon’s relatives built a farm here? Also, no one except the local residents knows that the authorities forcibly took more than 200,000 somoni collected for the repair of the village school and medical point. Now, residents are wondering who and when will repair the village school and medical point, which are in poor condition, and what they should do next?

The construction of a cattle farm is a private business, and the income from its activities will go to the business owner, not the local residents. The village school and medical point are public facilities and are necessary for all residents of the rural community. Without repairs, they pose a threat to the lives of children and the sick.