“Khovar” supported the mayor and accused the residents

The National Information Agency of Tajikistan “Khovar” supported the mayor of the capital Rustam Emomali and blamed the residents themselves for the lack of water.

Photo: Internet

On January 20, 2023, the agency “Khovar” reported that some houses in the capital were left without water due to “randomly connected” pipes.

This state information agency, which is controlled by the country’s presidential administration and is considered one of the main propaganda structures of Rahmon’s government, citing the State Unitary Enterprise “Dushanbevodokanal,” reported:

“In most old buildings, the pipes are randomly connected outside, which froze during severe frosts, causing a water shortage problem. Along with this, accidents occurred in the basements of residential buildings due to residents’ random connections of pipes to the main riser.”

“If one of the problems is the lack of drinking water in old Soviet-era houses, where due to the absence of basements the pipes were installed outside and have now frozen, another reason is the frequent accidents that also occur due to severe frost,” said the head of the public relations department of this enterprise, Zuhra Safarzoda.

According to her, “another factor contributing to the lack of drinking water is residents of the city’s neighborhoods and some multi-story buildings leaving drinking water taps open. That is, after the plumbing pipes are left open in the houses, the pressure in them weakens, leading to a water shortage. When specialists in this field increase the water pressure, the number of accidents increases, which complicates our work even more.”

In the past ten days, hundreds of residents of Dushanbe have expressed their dissatisfaction with the lack of drinking water, hot water, and electricity outages.

Meanwhile, city officials have been unable to promptly address the population’s problems. It has come to the point where some residents have called officials dozens of times a day, but the matter has not progressed beyond promises.

During this time, the mayor of the capital, the son of Emomali Rahmon, has not once familiarized himself with the situation, met with the residents of the capital, or visited problematic areas so that residents could voice their complaints to him, which has led to him being perceived by residents as an incompetent official who cannot act in a timely manner to resolve issues and does not support residents in difficult times.